Free Republic

In a move that portends a labor firestorm, San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed and four other city leaders filed papers on Tuesday aiming to put a public pension measure on the November 2014 statewide ballot. If approved, the measure would change the California Constitution to give state and local government authority to lower current employees’ pension and retiree health benefits prospectively.

Declaring that he wants to open up a “serious national debate” about public-sector unions, the Kentucky Republican came out swinging at a Friday event with the American Enterprise Institute. “They are the reason so many state and local municipalities are flat broke,” he said of unions that represent public employees at the local, state and federal levels of government. “They’re behind the unsustainable expansion of public pensions. They’re a major problem.”

Every time a government has a budget shortfall, the remedy is always to furlough or even to lay off workers. But all those workers could be retained and the job get done by simply reducing their pay-rates commensurately. I understand that furloughing and laying off generates publicity and exerts pressure. But why does no one ever offer the pay-cut alternative? Why not, for example, an across-the-board 10% pay-cut? I understand that many governments employees are stupidly permitted to belong to unions that can strike over pay issues, Wisconsin and Indiana notwithstanding, and that public-sector unions have contracts. Isn't it time...

Almost every state in the U.S. has made cuts to its public-employee pensions, seeking to dig out from the economic downturn, but so far the measures have fallen well short of bridging a nearly $1 trillion funding gap. Since 2009, 45 states have rolled back pension benefits for teachers, police, firefighters and other public workers, including cuts by Michigan and California this month. Next week, Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich is expected to sign legislation requiring, for example, that certain teachers work longer and pay more toward their pensions.

Discussion between court administrators and Clark County commissioners regarding court marshals — formerly known as bailiffs — served as a reminder Tuesday of a union issue simmering for months that is now part of a federal lawsuit.

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney on Monday said Chicago teachers are turning their backs on thousands of students and that President Barack Obama is rooting for the striking educators. Obama's top spokesman said the president has not taken sides but is urging both the teachers and the city to settle quickly. Chicago's mayor, Obama ally Rahm Emanuel, called Romney's statement "lip service"... .....Romney released a statement that promised to "side with the parents and students depending on public schools to give them the skills to succeed." He said he was "disappointed" with Chicago teachers, who walked off the job in...

Chicago teachers began walking the picket line for the first time in 25 years Monday morning, leaving parents to scramble for alternatives for their children. .....Steve Parsons, the lead picket who teaches AP psychology at the high school said Monday: “It’s all up to Mayor Emanuel. We all want to go back to the classrooms. The mayor is not valuing our opinions as educators.” .....Vitale said the contract amounted to a 16 percent raise over four years for the average teacher when factoring other increases. And the raises could not be rescinded for lack of funds — which is what...

Michael Hiltzik infers in his column Sunday that Proposition 32 is a big lie -- because it prohibits both corporations and labor unions such as the California Teachers Assn. from extracting involuntary political contributions from the paychecks of workers. Hiltzik argues that its prohibition of corporate deductions is of minor impact, but that union political fund-raising will be crippled. He is amazingly untroubled by the fact that taking such payroll deductions for political purposes without consent is patently immoral. Why should a worker have some of his forced union dues spent on candidates or causes that he doesn't agree with?...

(CNNMoney) -- Federal workers' jobs will be under fire if Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan win November's election. Both Romney and Ryan have made it clear that they think federal workers are one reason the nation's deficit is too high, and have talked about shrinking payrolls and cutting benefits. Unions, in particular, say they're concerned about Ryan, saying he has a record of "undermining" federal workers. Federal workers' pay has been frozen at 2010 levels, a move President Obama supported to save $60 billion from deficits over ten years. If Obama wins in November, the pay freeze is expected to...

El Monte Police Chief Thomas Armstrong oversaw a modestly sized department, with 120 officers But when Armstrong stepped down last year, he was paid nearly $430,000 The payday was possible thanks to a clause in Armstrong's contract that allowed him to accrue unlimited sick and vacation hours and sell them back to the city at the end of his career. By the time he retired at age 56, Armstrong cashed out for roughly $200,000. And he's not alone. Similar payouts have been made in city governments across the state. Those employees include Roy Campos, Downey's former police chief, who was...

