Jack Dean is editor of PensionTsunami.org, formed to monitor developments in all three pension spheres nationwide — public employees, corporations and social security. PensionTsunami, like UnionWatch, is a project of the California Public Policy Center. Dean is a former newspaper editor and a past executive director of the Reason Foundation. He has been active in politics for more than three decades and currently serves as president of the Fullerton Association of Concerned Taxpayers.
Project labor agreements: Mass. taxpayers lose again Editorial, July 24, 2012, Boston Globe Although it lacks any compelling reasons for doing so, the Patrick administration is continuing to impose project labor agreements on some major state projects. Those agreements restrict work to contractors who agree to use union labor and abide by union work rules,...
By Jack Dean
Senate Republicans Block Campaign Donor Disclosure Bill By Jonathan D. Salant, July 17, 2012, Bloomberg The U.S. Senate didn’t advance legislation that would require nonprofit groups to reveal who donates the millions of dollars they spend on campaign ads. Yesterday’s vote on the Democratic proposal was 51-44, with 60 required to advance it. The measure,...
By Jack Dean
Political Spending by Unions Far Exceeds Direct Donations By Tom McGinty and Brody Mullins Organized labor spends about four times as much on politics and lobbying as generally thought, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis, a finding that shines a light on an aspect of labor’s political activity that has often been overlooked. Organized...
By Jack Dean
USA’s top teachers union losing members By Greg Toppo, July 3, 2012, USA TODAY The USA’s largest teachers union is losing members and revenue, potentially threatening its political clout. The National Education Association (NEA) has lost more than 100,000 members since 2010. By 2014, union projections show, it could lose a cumulative total of about...
By Jack Dean
Here Is What’s So Super About Super PACs By Chip Mellor, June 26, 2012, Forbes Media coverage of the 2012 election is dominated by talk about so-called “super PACs.” And, overwhelmingly, that coverage is negative. A Lexis search shows that The New York Times (both print and online) has mentioned super PACs more than 850...
By Jack Dean
California Public Unions Win Budget Concessions By Michael B. Marois and James Nash on June 18, 2012 The budget California’s Democratic- controlled Legislature sent to Governor Jerry Brown last week granted concessions to public employee unions even as talks continue on cutting programs for the poor. Democrats removed language that would have authorized the governor...
By Jack Dean
Business groups ask senators to overturn NLRB’s ‘micro-union’ decision By Kevin Bogardus, June 12, 2012, The Hill More than a half-dozen business groups are asking Senate appropriators to roll back a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decision that allows unions to form smaller bargaining units. In a letter sent Tuesday, trade associations including the U.S....
By Jack Dean
Michigan Is Big Labor’s Next Big Target By Shikha Dalmia, June 5, 2012, Reason.com Those who thought that Big Labor’s recall drive against Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker was its final attempt to maintain its lavish benefits at taxpayers’ expense should think again. Win or lose in Wisconsin today, it is already opening a new front...
By Jack Dean
Anti-labor forces eye Michigan By Steve Freiss, May 29, 2012, Politico A Republican governor signed a law that gives him broad union-busting powers. Liberals have collected thousands of signatures to take him on at the ballot box. And national conservatives are watching. Wisconsin might symbolize the national debate over collective bargaining rights, but just across...
By Jack Dean
Labor union hopes of ousting Wisconsin governor fade Chicago Tribune, May 22, 2012 Democrats and unions hoping to turn Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker out of office over his efforts to tame the power of organized labor are finding it tough going with only two weeks to go before a historic recall election. Just over a...
By Jack Dean
The Union Pension Bomb Editorial, May 14, 2012, Wall Street Journal Imagine the panic if investors discovered that many of the nation’s biggest public companies had hidden liabilities so large as to make them worth a fraction of their value. That’s something akin to the shock created by the recent Credit Suisse report on multi-employer...
By Jack Dean
Wisconsin Democrats pick challenger in governor’s recall Brendan O’Brien, May 8, 2012, Chicago Tribune Wisconsin Democratic primary voters went to the polls on Tuesday to pick a challenger to face Republican Scott Walker in a recall election next month, a closely watched test of labor union strength and barometer of political pressures in a battleground...
By Jack Dean
Union sues Indiana, says right-to-work law is slavery By Michael P. Tremoglie, May 1, 2012, Legal Newsline The International Union of Operating Engineers on April 18 amended the complaint of their previously filed lawsuit that asks a court to invalidate Indiana’s newly enacted right-to-work law. The amended complaint now alleges that the law violates the...
By Jack Dean
UAW weighing GE protest By Bryce G. Hoffman, April 24, 2012, The Detroit News The United Auto Workers will join other labor unions and activist organizations on Wednesday in what is being billed as a major protest aimed at disrupting General Electric Co.’s annual shareholders meeting — part of a nationwide effort, called the “99...
By Jack Dean
a new form will got here