Once again the SEIU is utilizing its patented Persuasion of Power to achieve its political goals and to boost its dwindling membership. Over the past two weeks, the SEIU has aired television commercials (see SEIU Pushes Seven Figure Ad Campaign for Immigration Reform) to support President Obama’s immigration policy, to initiate a living wage attack campaign against...
Here are links to the top stories available online over the past week reporting on union activity including legislation, financial impact, reform activism, etc., from California and across the USA. A little-noticed internal divide threatens liberalism By Michael Lind, June 25, 2013, Salon The debate over affirmative action reveals a split among liberals: the charity...
California is a forced unionism state, meaning that once a collective bargaining unit is recognized by an employer, it’s pretty hard for any employee to avoid paying union dues. But even in forced unionism states, employees have rights. “National Employee Freedom Week” was initiated in Nevada last year by the Nevada Policy Research Institute, and...
It is largely accepted that President Obama’s re-election was in a large part due to the efforts of big labor and its foot soldiers (see Romney and GOP Steamrolled by Big Labor Corporate Campaign. Apparently, the number of union foot soldiers utilized in big labor’s overwhelming ground game was even greater than initially realized. The National Treasury...
Here are links to the top stories available online over the past week reporting on union activity including legislation, financial impact, reform activism, etc., from California and across the USA. Kansas Teachers Vote to Decertify Their Union James Sherk and Michael Cirrotti, June 18, 2013, Heritage Network Teachers in Deerfield, Kansas, just did something unusual—they...
It would be redundant to summarize recent revelations concerning just how big America’s national security state has become. Two reports, both written in the last two days, do a really good job: “The Making of a Global Security State,” by Tom Engelhardt, published by The Nation Institute, and “5 Alarming Things We Should Have Already...
What special interest group would have such disregard for the tenor of the times that it would now push for a law to hinder the public’s ability to obtain records from local governments? And what special interest group would have the chutzpah to get that law enacted through a supplemental trailer to an annual budget,...
Here are links to the top stories available online over the past week reporting on union activity including legislation, financial impact, reform activism, etc., from California and across the USA. California Supreme Court Rules Union entitled to addresses, phone numbers of all county employees By Jessica Karmasek, June 11, 2013, Legal News Online The California...
California’s November 2012 statewide ballot included Prop. 32, the “Stop Special Interest Money Now” initiative. Among the provisions included in this campaign finance reform measure was the requirement that public sector unions obtain permission from each member prior to using a portion of their dues to support political campaigns. It’s hard to precisely determine just...
I’ve received a number of calls from reporters over the last few weeks seeking my reaction to the fact that many tax hike bills have stalled in the Legislature. Despite the passage of Prop 30 giving California both the highest marginal income tax rate and the highest state sales tax rate in America, the sheer...
No one was surprised last week when the California Assembly passed Assembly Bill 375, which, allegedly, makes it easier to discipline and fire teachers accused of misconduct. The bill, which now is pending in the state Senate, is supported by the California Teachers Association, which was criticized for having defeated past efforts to streamline teacher...
Here are links to the top stories available online over the past week reporting on union activity including legislation, financial impact, reform activism, etc., from California and across the USA. Operation: Stop Bruce Karsh From Selling Tribune to the Koch Brothers By David Freelander, June 4, 2013, The Daily Beast The left’s biggest bogeymen could...
Last week the California Public Policy Center released a compilation of public employee compensation databases. Apart from the CPPC’s own studies that disclose and evaluate compensation for city workers in San Jose, Anaheim, Costa Mesa, and Irvine, as of May 2013, they found nine additional sources of information on California’s state and local government employee...
Having been involved in discussion regarding Right-To-Work legislation in Indiana and Michigan, I can attest to the tireless efforts of grassroots movements – by local businesses in Indiana and concerned United Auto Worker employees in Michigan – to achieve the goal of protecting worker freedoms. Statistical data shows that the implementation of a Right-To-Work law...