I’ve been a strong union advocate all my life. For many decades, union support has been able to accomplish many wonderful things for working people, including a living wage. But times have changed; in many cases, unions have not, particularly with public service unions.

Despite objections from the mayors of California's ten largest cities, the Assembly last week approved Assembly Bill 1692 by Fremont Assemblyman Bob Wieckowski. The bill will make it harder for cities to seek bankruptcy protection. It reneges on a carefully crafted compromise measure approved just six months ago that requires financially beleaguered cities to enter into good-faith negotiations with their creditors—including most significantly, public employee unions—before filing for bankruptcy protection. Stockton was in the midst of that mediation when the bill to undo it began moving in the Legislature. Just how bad are things in Stockton? Well how's this for...

The manufactured Madison, Wis., mob is not the movement the White House was hoping for. Both may find themselves at the wrong end of the populist pitchfork.While I generally defend collective bargaining and private-sector unions (lots of airline pilots in my family), it is the abuse by public unions and their bosses that pushes centrists like me to the GOP.It is the right and duty of citizens to petition their government. The Tea Party and Republicans seek to limit government growth to protect their pocketbooks. Public-union bosses want to increase the cost of government to protect their racket.Public unions are big money. Paul...

Public-employee unions in Wisconsin have experienced a dramatic drop in membership -- by more than half for the second-biggest union -- since a law championed by Republican Gov. Scott Walker sharply curtailed their ability to bargain over wages and working conditions. Now with Mr. Walker facing a recall vote Tuesday, voters will decide whether his policies in the centrist state should continue -- or whether they have gone too far. The election could mark a pivot point for organized labor. Mr. Walker's ouster would derail the political career of a rising Republican star and send a warning to other elected...

By the end of today we will know which Democrat will be running against Gov. Scott Walker in the June 5 recall election, and if the polls are right it will be Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. Barrett’s campaign will shift into high gear, and for the next month we will be bombarded with campaign ads addressing assorted issues carefully chosen to distract us from the most important issue: Barrett’s promise to “use any vehicle I can” to reinstate collective bargaining privileges to public unions. But Barrett also promises to “reunite” Wisconsin. Now let’s think about that. Do you believe Wisconsinites...

Whenever we write about the compensation of county firefighters (the current average is about $175,000), someone chimes in that it’s unfair to add pension contributions to the total. Adding money that firefighters won’t see until they retire is misleading, they contend, making it look like they take home much more than they actually do. The truth is, according to a new book by former Clark County Manager Thom Reilly, too little focus has been put on the hidden costs of pensions. So little, Reilly says, that pension expenses soon may bankrupt many governmental bodies across the country if something isn’t...

What’s the old adage? How can you can tell when a politician is lying? His lips move. Gov. Jerry Brown, who in an earlier incarnation insisted he detested the idea of more taxes, now says Californians must tax themselves even more. Why is that? It’s for the children, the governor assures us. What cold-hearted person would be against a few billion more in taxes when it’s for the children? The trouble is, not even that much is true...

Considering the state of this state and the condition of the world, the so-called "Public Employees Bill of Rights Act" might be mistaken for satire. The problem is, Assembly Bill 1655, is serious. It aims to give unionized California government workers "more workplace discipline protections and first dibs on state government work," as the Sacramento Bee put it...

A Las Vegas attorney will launch a legal and political effort this week aimed at establishing and funding a parallel state budget, beyond the reach of the Legislature and governor. Kermitt Waters seeks to place on the November ballot a proposed constitutional amendment calling for a sweeping overhaul of Nevada’s tax system — abolishing property taxes on single-family homes among other things while identifying and allocating new tax revenue. Waters said last week his proposal is borne of frustration with the status quo in Carson City. The state’s 63 lawmakers represent the powerful interests who fund their campaigns, he said,...

“All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service. It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations when applied to public personnel management. The very nature and purposes of Government make it impossible for administrative officials to represent fully or to bind the employer in mutual discussions with Government employee organizations.” - Franklin Delano Roosevelt In an email conversation leaked this past week by the left-leaning advocacy group Progress Michigan, Mackinac Center senior legislative analyst and CapCon commentator Jack McHugh wrote, “Our goal is (to) outlaw government collective bargaining...

