After Janus, California teachers unions teaching us a lesson in sleight-of-hand
After Janus, California teachers unions teaching us a lesson in sleight-of-hand
Santa Ana Unified’s Monte Vista Elementary: Everybody graduates, only 15% read at grade level. (Source: California School Acountability Report Card) On June 27, the U.S. Supreme Court abolished the 40-year practice of requiring public employees to join a union. But a day later, union leaders in California’s sixth-largest school district were hard at work – blocking...
By Will Swaim
Post Janus: An Opportunity, and a Challenge
Post Janus: An Opportunity, and a Challenge
A first step, but only the first step, in the fight against public employee unions. It’s arguably the greatest blow for liberty since the 1964 Civil Rights Act. When the U.S. Supreme Court struck down forced-union fees for government workers yesterday in its Janus v. AFSCME decision, labor leaders shivered while liberty lovers loudly cheered.
By Matt Patterson
Court smacks down union-friendly agency’s destruction of farm workers’ right to vote
Court smacks down union-friendly agency’s destruction of farm workers’ right to vote
Sacramento One of Gov. Jerry Brown’s early acts in office during his first term in 1975 was to grant California’s farm workers the right to collectively bargain – and to create a new agency that would ensure that farm workers had the right “to full freedom of association, self-organization, and designation of representatives of their...
By Steven Greenhut
A Time for Choosing: The End of Forced Union Representation
A Time for Choosing: The End of Forced Union Representation
The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday in favor of Mark Janus, making it unconstitutional for union leaders to compel public employees to pay “fair share fees”. In anticipation of this decision, union-backed lawmakers in Sacramento have been pushing bills to limit the freedom of government employees to choose whether they can be represented by unions. Think of these...
By Kelly McGee
Teachers Unions Face a Deserved Reckoning from the Supreme Court
Teachers Unions Face a Deserved Reckoning from the Supreme Court
UNITED STATES – JUNE 27: Illinois state employee Mark Janus stands outside of the U.S. Supreme Court after the decision in the Janus v. AFSCME case was handed down in his favor on Wednesday, June 27, 2018. Janus argued the fees public-sector unions collect from nonmembers to cover the cost of actions that help all...
By Renee Olivett
Uninformed and misinformed teachers
Uninformed and misinformed teachers
Too many educators are clueless on issues relating to their profession. In 2006, I co-founded the California Teachers Empowerment Network, whose mission is to give educators unbiased information and to combat union spin and outright lies. While we have helped a good number of teachers, there are still way too many who are...
By Larry Sand
Formerly bankrupt Stockton is fiscally healthy again, but offers warning to others
Formerly bankrupt Stockton is fiscally healthy again, but offers warning to others
Sacramento Two mid-sized California cities, Irvine and Stockton, have topped a national list of financially healthy governments compiled by an influential watchdog group. Irvine’s top ranking shouldn’t surprise anyone, given that the affluent Orange County city has long been a model for prudence, despite some high-profile spending miscues over the years. But the second-place ranking...
By Steven Greenhut
A Janus-type reprieve for taxpayers
A Janus-type reprieve for taxpayers
As we await a ruling in the public employee freedom case, it’s time to liberate taxpayers from being forced to support a union. The Janus v AFSCME Supreme Court decision, due any day now, could free teachers and other public employees from having to pay dues to a union as a condition of employment. Hence,...
By Larry Sand
A Catalog of California’s Anti-Janus Legislation
A Catalog of California’s Anti-Janus Legislation
No state in America is as firmly in the grip of public sector unions as California. For nearly twenty years, union controlled Democrats have exercised nearly absolute power in the State Legislature. Over the past few years, as they have slipped in and out of having a two-thirds majority, and often with the help of...
By Edward Ring
Government Unions Run Sacramento
Government Unions Run Sacramento
June 6 marks the 40th anniversary of voters’ overwhelming approval of Proposition 13, which has been protecting all California taxpayers ever since. Some people mistakenly think Prop. 13 protects only homeowners, because it cut the property tax rate statewide to 1 percent and put a stop to uncontrolled increases in assessed value. But it did...
By Jon Coupal
Our soldiers deserve educational freedom
Our soldiers deserve educational freedom
In spite of teacher union attempts to deny them, Education Savings Accounts for military families are needed. A bill proposed by Congressman Jim Banks (R-IN) directs the Department of Education to establish a program that would “provide children with parents on active duty in the uniformed services with funds for specified educational purposes.”...
By Larry Sand
Funding the Post-Janus Fight Against Government Unions
Funding the Post-Janus Fight Against Government Unions
A recent “messaging memo,” issued by “OpportunityAgenda.org,” provides expert marketing advice for activists who hope to mitigate the impact of the much anticipated Janus ruling. In that case, currently before the U.S. Supreme Court, the expected decision will empower government workers to opt-out of paying any union dues whatsoever. Depending on the details which will...
By Edward Ring
The Rodney Dangerfield union
The Rodney Dangerfield union
The United Teachers of Los Angeles claims its members “don’t get no respect.” The late comedian Rodney Dangerfield often used self-deprecating humor in his routines, and his catchphrase, “I don’t get no respect!” is legendary. And now the United Teachers of Los Angeles is channeling the great comic, as thousands of teachers took to the...
By Larry Sand
Janus vs AFSCME Ruling Imminent – What Will Change?
Janus vs AFSCME Ruling Imminent – What Will Change?
In February 2018 the US Supreme Court heard arguments in Janus vs. AFSCME, a case that challenges the ability of public sector unions to compel public employees to pay agency fees. While public sector employees currently have the ability to opt-out of paying that portion of union dues that are used for political activities, they...
By Edward Ring