Posted on Sep 09, 2014 by LaborPains.org Team
Teachers unions are no different than private-sector unions when it comes to investing member money on political issues. The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and its local affiliates have pumped over $585,000 into controversial civil rights leader Al Sharpton’s National Action Network (NAN). But AFT’s New York City local president, Michael Mulgrew, is in hot […]
Posted on Aug 21, 2014 by LaborPains.org Team
There is a saying among lawyers that if both the facts and the law are against you, the correct strategy is to jump up and down and bang on the table. Facing a public that is increasingly skeptical of her failed education status quo, it seems Randi Weingarten has adopted that model. But her latest […]
Posted on Aug 19, 2014 by LaborPains.org Team
Last year, Randi Weingarten’s American Federation of Teachers (AFT) funded a shady political scheme to ensure that its man in Boston—Marty Walsh—won the city’s mayoral election. To refresh, AFT national slipped $480,000 to a New Jersey-based PAC (recall, Boston is not in New Jersey) which then bought advertisements under the name “One Boston” to hide […]
Posted on Aug 07, 2014 by LaborPains.org Team
The radical leadership of teacher unions like American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten are fighting a desperate rearguard action to protect the cushy status quo of de facto jobs-for-life for that fraction of incompetent teachers who (in the words of one union representative) “shouldn’t even be pumping gas.” Liberals and Democrats are asking their partisan […]
Posted on Aug 06, 2014 by LaborPains.org Team
The New York Times came out this week with a deep investigation into the problems faced by New York City’s public employee pension fund (NYCers). The fund is struggling to match projected returns promised to employees and retirees with actual returns, and city services are already beginning to suffer as general revenue supports the fund. […]
Posted on Jul 17, 2014 by LaborPains.org Team
Earlier this year, the United Federation of Teachers (UFT)—an affiliate of Randi Weingarten’s American Federation of Teachers (AFT)—got almost all that it wanted—including billions of dollars in “back pay”—in its negotiations with New York City and Mayor Bill de Blasio over a new contract. UFT heavily backed de Blasio’s election with $250,000 in “independent expenditures” […]
Posted on Jul 16, 2014 by LaborPains.org Team
Teachers unions in Massachusetts have tried before to obscure their involvement in political races: The Boston Teachers Union (BTU), an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) led by Randi Weingarten, was criticized by the Boston Globe for a shady political scheme designed to elect BTU’s favored mayoral candidate. Now, Massachusetts legislators are trying […]
Posted on Jul 08, 2014 by LaborPains.org Team
We noted a growing schism between teachers unions and their formerly reliable Democratic Party allies recently. Add another usual Big Labor backer saying Randi Weingarten’s American Federation of Teachers (AFT) has gone too far: The Washington Post editorial board — which had demanded a “compromise” card-check bill in 2009 — is not happy with the […]