Public unions threaten democracy which is why the left supports public unions. All public unions should lose their collective bargaining status. While public servants should be allowed to form associations and while individual public servants should be allowed to get involved in politics to the degree that such involvement doesn’t pose as a conflict of interest as it relates to their public function, public unions per-se should be disbanded. Such a measure would lead to a better, a more efficient, and a more honest government. The idea that public servants, paid out of taxpayer funds and conducting public functions, should...

Public unions threaten democracy which is why the left supports public unions. All public unions should lose their collective bargaining status. While public servants should be allowed to form associations and while individual public servants should be allowed to get involved in politics to the degree that such involvement doesn’t pose as a conflict of interest as it relates to their public function, public unions per-se should be disbanded. Such a measure would lead to a better, a more efficient, and a more honest government. The idea that public servants, paid out of taxpayer funds and conducting public functions, should...

For some reason the 1986 Bangles song "Walk Like an Egyptian" comes to mind, especially the line of "all the cops at the donut shop".

A compensation system based on additional academic credit and experience makes sense only if those factors are actually related to classroom effectiveness. They aren't. Two decades of empirical research in education have confirmed at least one fact that just about everyone already knew: There are good teachers and bad teachers. The wide variation in teacher quality suggests that some teachers deserve higher salaries than others, and indeed today's public school systems have a tiered system of rigid salary ladders in which teachers are given extra compensation for factors commonly thought to be related to effectiveness. In a new study soon...

Here’s the latest on who makes what from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (whose workers, we’ll point out here, happen to be public employees): Workers in the private sector made an average of $28.13 per hour in total compensation in June (wages contributed $19.81 to that, and benefits added $8.32)While state and local government workers made an average of $40.40 per hour (wages were $26.41, and benefits, $13.99). Of course, the amount one earns is a function of the skills and education one possesses. Our colleague Jan Norman tells you a bit more about the breakdown by job type here.It is often argued that many state and local government workers...

This summer, something remarkable happened: 45,000 Verizon workers went on strike, and no one — save a few customers dealing with service interruptions — much cared. The communications behemoth wanted more than 100 concessions on health care, pensions, sick days and outsourcing. Unions representing the workers said Verizon sought to void 50 years of collective-bargaining gains for middle-class workers, despite posting a 2.8% jump in revenue in the second quarter, up to $27.5 billion. Thirteen days later, those on strike went back to work on good faith, the company guaranteeing nothing other than continued talks. It’s an indictment of how...

Should public sector unions be curbed? Is it time to end the ability of governmental employees to form unions? Raymond La Jeunesse, Jr., vice president and legal director of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, believes so. La Jeunesse, who has more than 40 years experience helping employees litigate against compulsory unionism - including arguing four cases

The story is almost old hat these days. Despite constant warnings to be careful what you post on Facebook, a disgruntled employee who is irritated at a boss, a customer or a co-worker, takes to the social networking site to vent some spleen — and ends up getting disciplined or even fired. It’s a fate that has befallen a North Carolina waitress at a pizza restaurant, a Philadelphia Eagles stadium worker and a group of airline workers in recent months. But what if it’s the boss who decides to use Facebook to complain about an employee?

Clark County commissioners approved Tuesday the payment of $150,000 to settle a lawsuit by a former University Medical Center data technician diagnosed with claustrophobia, a condition that arose when she was forced to work in a cubicle. Jayne Feshold was a data technician hired by the county-run hospital in 1999. Her suit says she "worked without incident" until May 2007. Then the hospital's medical records department was moved to a new building and she was assigned to work in an area "consisting of a small cubicle workspace instead of a more open environment."

DURHAM — A University of New Hampshire professor who exposed himself to a mother and her 17-year-old daughter in Milford nearly two years ago will keep his job, according to an arbitrator’s ruling provided to the New Hampshire Union Leader. UNH has been trying to fire Edward Larkin, a professor of German, since September 2009, about two months after he showed his genitals in a Market Basket parking lot. Larkin contested his termination, arguing it violated the terms of the faculty union contract, and was put on leave, earning his full salary of about $88,000, as the dispute dragged on....

