Santa Clara County’s campaign finance records provide glimpse of Silicon Valley’s political landscape By Saurabh Datar, May 31, 2016, Peninsula Press Santa Clara County is one of just 17 counties in California that provide campaign finance records online in a form that is easy to analyze. Those records provide a glimpse of the political landscape...
The union war on charter schools has become even uglier, courtesy of UTLA. On May 4th, the United Teachers of Los Angeles, in concert with the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools (AROS) – a radical union front group – planned a major protest to be held outside schools where charter schools share a campus with...
The eight-page document reads like a contract, asking candidates seeking a seat in the Legislature to pledge support for workers organizing unions. It lists priority issues – including health care, immigration and retirement benefits – and asks if the candidate will be a “supporter,” “champion” or “partner” as the union pursues its agenda in Sacramento....
There’s a rift in the American labor movement, and enterprising Republicans might be able to exploit it. Here’s Politico this week, documenting the disagreements between service-sector and labor unions as highlighted in a letter published recently by leading labor unions: “The labor federation and many of its member unions have embraced environmentalism as a pillar of...
Labor unions, environmentalists are biggest opponents of Gov. Brown’s affordable housing plan By Liam Dillion, May 24, 2016, The San Diego Union Tribune Powerful opponents have emerged to fight Gov. Jerry Brown’s plan to streamline affordable housing development — and their main reason isn’t about building homes. A coalition of labor and environmental organizations has come...
Those favoring educational freedom – and their enemies – have been busy in May. Overall, May has been a good month for the school choice movement despite a few lawsuits involving the teachers unions (so what else is new?). The Washington Education Association announced it would file suit by the end of the month challenging...
Millionaires Targeted in L.A. Tax Proposal to Ease Homelessness By James Nash, May 17, 2016, Bloomberg Los Angeles County leaders are turning to millionaires to pay for solutions to its growing homeless problem, part of a trend of state and local governments looking to raise income taxes on the highest wages. Supervisors in the county of...
No matter how many times it’s repeated, the national teacher shortage story is a canard. In the months since I last wrote about the alleged teacher shortage crisis, I had hoped the hysteria would abate. But alas, it hasn’t; if anything, it has increased, with the teachers unions at the forefront of the bogus story....
Farmworkers win court battle over access to California labor board’s proceedings By Geoffrey Mohan, May 10, 2016, Los Angeles Times A District Court of Appeal panel has revived a constitutional case involving public access to contract mediation proceedings held by the state’s farm labor watchdog. A farmworker and business owner now can air their case against...
Despite what the teachers unions say, teachers – not to mention children and taxpayers – can and do thrive without them. In 2011, under Governor Scott Walker’s leadership, Wisconsin passed Act 10, the Budget Repair Bill, which, among other things, placed strict limitations on the ability of teachers unions to collectively bargain. Walker very quickly...
Assemblywoman Shannon Grove’s fight for public union employees who have been battling the Service Employees International Union for transparency was stilted Wednesday when Democrats killed two bills aimed at opening unions’ books, and allowing more frequent votes on union representation. After several years of nasty legal battles with the SEIU to see where dues money...
Faculty Union Approves Proposed CSU Contract By City News Service, May 3, 2016, KPBS Members of the California Faculty Association, including instructors at San Diego State and Cal State San Marcos, overwhelmingly approved a proposed contract with California State University that would give them 10.5 percent raises over three years, the union announced Tuesday. The proposal...
It came as a shock to learn that some of those who were around when unions first started infiltrating local and state governments actually welcomed the process. These were the days when unions were driving jobs overseas because of their unwillingness to negotiate new contracts in the face of foreign competition. “Let them come,” some...
April revealed the teachers unions’ desperation over losing control of top-down, one-size fits all government-run schools. In many ways April was normal for teacher union monopolists. Early in the month, the Washington Teachers Union said it would challenge a new law in the Evergreen State that corrected problems in the way that charter schools, which...