AFSCME’s War on Workers & Taxpayers: A Look Inside The AFSCME Playbook By LaborUnionReport, July 26, 2011, RedState.com Last year, when Larry Scanlon, the Director of Political Operations for one of the nation’s largest government unions, the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), stated “the more members coming in, the more dues...
There’s an old joke about the intimidation tactics of the Teamsters’ union. “How many Teamsters does it take to screw in a light bulb?” Answer: “Four — you gotta a problem with that?” As much as we would like to think that labor unions have abandoned their threatening and often illegal behavior to get what...
On July 25th the SEIU Local 1000 in California alerted their membership to a state ballot proposition that is working its way through the signature qualification process. In the “campaign news” section of their website, they posted a report entitled “Big business launches another attack on us,” where they state “a new initiative has been...
California’s Gov. Brown vetoes union-sponsored legislation By Paresh Dave, July 25, 2011, Sacramento Bee Gov. Jerry Brown today vetoed a union-sponsored measure that would have mandated the make-up of local civil service commissions. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees was the source of Assembly Bill 455 by Assemblywoman Nora Campos, D-San Jose, which...
The states ban union political bid-rigging; Obama demurs Editorial, July 19, 2011, Wall Street Journal One benefit of the squeeze on state and local budgets is that politicians are finally having to confront their sweetheart deals with labor unions. The latest reform movement is moving against project labor agreements, or PLAs, that limit bids on...
The agenda of California’s union-controlled state politicians is to do whatever they can to increase the amount of tax revenue flowing into the government, and increase the amount of dues revenue flowing into the coffers of government worker unions. This isn’t news, and any law they pass can be appropriately viewed in this context. But...
Teachers union to defend educators in cheating scandals By Greg Toppo, July 12, 2011, USA Today The head of the USA’s second-largest teachers union on Monday said local affiliates will defend the rights of teachers caught up in cheating scandals, including the one now unfolding in Atlanta. But she said cheating “under any circumstances is...
California legislators — who seem unable to come up with an honest balanced budget, who always seek tax increases, and who won’t pass even modest reforms to the state’s unfunded pension system or to anything else, for that matter — want to blame the government’s problems on voters, rather than themselves. Several bills, some of...
Unable to pass “Card Check” through legislative means, the Obama Administration and the NLRB is intent on achieving similar ends through the NLRB’s regulatory authority. This was previously discussed in my previous blogs, Card Check through Regulation vs. Legislation, Americans: Beware of Rogue NLRB and last week’s Rule by Fiat. This Thursday, July 6, I...
Vice President Biden woos teachers union; slams GOP hostility to public union contracts By Brian Slodysko, July 4, 2011, Chicago Tribune Raising the specter of labor fights picked by Republican governors with public workers unions across the country, Vice President Joe Biden lambasted what he called an increasingly union-hostile “new” Republican Party in remarks delivered...
Unions Fend Off Right-to-Work Bill in New Hampshire By Kris Maher, June 24, 2011, Wall Street Journal Amid a year of relentless challenges to their power around the country, unions notched a victory this week when New Hampshire Republicans failed to muster enough votes to override the governor’s veto of a right-to-work bill. Republican House...
To declare that union reform, public sector union reform in particular, is a nonpartisan cause, is certain to attract vociferous challenges from defenders of unions, but events continue to trump ideology. As documented in our earlier editorial “The War for the Democratic Party,” even in California, a state where public sector unions wield nearly absolute...
Just as the leopard cannot change its spots, President Obama cannot change his philosophical socialistic beliefs. It is amazing that close to 50% of the American public still cannot see past his thin veneer and continue to listen to his admittedly graceful rhetoric. Unfortunately, much as the spots are imbedded to the leopard, so too...
Sacramento police union president lambastes City Council By Ryan Lillis, June 21, 2011, Sacramento Bee Sacramento police union president Brent Meyer went off on City Hall and the City Council in a strongly worded letter to his members last week. Meyer wrote that “being a hypocrite seems to be woven deep into the fabric of...