Uncategorized | California Policy Center

Is the SEIU a ‘Racketeering-Influenced & Corrupt’ Enterprise?

In an almost unprecedented action, Sodexo USA, one of the nation’s largest food service and facilities management companies with over 120,000 employees, filed a civil lawsuit under the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”) against the 2.1 million member Service Employees International Union (the “SEIU”) in an effort “to stop the illegal campaign of...

By Jack Humphreville

California’s Government Unions Fight Reformers

It is impossible to easily summarize all of the efforts government worker unions have mounted in California to consolidate their power. But the efforts by these unions to disrupt reform initiative efforts, as well as undermine the initiative process itself, is worthy of special mention, and is the focus of this post. As Californians realize...

By Editor

Union Watch Highlights

Across U.S., public unions under fire this Labor Day By David Shepardson, September 5, 2011, Detroit News Washington Bureau Across America on this Labor Day, public employees whose job security once seemed iron-clad are defending their jobs, pay, benefits and bargaining rights. “This is a tough moment for public employees,” said Harley Shaiken, a labor...

By Jack Dean

Unprecedented NLRB Rulings to Aid Unions

President Obama will unveil his jobs bill this Thursday on national television. With unemployment hovering around 9 % for the last two years it begs the question, “Mr. President, what has taken you so long?” The reality is that the President does not need a jobs bill nor does he want true recovery. If he...

By Dave Bego

Union Watch Highlights

Majority of Michigan Leaders Say Unionized Workers Have Had a Negative Effect on Their Community’s Fiscal Health By Kathy Barks Hoffman, August 29. 2011, Detroit News A majority of local leaders in Michigan question whether union workers are causing their communities more financial harm than good, according to a survey conducted amid an ongoing debate...

By Jack Dean

Union Watch Highlights

Illinois likely site of next fight over public employee pensions and benefits By Kevin McDermott, August 22, 2011, St. Louis Post-Dispatch Unionized public employees are once again clashing with state leaders who want to roll back benefits and weaken collective bargaining to shore up a government budget. And this time, the threat isn’t coming in...

By Jack Dean

A Blueprint for Maintaining the Status Quo

Tom Torlakson’s panel comes up with edubabble and little else in an attempt to turn around a troubled California public school system. Just when we thought we were safe from yet another “master plan for educational improvement,” A Blueprint for State Schools is bestowed on us. This 31 page monstrosity was unleashed by State Superintendent...

By Larry Sand

Police Unions Protect Rogue Cops

A new cable TV police series, “Against The Wall,” is about a woman from a family of Chicago police officers who becomes a detective in the department’s Internal Affairs unit. This causes outrage among her police brothers and father, who view such internal oversight as treasonous. I can’t stomach the show, but the trailer is...

By Steven Greenhut

Wisconsin’s Republican Majority Survives Union Recall Elections

This past week, big labor attempted to undue Governor Scott Walker’s initiative to cure Wisconsin’s massive debt, incurred as a result of years of big labor collective bargaining gone wild. The plan was to recall votes on six state Senate Republicans in order to regain the majority in the Wisconsin senate, however, the plan failed...

By Dave Bego

Union Watch Highlights

Largest New York State Employees’ Union Accepts Wage and Benefits Concessions By Thomas Kaplan, August 16, 2011, New York Times Members of New York’s largest union of state employees, in a begrudging acknowledgment of the increasingly hostile mood toward public workers, have agreed to accept major wage and benefits concessions sought by Gov. Andrew M....

By Jack Dean

Poll Shows Growing Opposition to Unions

Public sector unions are hugely powerful in California and the nation. In California, about 17 percent of all employees work for government at the local, state or federal levels, and about 14 percent of all employees work for state or local governments. Currently, about 4 million Californians — just more than 10 percent of all Californians — are members...

By Lanny Ebenstein

Union Watch Highlights

Lost Angeles: The City of Angels goes to hell By Joel Kotkin, Summer 2011, City Journal Those “emperors” are the leaders of L.A.’s public sector. As business retreated, power in Los Angeles, largely by default, shifted toward the government and its workers. Through the long decline that started in the 1990s and accelerated after 2005,...

By Jack Dean

Why Are Businesses Sitting on the Sidelines?

The answer is very simple: government. The federal government needs to get out of the way and let businesses do what they do best, creating jobs and stimulating the economy. Government can do neither because it does not produce either products or services. Despite its good intentions and misguided political or social agendas, the federal...

By Dave Bego

Unions Continue Efforts to Suppress California Initiatives

We have already covered the recent statewide attack on initiatives in California by labor unions, but their offensive has just begun. In an earlier editorial posted on June 13th, entitled “California’s Legislature Continues to Propose Laws to Preserve Government Union Power,” we document no fewer than four bills submitted so far in 2011 by union-friendly...

By Editor