When considering the labor movement in the United States, there is a huge distinction between government unions and private sector unions. Government unions elect their own bosses, they operate within agencies that collect taxes instead of having to make a profit by enticing consumers to buy their products, and they operate the machinery of government...
Summary: From the “Subway Vigilante” and Tawana Brawley cases to the Pigs in a Blanket movement, the Rev. Al Sharpton has been a controversial public figure for more than three decades, first in New York and then nationwide. Today, he is one of the most influential people in the country, closely tied to the mayor...
Unions Push to Establish Bloc of Low-Wage Voters By Eric Morath and Melanie Trottman, November 10, 2015, Wall Street Journal The Fight for $15 movement is seeking not just to influence Americans’ paychecks, but also the country’s upcoming elections. Fast-food workers and other supporters are protesting in many cities on Tuesday, demanding a $15 an hour...
California students are not learning and teacher union leaders blame tests. Every two years selected students across the nation take the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), a test known as the nation’s report card. This year our kids didn’t do well. Actually they never do well, but this year the scores were even worse...
L.A. County supervisors approve three-year, 10% pay increase for deputies, firefighters By Abby Sewell, November 3, 2015, Los Angeles Times Los Angeles County supervisors approved a new contract for sheriff’s deputies, firefighters and several other employee groups Tuesday, giving them a 10% pay bump over three years. The contracts, adopted on a 5-0 vote without discussion...
California’s largest state/local government employee pension system, CalPERS, has posted a page on their website called “Myths vs. Facts.” Included among their many rather debatable “facts” is the following assertion, “Pension costs represent about 3.4 percent of total state spending.” This depends, of course, on what year you’re considering, and what you consider to be...
McDonald’s asks judge to toss out U.S. labor board’s “massive” subpoena By Daniel Wiessner, October 27, 2015, Reuters Oct 27 McDonald’s Corp has asked a U.S. judge to reject a subpoena from the National Labor Relations Board in its case claiming the company is a “joint employer” of franchise workers, saying the requests are unfair...
As readers know by now, Dropout Nation determined in research released last October that National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers spend roughly $700 million per year on advocacy. This report undermined the unions’ preferred narrative that they are scrappy underdogs fighting for public schools. As you would expect, especially on Twitter, NEA’s and...
Labor board seeking injunction over Alliance anti-union efforts By Craig Clough, October 20, 2015, LA School Report The California Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) will be seeking an injunction in Los Angeles County Superior Court to stop what it says is illegal interference by officials at Alliance College-Ready Public Schools against a unionization effort by...
Democratic rivals battle for labor, Latino support in Las Vegas By Amanda Sakuma, October 13, 2015, MSNBC When the five top Democratic presidential candidates take the debate stage in Las Vegas on Tuesday night, it will be before a unique crowd that combines two of the party’s most powerful blocs: organized labor with a Latin...
Often missing from entirely legitimate criticism of government unions is an accompanying explanation of the moral values that underlie the criticism. Last month we published a post entitled “Deceptive and Misleading Claims – How Government Unions Fool the Public,” which listed ten myths that government unions use repeatedly in their propaganda campaigns. Missing in that...
A coalition of government employee unions has filed an initiative that would extend the temporary income tax hikes that were contained in Proposition 30 and approved by voters in 2012. If this seems like, in the immortal words of Yogi Berra, “déjà vu all over again,” it’s not your imagination. This is just the tax...
Martinez takes labor fight to U.S. Supreme Court By Dan Boyd, October 6th, 2015, Albuquerque Journal Just months after a legislative attempt to overhaul New Mexico’s labor laws was derailed, Gov. Susana Martinez is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a previous ruling that allows public sector unions in roughly 20 states – including New...
Back in the late 1970’s something happened to the Santa Clara Valley. Increasingly it became referred to as the Silicon Valley, because the emerging silicon based semiconductor industry found its first home in plants nestled along the southern shores of the San Francisco Bay. Boasting what are among the finest universities in the United States –...