Exclusive Interview with Rebecca Friedrichs

By Scott Kaufman
03/22/2016
Rebecca Friedrichs, a third-grade teacher in the Savanna School District, which serves portions of northwest Orange County, is the lead plaintiff in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, a lawsuit brought by several teachers that challenged the hegemonic power of their union to collect fees from non-union members. The challenge, made on First Amendment grounds, could...

TAGS: Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association

Big Labor’s Rollercoaster of Emotions

By Dave Bego
02/19/2016
The unfortunate and untimely passing of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has Big Labor bosses and their liberal political allies cheering. Scalia would have been the decisive vote in a major Supreme Court decision affecting labor unions scheduled for this June (see Why Antonin Scalia was a jurist of colossal consequence). Justice Scalia’s influence would...

TAGS: Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, public sector unions

Supreme Court Tone Appears to Favor Ending Agency Fees to Unions

By Jason Hart
02/05/2016
Last month a group of California teachers fighting mandatory union fees at the U.S. Supreme Court had, by all appearances, a good day. Supreme Court justices seemed receptive to the arguments brought by teachers in the Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association case. If the case is successful, Rebecca Friedrichs and other government workers across the...

TAGS: collective bargaining, Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, Mackinac Center for Public Policy

Friedrichs Means Choice for Children and Teachers

By RiShawn Biddle
01/13/2016
It goes without saying that education and economics go hand in hand. For most parents, regardless of race or class, part of the American Dream is for our children to attend safe, family friendly, high-quality schools with great principals, teachers and support staff. As parents, we imagine that special day when our children graduate high...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, National Education Association, U.S. Supreme Court

The Enemies of Choice

By Larry Sand
12/29/2015
The teachers unions’ fight against parental and teacher choice is not going well for them. Teacher union membership is dwindling. In fact, it has dipped below 50 percent nationwide, down from a high of almost 70 percent in 1993. Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana, having  become “right-to-work” (RTW) states over the past several years, have given...

TAGS: Act 10, Charter schools, Education Next, educational savings accounts, Fordham Institute, Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, Larry Sand, National Education Association, Right to Work, tax-credit scholarships, teachers union, Tom Gantert, vouchers

The National Education Association's Stagnant Finances

By RiShawn Biddle
12/18/2015
As Dropout Nation reported last week, National Education Association has had to deal with declining rank-and-file numbers as well as prop up affiliates struggling with pension woes and other issues. None of this, by the way, includes the nation’s largest teachers’ union’s own virtually-insolvent defined-benefit pension. Yet as NEA has shown in its 2014-2015 financial...

TAGS: American Federation of Teachers, Dropout Nation, Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, National Education Association, RiShawn Biddle, Service Employees International Union, U.S. Department of Labor

The Friedrichs Free Rider Fraud

By Larry Sand
07/07/2015
The Supreme Court’s decision to hear the Friedrichs case has the unions in a tizzy. On June 30th, the Supreme Court decided to hear Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association et al, a case that could seriously change the way the public employee unions (PEUs) do business. If the plaintiffs are victorious, teachers, nurses, sanitation workers,...

TAGS: "free rider", AFL-CIO, AFSCME, AFT, American Federation of Teachers, CTA, Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, Heritage Foundation, James Sherk, Koch Brothers, Larry Sand, Mike Antonucci, National Education Association, National Labor Relations Act, NEA, public employee unions, Right to Work, Rodda Act, seiu, teachers union

Union-dues case moves closer to Supreme Court

By Private: Gloria Romero
11/25/2014
Sometimes you win by losing. That’s precisely what occurred last week, when the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted the motion by Rebecca Friedrichs’ attorneys to decide her case (Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association) on the basis of the pleadings, without a trial or additional oral arguments. The “loss” actually means that plaintiffs –...

TAGS: Center for Individual Rights, Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, Friedrichs vs. the CTA, Gloria Romero, Harris v. Quinn