Larry Sand, a former classroom teacher and president of California Teachers Empowerment Network, summarized it succinctly: “Ah, the commissar has spoken from on high!” The “commissar” is none other than the president of the Anaheim Elementary Education Association, Kristen Fisher, who dispatched an email to dues-paying union members on Oct. 6. It seems that Fisher...
Unions Try To Replace San José Mayor Over Pension Reform By Connor D. Wolf, October 14, 2014, Daily Caller Labor unions in San José, Calif. are overwhelmingly opposing the Democratic mayoral candidate who backed pension reforms they claim are bad for the city. Their choice is Dave Cortese, a county supervisor and former city councilman,...
In California, the root cause of government waste, failed programs, high taxes, debt and deficits, regulatory abuse, civil rights abuse, and even corporate cronyism is public sector unions. Their agenda is intrinsically in conflict with the public at large because any government program, any government regulation, any tax and any new debt, benefits them regardless...
Silicon Valley, Meet Organized Labor By Kevin Roose, October 7, 2014, New York Magaizne Tech companies and labor unions have never been friends. Whether union protectionism has made it tech’s enemy or, as historians have written, tech’s executive class was opposed to unions from the beginning, the fact remains that the Teamsters and other labor...
Liberal groups critical of ALEC influencing laws, but not labor unions By Adam Tobias, September 30, 2014, Watchdog.org Stand Up to ALEC and other affiliated left-leaning groups opposed to the American Legislative Exchange Council bringing together lawmakers and private-sector representatives to draft model state-level legislation apparently don’t have any issues when labor unions participate in...
Fungible – definition – “able to replace or be replaced by another identical item; mutually interchangeable.” On November 4th, Palo Alto voters will be asked to approve Measure B, with only a simple majority required for passage. According to a summary compiled by the California Taxpayers Association, “2014 Local Elections,”Measure B “increases the city hotel/motel tax by...
Summary: New studies on the harms of American labor laws paint a grim picture. The laws drag down economic growth, suppress workers’ wages, and cause government debts to soar. Could your family use an additional $13,100 a year? If you live in a forced-unionism state, that’s what the lack of a Right to Work law...
Resigned to Freedom: The California Teachers Association prepares for life as a voluntary association By Larry Sand, September 21, 2014, City Journal The worst union in America is contemplating its worst nightmare—a time when state law no longer compels California’s teachers to pay it for the privilege of working at a public school. According to...
On November 4th, along everything else on the ballot, California’s voters will be asked to approve local tax measures. A list compiled by the California Taxpayers Association, “2014 Local Elections,” shows that across California’s cities and counties, local tax increases proposed include the following: – Tax increases requiring only a majority vote: 5 business taxes,...
Two years ago, when 2013-14 legislative session began, things looked very dark for California homeowners. Democrats, many hostile to Proposition 13, achieved a super-majority in both the Assembly and Senate. Many publicly expressed their hostility to the landmark property tax initiative and one even said he would like to “nuke” Prop 13. Others were a...
Control of the U.S. Senate is at stake in the upcoming mid-term elections, which is imperative for the President and Big Labor to maintain their majority if there is any hope to achieve Big Labor’s goal of eliminating the secret ballot election and replacing it with the forced unionization method of Card Check. Even at a...
Golden Gate Bridge Union Workers Begin Strike Over Health-Care Benefits By Jeffrey Schaub, September 16, 2014, CBS San Francisco Union workers began a one-day strike Tuesday morning at the Golden Gate Bridge over the healthcare contributions they say they were promised by theGolden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District. Despite the picket lines, however, buses...
The city of Watsonville lies nestled among some of the most verdant farmland on earth. Just a few miles inland from the Pacific Ocean, the moderate, moist air nurtures endless fields of strawberries, apples, fresh flowers, cauliflower, broccoli and artichoke. Fragrant forests of redwood carpet the Santa Cruz Mountains to the north; some of the most...
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, is coasting to reelection with only partial support from organized labor. While many private unions remain in his corner, the state’s major government unions are either declining to support Cuomo’s bid for a second term or have endorsed a challenger. In this respect, Cuomo 2014 resembles New Jersey Gov....