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. Labor Unions’ Latest Problem: Obamacare’s ‘Cadillac Tax’ Harms Their Gold-Plated Health Insurance Plans By Avik Roy, August 6, 2013, Forbes Last month, we discussed the...
During the effort to curb collective bargaining rights for public employees in Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker suggested the exemption for public safety employees was necessary to avoid the possibility of a strike by “first responders.” The real reason may have been a political calculation; restricting the bargaining rights of all public employees including public safety...
An article in the August 3, 2013 UT San Diego newspaper (Labor Continues to Back Filner) reported on what political insiders in San Diego already recognized: Mayor Bob Filner’s “list of supporters has shrunk to just one major group – organized labor and its allies…labor is steadfastly refusing to call for him to leave.” It...
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. Senate ready to confirm new NLRB members By Alan Fram, July 30, 2013, Fresno Bee The Senate on Tuesday moved a step closer to approving...
In June 2011, the Department of Labor proposed sweeping changes to the rules that administer the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act. The changes, which could take effect as early as May 2013, seek to drastically re-interpret longstanding requirements on how employers can work with legal counsel to comply with labor laws. ► Current law requires...
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. Detroit bankruptcy case heads to Wednesday hearing on labor union pension challenges By Bernie Woodall, July 23, 2013, Reuters Labor unions trying to stop Detroit...
“Robots will steal your job, but that’s ok.” Federico Pistono Anyone who has recently driven through Mountain View, in the heart of Silicon Valley, is likely to have had the memorable experience of sharing the road with a car that has nobody inside. Google’s “autonomous cars” are being tested there, and apparently they drive better...
The U. S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear two cases in the next year which will determine whether persons will be protected in their exercise of the fundamental right to either choose whether to engage in union representation or to abstain from such representation, and to make such decision absent intimidation from either the...
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. Labor Unions: Obamacare Will ‘Shatter’ Our Health Benefits, Cause ‘Nightmare Scenarios’ Avik Roy Avik Roy, July 15, 2013, Forbes Labor unions are among the key...
That is, if anyone can actually compile accurate financial information. The state controller hasn’t produced a consolidated financial report for K-12 school districts and community colleges since 2000. The most recent data available from the state controller’s other “Consolidated Annual Financial Reports,” for cities, counties, special districts and redevelopment agencies, concern the fiscal year ended...
Without a single public hearing, the California Assembly passed Assembly Constitutional Amendment No. 8 (ACA 8), the most egregious attack on Prop. 13 ever to come out of the Legislature. ACA 8 would repeal Prop. 13’s requirement that local “special taxes” (taxes intended for a specific purpose or purposes) be approved by a two-thirds vote....
Editor’s Note: A push to dramatically increase the minimum wage isn’t limited to Washington DC. Earlier this year, Los Angeles mayoral candidate Wendy Gruel promised to push for a minimum wage of $15 per hour in that city. This report by UnionWatch contributor Mike Shedlock explains the impracticality and unintended negative consequences of mandating a...
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. Under The Radar Case Could Yield Most Significant Labor Law Case of the Last Decade By Scott J. Witlin, July 2013, National Law Review Last...
The four day BART strike that ended on July 5th provided ample evidence of how public sector union power can inflate wages – and expectations – far beyond what the rest of us may consider normal or fair. In a July 1st editorial entitled “Striking BART workers out of touch with financial reality,” the Contra...