Nonpartisan Union Reform

Oakland Teachers’ Union Puts District’s Most Vulnerable Students Last 

Oakland Teachers’ Union Puts District’s Most Vulnerable Students Last 

The Oakland Education Association — the teachers union in Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) — is at it again. Last week, the union announced that 88 percent of its members voted in favor of authorizing a strike. The strike is scheduled to begin May 4th, unless the district and union come to a last-minute agreement....

By California Policy Center

SEIU Faces Steep Declines in Membership and Revenue

SEIU Faces Steep Declines in Membership and Revenue

SEIU Local 99’s massive strike in LA Unified ended last week with union leaders bragging that the  strike showcased the union’s strength. But the reality is more stark for the union: SEIU is facing steep declines in membership and revenue, and the strike appears more like an act of desperation. According to internal LAUSD documents,...

By Jackson Reese

Unions’ Strike Hurts L.A. Students and Families

Unions’ Strike Hurts L.A. Students and Families

Two employee unions in Los Angeles Unified are poised to strike this week, shutting down schools and leaving many parents angry that students are — once again — being used as leverage by the unions in contract negotiations. The unions are demanding huge pay raises despite financial reports showing LAUSD is already upside down $16.4...

By California Policy Center

Unionized Public Education is Destroying California

Unionized Public Education is Destroying California

Behind any popular mass movement there are often good ideas and noble objectives. Public sector unions—including teachers’ unions—are no exception.  Organized labor, ideally, offers collective power to ordinary workers and provides a counterweight whenever business interests become exploitative. How to regulate that balance is a topic that deserves vigorous and ongoing debate, but most of...

By Edward Ring

Unions Are Behind California’s Latest Wealth Tax Proposal

Unions Are Behind California’s Latest Wealth Tax Proposal

If at first you don’t succeed, try again. This adage applies well to ideas for new ways to tax Californians. Every election cycle we see new ways to be taxed, and higher tax rates, but rarely will we see a tax get repealed. So it is that Assemblyman Alex Lee (D, San Jose) has introduced Assembly...

By Edward Ring

DeSantis Battles the Teachers Union

DeSantis Battles the Teachers Union

Fighting for a sane measure for educators. Years ago, when I was teaching, I asked then United Teachers of Los Angeles president A.J. Duffy at a union meeting why teachers weren’t responsible for paying their own dues. He replied, “They might forget.” I didn’t respond, but knew that some of my colleagues were thinking what...

By Larry Sand

How the Government Union Machine Conquered California

How the Government Union Machine Conquered California

With the November 8 election already ten days ago, we are now conditioned to accept that some final results will not be known until December 16, five weeks later. Counting proceeds at a crawl in counties up and down the state, and those among us with housebroken political sentiments are expected to be impressed at...

By Edward Ring

Tracking Political Spending by Government Unions

Tracking Political Spending by Government Unions

With a rough top-down analysis, it’s easy enough to estimate how much government unions collect and spend every year in California. They have roughly a million members, paying roughly $1,000 per year in dues. That would be one billion dollars per year. They spend about a third of that to fund political campaigns for candidates and ballot...

By Edward Ring

How to Be a Successful Politician in California

How to Be a Successful Politician in California

The following conversation never happened. It is for the reader to decide to what extent, however, this conversation reflects political reality in California today.   Candidate (C): It’s a surprise that you contacted me. I never thought I would run for office, I don’t know how to run a campaign, and I’m not well informed...

By Edward Ring

San Francisco’s $1.7 Million Public Toilet

San Francisco’s $1.7 Million Public Toilet

If you want to know where California’s headed, dragging the rest of America in its wake, consider the $1.7 million single public toilet San Francisco is going to install in the city’s Noe Valley neighborhood. Don’t hold your breath, by the way, because if we’re lucky, the toilet will be available to the public sometime in 2025....

By Edward Ring

Government Union Money Dwarfs Corporate Influence in California Elections

Government Union Money Dwarfs Corporate Influence in California Elections

The disparity in fundraising in California between Democrats and Republicans is systemic. From statewide offices to local races, government unions — not corporations — make or break candidates, and it’s not even close. A survey of  California’s Secretary of State website will debunk any suggestion that Democrats are protecting California’s citizens from the big bad corporations. If...

By Edward Ring

California’s Government Unions Continue Steady Decline

California’s Government Unions Continue Steady Decline

Boosted by Covid emergency funding, California governments have gone on a hiring frenzy, but membership in California’s government unions has hit a 20-year low, documents obtained by California Policy Center show. State and local government payroll records, obtained by CPC under the state’s Public Records Act, reveal that governments have added some 200,000 new employees after four...

By California Policy Center

California’s Unions Are Misusing Their Power

California’s Unions Are Misusing Their Power

On every major issue affecting cost-of-living in California, unions supported political agenda of self-serving ruling elite.   If you go to the “what we do” page of the California Labor Federation, the lead paragraph starts with this sentence: “The California Labor Federation is dedicated to promoting and defending the interests of working people and their...

By Edward Ring

Why We Fight Government Unions

Why We Fight Government Unions

The California Policy Center, established in 2013, exists to expose and undermine the destructive power of government unions. Most Californians still don’t understand the threat these unions represent to the integrity of our democracy, the agenda of our politicians, and the solvency of our public institutions. Government unions, sometimes also referred to as public sector...

By Edward Ring