Enter Nick Berardino, the AFL-CIO’s General Manager of the Orange County Employees Union; the stereotypical “thug” that speaks of his Italian heritage and jokes about showing up at Orange County Republican Party Chairman Scott Baugh’s home’s when upset with him, “and I don’t want to go there to deliver cannoli and a little bit of wine.” Mr. Berardino it seems, not only likes to joke about these physical taunts but apparently likes to “intercept” other people’s email in an effort to know all the covert moves of his opponents. That’s what he told an audience recently - “We have intercepted...

One thing about public unions is that they are seemingly immune to the effects of economics. They operate like a monopolist, but are actually a monopsony. Because of the conflicted relationship between the legislators and unions, they are able to continually try and exert their influence as the government grows. We are seeing that phenomena in the recent Boeing versus NLRB kerfuffle. Two of the three Obama appointments were made during a Senate recess, and thus subject to no Senate scrutiny.

...Voter support for rolling back benefits available to few outside the public sector comes as Gov. Jerry Brown and Republicans in the Legislature haggle over changes to the pension system as part of state budget negotiations. Such benefits have been a flashpoint of national debate this year, and the poll shows that Californians are among those who perceive public retirement plans to be too costly. Voters appear ready to embrace changes not just for future hires but also for current employees who have been promised the benefits under contract. Seventy percent of respondents said they supported a cap on pensions...

This is some sick stuff. Far left teachers are now teaching first graders the “Boycott Big Business” song for

The problem wasn’t fidelity or commitment — it was Gov. Scott Walker’s collective bargaining law. For some families, friends or even young couples in love, the debate over the bill and its move to curtail public worker union rights has become a dealbreaker that is fraying nerves and relationships all over the state.

But there is something deeper here than just favor-selling and vote-buying. There is something that almost amounts to a twisted idealism in the Democrats' crusade. They are fighting, not just to preserve their special privileges, but to preserve a social ideal. Or rather, they are fighting to maintain the illusion that their ideal system is benevolent and sustainable. Unionized public-sector employment is the distilled essence of the left's moral ideal. No one has to worry about making a profit. Generous health-care and retirement benefits are provided to everyone by the government. Comfortable pay is mandated by legislative fiat. The work...

Members of Wisconsin State Employees Union, AFSCME Council 24, have begun circulating letters to businesses in southeast Wisconsin, asking them to support workers’ rights by putting up a sign in their windows. If businesses fail to comply, the letter says, “Failure to do so will leave us no choice but (to) do a public boycott of your business. And sorry, neutral means 'no' to those who work for the largest employer in the area and are union members."

The war declared on struggling middle class taxpayers by greedy Public Union bosses has escalated now to the point that supporters of raping more tax dollars from an impoverished middle class have turned to “International Law,” once again ignoring America’s sovereignty and our constitution, placing United Nations mandates in their place. Ordinarily I’d ignore such efforts to circumvent our sovereignty and rely instead on our own constitution, but since greedy public union bosses and those they have misled wish to take this avenue, I’ll play along. They may not like that too much, though. I first saw this tactic of...

Over the weekend, public employee unions held a rally in Madison where the list of speakers included Bill Franks of the American Federation of Teachers. Franks had this to say about rank-and-file Republicans: ... the would-be Republicans, anybody making $30-40,000 who think they can afford to be a Republican is not living in any kind of reality. Real Republicans don't recognize them. Because the real "haves" are them. And these people who think they can afford these [conservative] principles, they can't afford them. That's not in their self interest. That's what we gotta cure as a pathology. This is a...

Dear Governor: Here on the Ides of March, as we recall the death of a tyrant, we have learned from your experiences in Wisconsin (and soon all over), that when Democrats lose elections... “democracy has failed"! In their twisted outlook, they have NO obligation to accept the election results! In bizarre irony... While President Obama hosted a seminar on the "crisis" of bullying , his union affiliated supporters trashed the people's capitol in Madison and threatened GOP legislators. All in protest of your attempts to curtail the public union stranglehold on your state, and balance the budget. Now there's news...

