UnionWatch has completed another survey of California voters to measure attitudes towards special interest politics, with an emphasis on the influence of big corporations and public employee unions. Here are the principal findings and conclusions. Interviews with 605 randomly selected individuals were conducted between February 27th and March 3rd, 2011. The margin of error associated...
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Earlier this week the Sacramento Bee hosted a chat on the topic “Should States Rethink Collective Bargaining.” In addition to journalists from the Bee, participants included Steve Greenhut, editor of CalWatchdog.org, and Art Pulaski, the chief officer of the California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO. During the hour-long discussion, the topic of public sector pensions came up...
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Conservatives have been pointing out for years that the unintended consequences of big government programs often do more harm than good to the minority communities they are designed to help – and at last conservative reformers are not only being joined by good-government liberals, but also by the new conservative members of minority communities. Revelations...
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Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. But when the imitator inverts the meaning of the phrase they’re imitating, clarification is called for. Such is the case with the esteemed Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, who has penned an essay in today’s Wall Street Journal entitled “Scott Walker’s False Choice.” According to Trumka, Wisconsin’s...
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It should come as no surprise that Democrats in Sacramento are diligently attempting to pry a handful of Republican legislators away from their party in order to attain the 2/3rds vote necessary to place a tax increase onto the ballot in a special election. But as this lobbying effort works its way through the halls...
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Dick Morris, who was President Clinton’s pollster for 20 years, and has done polling for 30 Senators and Governors and 14 presidents or prime ministers in foreign countries, has just released polling data examining Wisconsin voter attitudes towards public sector unions and public sector employee compensation in that state. His findings underscore what appears to...
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While attention focuses on the battle in Wisconsin between a Republican Governor and public employee unions who overwhelmingly support Democrats, it is in California where the future role of public sector unions in politics is being most severely tested. Because in California, Democrats exercise nearly absolute control over the state’s political agenda, and as a...
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UnionWatch recently commissioned a second survey of 800 voters in California to further explore public support for measures to rein in the power of public employee unions. Here are the principle findings and conclusions. The interviews were conducted between December 12th and December 16th, 2010. The margin of error associated with the results is +/-...
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Earlier this week UnionWatch posted an analysis that estimated about two-thirds of California’s state budget covers state employee compensation expenses. This was in response to a widely quoted estimate that the number was only about 12%. Due to the huge disparity in these claims, and the implications having the correct number may have on the...
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Yesterday the Detroit News, as part of its “Labor Voices” series, published a guest editorial by the President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, James Hoffa, entitled “American ills not caused by unions.” In this editorial Hoffa made many statements that require a rebuttal, starting with this: “Across the country, new governors and new legislatures...
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Editor’s Note: Given the sensitive nature of the conclusions herein, and based on informed criticism from many who commented and emailed in response to this post, a 2nd, more in-depth analysis was posted on this topic on Feb. 11th, entitled “What Percent of California’s State AND Local Budgets Are Employee Compensation.” In that more thorough...
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In the wake of the 2010 mid-term elections there are several state governors and legislatures exploring ways to limit the influence of public sector unions. This is occurring primarily in states that are newly under Republican control (26 states have Republicans controlling both state houses, 29 states have republican governors, and and impressive 21 states...
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In a meticulously detailed press release issued on February 2nd, Prime Healthcare Services (PHS), the largest for-profit hospital system in California, announced they are victim of an extortion campaign by the Service Employees International Union – United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU) over the past year. What PHS is going through is a classic example of...
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The fact that pension finance is a relatively poorly understood area of employee compensation doesn’t let us off the hook to try to understand it. Certainly policymakers should have had a better understanding of what they were getting taxpayers into. During the bubble years of the internet and continuing right up until a couple of...
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