San Bernardino’s bankruptcy plan favors CalPERS By Paloma Esquivel & Joe Mozingo, May 18, 2015, Los Angeles Times San Bernardino’s plan to exit bankruptcy has at least one winner, plenty of losers and could have repercussions for other California cities. The city will pay every penny of the almost $50 million it owes to the...
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Why CalPERS retirees flee California May 12, 2015, Sacramento News This city’s Spanish name recalls grassy, spring-fed meadows that nourished the first farms here and gave laborers relief from desert heat. Now Las Vegas draws a new generation of settlers epitomized by California transplant Joe Beck: CalPERS pensioners who have made Sin City their No....
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Exposed: Audit of DWP Non-Profit Trusts Produces Surprise Roadblocks to Transparency By Paul Hatfield, May 5, 2015, CityWatchLA.com By now, most of you are familiar with the audit report of the controversial non-profit trusts issued by City Controller Ron Galperin. If not, take the time to read it – at least the Executive Summary. The...
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Labor unions take forced fees from 550,000 nonmembers By Jason Hart, April 27, 2015, Watchdog.org You make it, we’ll take it. To keep their jobs, 554,799 American workers were forced last year to pay union agency fees. In the 25 states without right-to-work laws, unions can take mandatory “fair share” or “agency” fees from workers...
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Pension cost liability vexes Humboldt County By Daniel Mintz, April 21, 2015, Mad River Union With the county’s budget in a state of recovery, supervisors are considering ways to put a dent in a $220 million pension funding liability. The impacts and options for addressing the county’s unfunded California Public Employee Retirement System (PERS) liability...
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Steve Glazer, Blazing a Trail By Joel Fox, April 14, 2015, Fox&Hounds A Democrat will be elected in the Senate District 7 special election next month but depending on which Democrat is elected the result could change the course of California political history. Steve Glazer, the Orinda mayor and former Jerry Brown advisor is a...
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California teachers unions face new legal challenge over dues By Emma Brown, April 7, 2015, Washington Post Four California teachers are suing their unions over the use of member dues for political activities, opening a new legal front against unions that are already facing a separate challenge to their ability to collect dues from all...
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Republicans take aim at union ‘official time’ for federal employees By Josh Hicks, March 31, 2015, Washington Post House and Senate Republicans have introduced bills to bar federal employees from performing union work on the government’s dime, a practice that has been allowed since 1978 under the Civil Service Reform Act. The measures, introduced by...
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Union-backed bill would mandate up to 10 weeks of family leave, at higher pay By Allen Young, March 24, 2015, Sacramento Business Journal Workers would receive higher wages and up to 10 weeks off when they leave work to care for sick family members or to bond with a newborn, under a California bill that...
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California Democrat plans ballot proposal to cut public employee pensions By Kevin Martinez, March 17, 2015, wsws.org Chuck Reed, the former Democratic Mayor of San Jose, is planning to reintroduce a ballot measure that would eliminate constitutional protections for public employee pensions in California, Reuters reported last week. (read article) LAPD officers union approves proposed...
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It’s not just right-to-work: Bills targeting unions multiply By Jonathon Mattise and Nicholas Riccardi, March 10, 2015, Associated Press It’s not just Gov. Scott Walker. Republican lawmakers in statehouses nationwide are working to weaken organized labor, sometimes with efforts that directly shrink union membership. Walker’s signing of right-to-work legislation in Wisconsin on Monday puts his...
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Latest attempt to end BART strikes deserves high marks for creativity Contra Costa Times editorial, March 3, 2015, Bay Area News Group Assemblywoman Catharine Baker’s bill to end BART strikes highlights the difficulty of crafting legislation that’s politically viable, has teeth and doesn’t produce unintended consequences. Baker, R-San Ramon, won election last year in a swing East...
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With Contract Negotiations at Impasse, Los Angeles Teachers Edge Closer to Strike By Stephen Sawchuk on February 23, 2015, Education Week The Los Angeles district and its teachers’ union have hit a formal impasse in contract negotiations, with pay and teacher evaluation among the top issues. The impasse means that the state’s Public Employment Relations Board...
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Are private unions cooling toward Democrats? By Shannon Bream, February 17, 2015, FoxNews.com President Obama has long been a friend of organized labor, wholeheartedly supported by unions that helped boost him to victory in both his presidential campaigns.But increasingly, there now is a divide between unions in the public and private sector when it comes...
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