Uncategorized | California Policy Center

Government Union's New Taxes on Working Californians Stopped in Legislature – For Now

It’s been a long year in the Capitol for those of us who advocate against higher taxes, crushing regulations and wasteful government spending. The good news is that California taxpayers have prevailed in virtually all the major tax fights this year. The bad news is that, because the legislature convenes for two-year sessions, this is...

By Jon Coupal

Unions in the News – Weekly Highlights

Labor Unions Seek To Extend Temporary Prop. 30 Tax Increase On Wealthy Until 2030 September 15, 2015, CBS Sacramento A coalition of labor unions is seeking to extend California’s temporary tax increase on the wealthy until 2030. A group called the Alliance for a Better California submitted title and summary with the secretary of state...

By Editor

U.S. Supreme Court to Rule – Is Government Unionization a Free Speech Issue?

Since the Supreme Court has the power to stir up controversy like few other American institutions, public debate about government unionization is certain to intensify in coming months. This fall, the justices will take up Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, which concerns the question of whether public sector workers can be required to pay “agency”...

By Stephen Eide

Unions in the News – Weekly Highlights

Clinton makes pro-union pitch to voters on Labor Day By Dan Merica, September 8, 2015, CNN Hillary Clinton remained focused on Republicans during a two-day swing through Iowa, and told voters on Labor Day one of her biggest jobs as president will be “to defend and protect your right to organize collectively.” Clinton marked the Labor...

By Editor

Deceptive and Misleading Claims – How Government Unions Fool the Public

California’s public sector unions collect and spend well over $1.0 billion per year. When you have that much money, you can hire thousands of skilled professionals to wage campaigns, litigate, lobby, negotiate, and communicate. You can hire the best public relations firms money can buy. You can commission research studies that spin facts to support...

By Edward Ring

Los Angeles Could Use a COIN Ordinance – But That Will Only Come When Its Voters Demand It

We in Orange County have seen several versions of the COIN Ordinance (Community Openness In Negotiations). COIN ordinances provide for more and earlier disclosure to the taxpayers during and in the run up to the final approval of a contract between the public entity employer and a government employee union. This allows the citizens to...

By Craig Alexander

Unions in the News – Weekly Highlights

Los Angeles could use more COIN Editorial, September 1, 2015, Los Angeles Times Last month, when Mayor Eric Garcetti and City Council President Herb Wesson announced a tentative contract with unions representing more than half of the city’s civilian workforce, budget watchdogs clamored for details so they could analyze the potential financial impact. They’re still...

By Editor

The Robot Revolution – How Union-Backed Policies Destroy Jobs for Humans

Summary: Labor unions and their left-wing friends are imposing a host of laws and regulations that are dramatically raising the cost of hiring workers. Minimum wage laws, Obamacare requirements, and many other policies are causing businesses to rethink new hires. Even expensive robots and other forms of non-human labor begin to make sense to strapped...

By Steven Allen

Unions in the News – Weekly Highlights

Marin County administration cool to report calling for more openness in labor talks By Nels Johnson, August 25, 2015, Marin Independent Journal The public isn’t going to know much more than it already does about labor negotiations at the Civic Center under a plan pitched by administrators on behalf of county supervisors. In an analysis that...

By Editor

Unions in the News – Weekly Highlights

You’re Killing Me: Regulations, Government Unions, And Taxes Quash Small Business By Chuck Devore, August 18, 2015, Daily Caller Since our founding, the American Dream has been entwined with self-employment — whether as a farmer, a shopkeeper, a doctor, or an inventor — Americans have been at home in our “commercial republic.” The mounting tide of...

By Editor

San Jose City Council Capitulates to Police Union Power

“He told the class to take advantage of the academy, and then find jobs elsewhere. The police union tries to get us to leave the department.” – Anonymous source to NBC Bay Area, television report “Another San Jose Police Recruit Says Union Tried to Get Cadets to ‘Find Jobs Elsewhere’,” Oct. 28, 2014 (excerpt begins...

By Edward Ring

Unions in the News – Weekly Highlights

Retired labor union official lands consultant post in state Assembly By Melanie Mason, August 11, 2015, Los Angeles Times Willie L. Pelote Sr., a top labor union lobbyist, has quietly landed a plum consultant job in the state Assembly, not long after he announced his retirement from a powerful public employee union. Pelote stepped down in...

By Editor

California's Official Antipathy to Educational Innovation and Accountability

“With a hearing now scheduled for Aug. 21, LA Unified’s teachers union, UTLA, will have the chance to argue before a neutral party that Alliance College-Ready Public Charter Schools, violated state education law by blocking the union’s efforts to bring Alliance teachers into its membership.” – Mike Szymanski, “UTLA outlines accusations against Alliance for anti-union...

By Edward Ring

Social Justice Warriors at Work

With the election season in full swing, expect a tide of union-led anti-reform, anti-choice and anti-Republican politicking in our kids’ classrooms. “I watched the GOP presidential debate because my students are counting on me” is the title of a piece posted on the National Education Association website by “guest writer” Tom McLaughlin, a high school...

By Larry Sand