College Board in Orange County Lets Unions Take Over Taxpayer Oversight

By Kevin Dayton
03/15/2016
Unions continue to undermine the independence and effectiveness of citizens bond oversight committees at California school and community college districts. In December 2015, the elected board of trustees for the Rancho Santiago Community College District voted 4-2 to reject an application from the President & CEO of the long-established Orange County Taxpayers Association to serve on...

TAGS: Proposition 39 (2000), Rancho Santiago Community College District

Caught and Exposed: Secret Union Dealings of a College District

By Kevin Dayton
12/16/2014
The Rancho Santiago Community College District in Orange County (California) declared in a December 8, 2014 letter that it “unconditionally commits that it will cease, desist from, and not repeat the challenged past action…” That action involves secret dealings with unions. A construction trade association was willing to threaten litigation to make this happen. And to emphasize...

TAGS: José Solorio, Project Labor Agreements, Rancho Santiago Community College District

Will California Union Officials Get to Discuss Project Labor Agreements in Closed Session?

By Kevin Dayton
11/26/2013
A September 17, 2013 article in www.UnionWatch.org reported on “the end of public deliberation and votes for Project Labor Agreements in the legislative branch of state and local governments. Instead, backroom deals are made in the executive branch to give unions control of the work.” Now another union strategy has been discovered for evading public scrutiny:...

TAGS: Los Angeles/Orange County Building and Construction Trades Council, Project Labor Agreements, Rancho Santiago Community College District, San Diego Unified School District, State Building and Construction Trades Council of California

Election Gains for California Unions in 2012 Drive Push for Project Labor Agreements

By Kevin Dayton
05/07/2013
The explosion of Project Labor Agreements on government projects in California since the November 6 elections is not surprising to long-time observers of labor union initiatives at local governments. In the six months after the November 2008 Presidential Election, emboldened and confident construction trade unions won Project Labor Agreements at eleven local governments in California. It...

TAGS: California high speed rail, California High-Speed Rail Authority, City of San Diego, Coast Community College District, Ohlone Community College District, Rancho Santiago Community College District, San Diego Convention Center Expansion, San Diego Unified School District, Solano Community College District, Sonoma County

Orange County Project Labor Agreements: One Advances, One Gets Jammed

By Kevin Dayton
04/09/2013
Within three days last week, elected boards of two of the four community college districts in Orange County, California voted on proposals to require their construction contractors to sign Project Labor Agreements with construction trade unions as a condition of work. 1. Rancho Santiago Community College District: Anaheim Hills, Garden Grove, Irvine, Orange, Santa Ana,...

TAGS: Coast Community College District, José Solorio, Los Angeles/Orange County Building and Construction Trades Council, Project Labor Agreements, Rancho Santiago Community College District