Secretary of State Doug La Follette said after spending much time talking to people this weekend and thinking over when to publish the collective bargaining bill, he'd decided the bill will be published March 25. La Follette, a Democrat, said he wants to give local officials and employees time to sort out the ramifications of the new law. "There literally are hundreds of school boards, municipalities, cities and their employees who are working together -- that's what impressed me, both management and labor working together -- that are tyring to sort out the best way to deal with this," La...

The Wisconsin Legislature has abolished nearly all collective bargaining rights for public employees and required them to pay a portion of their retirement benefits. We hope this starts a badly needed nationwide trend. . .

Republicans in the Wisconsin statehouse had enough of Democratic Party antics designed to insulate its union supporter base from the pains of the economic malaise affecting the rest of us. The state Senate voted Wednesday to ban public-sector employees from entering into collective bargaining arrangements. Union thugs encircling the capitol building made a spectacle of themselves as the Assembly turned to consider the bill yesterday. Meanwhile in Washington, congressional Democrats continue to hold out against the most milquetoast of spending-reduction proposals, despite the dire circumstances of the nation’s finances. The longer the squabbles in the state and national capitals drag...

Public sector unions have long been a major thorn in the side of European governments and one of the major factors in their budget woes. In many countries such as Greece, they have virtually brought the nation to its financial knees and many unions throughout the hard hit countries of Europe still refuse to accept the austerity measures necessary to stabilize their various economies. The recent riots in Athens, Paris and London were fore-runners to the lunacy taking place in Madison, Wisconsin. Today in Germany, there is a strike by the Deutsche Bahn (government owned railway) train drivers, thus...

This thirty second video will show you everything that is wrong with public sector unions. The budget debate in Wisconsin has forced a long-overdue discussion about public sector unions. Always a questionable proposition, unionization of the public sector, for a period, seemed a luxury we could afford. Yeah, public workers had job security and great benefits, but their pay was lower, so it seemed a fair trade-off. Over the last couple decades that implicit understanding was upended…public sector pay moved much higher and those great benefits were jacked up on steroids. Worse, we’ve recently learned that the benefits aren’t actually...

Every good teacher knows it is not always necessary to tell a child something in order to teach a lesson. I remember my fifth grade teacher used to count to ten when us hooligans got too loud and lippy, and everyone would quiet down. She didn't have to say the words, "children, quiet down." Another teacher of mine accomplished the same task by shutting off the lights, the sensory reaction was immediate, there she was, her hands still on the switches, and everyone's head turning toward her, mouth shut, a half-thought forming in their minds, "hey, who turned off the...

The image is inescapable. The Boston Police Strike of 1919, the ultimate vision of public employee strikes. Stores looted, people robbed, mobs running loose, and a governor tersely stating: “There is no right to strike against the public safety by anybody, anytime.” Massachusetts Governor Calvin Coolidge fired all striking police officers and called in the National Guard to restore order. London and Liverpool had witnessed earlier strikes by their bobbies, with similar disruption. Winnipeg had suffered a strike by all of its municipal employees. Chicago and New Jersey had seen strikes by transport workers. Boston had also gone through a...

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A Missouri House committee considered legislation Monday that would require labor unions to get written permission from their members before deducting dues from their paychecks. [Snip] Schoeller, R-Willard, said workers should not be forced to give money to union campaigns that might support a candidate the worker does not like. "It's a matter of our Constitution protecting our political freedom," he said. "I think that a person ought to be able to consent whether or not that (political expression) happens."

We know these things for sure since Obama took office: 1.) There is nothing he can do that is viewed as too extreme to the state run media 2.) The state-run media is so corrupt today that you will never hear the full truth to any story 3.) The state-run media will do whatever it has to do to influence public opinion to support their radical leftist agenda Yesterday the New York Times-CBS released a poll on the public employee union battle taking place in Wisconsin and across the nation. The numbers of protesters at the Wisconsin capitol are dwindling,...