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. Big Labor and Moody’s Pounce on Ruling Against Wisconsin Union Law By Alex Newman, September 24, 2012, New American Big Labor and Moody’s Pounce on...
Whatever your views concerning the wisdom of the proposed $520 million expansion of the San Diego Convention Center and the related expansion of the adjacent Hilton San Diego Bayfront Hotel, you should be outraged at the shameless stunt of top San Diego labor union officials and their lawyers at the September 19, 2012 meeting of the...
On September 9th the Contra Costa Times ran an editorial denouncing Prop. 32, a California citizen’s initiative that will appear on the state ballot in November, joining their sister publication the San Jose Mercury to call it a “scam” (ref. “Proposition 32 is deceptive and should be rejected“). The Contra Costa Times editorial staff provides...
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. Chicago can’t afford to pay healthy people not to work Editorial, September 18, 2012, Chicago Sun-Times Public employees who are permanently injured in the line...
In today’s Sacramento Bee an article by Jon Ortiz entitled “What California state workers pay in union dues and fees” provided current data on the revenue of unions organizing state workers. It only takes a minor exercise in extrapolation to use this data to estimate the annual revenue of unions organizing all government workers in...
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. Chicago teacher strike poses test for labor as teacher unions see influence wane By Associated Press, September 11, Washington Post The massive teacher strike in...
The average teacher in Chicago makes $76,000 a year for nine months of work. They were offered 16% salary increase spread over four years. Given the system has a $665 million deficit this year and a bigger one next year, I am wondering why there should be a raise at all. Nonetheless, the New York...
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’s Pension Reform Legislation Allows Cities to Bypass Collective Bargaining By Ed Mendel, September 4, 2012, Calpensions Pension reform approved by the Legislature last week...
Much is said about class warfare in contemporary America, and there’s justifiable anger at the impoverishment of much of the middle and working classes. The Pew Research Center recently dubbed the 2000s a “lost decade” for middle-income earners — some 85% of Americans in that category feel it’s now more difficult to maintain their standard...
Back in the days before he joined the dark side of “The Force,” Arnold Schwarzenegger was a compelling advocate for taxpayers. He noted that “from the time they get up in the morning and flush the toilet, they’re taxed. Then they go and get the cup of coffee, they’re taxed….This goes on all day long....
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. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s pep talk for California Editorial, August 28, 2012, Orange County Register While California residents are justly proud of many elements...
During recent travels to Madison and Milwaukee for some research about reform-minded Gov. Scott Walker’s survival of a union-backed recall in June, I found little residual anger among the friendly folks there, despite the campaign’s seemingly endless pitched political battles that divided families and led to angry water-cooler discussions. Perhaps the central issue – Walker’s...
The key to understanding Golden State politics is knowing that the most powerful forces in Sacramento by a wide margin are the California Teachers Association and the California Federation of Teachers. Using union dues and benefiting from the bizarrely enduring notion that what is good for teachers is good for students, the CTA and CFT...
More than 55% of voters favor California’s Prop. 32 By Jon Ortiz, August 20, 2012, Sacramento Bee More than half of California voters favor Proposition 32, according to new poll by the California Business Roundtable and Pepperdine University, although the support for the measure has declined in the last two weeks. The decline is probably...