Posted on Apr 09, 2015 by LaborPains.org Team
California courtrooms—site of a major victory for school reformers against teachers unions’ defense of tenure—could soon be home to a big debate over employee rights. An education reform group (along with four public schoolteachers) has sued the state’s two teachers unions, affiliated with the National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers (AFT). EdSource reports […]
Posted on Oct 09, 2014 by LaborPains.org Team
This week, the Washington Examiner restated its position that the Employee Rights Act (ERA), a widely supported piece of labor reform legislation currently before Congress, would expand the opportunities for employees to have their voices heard in the workplace. Discussing the injustice created by effectively compelling employees to support union political activism (opting out is […]
Posted on Apr 14, 2014 by LaborPains.org Team
Last week, the Supreme Court ruled that “aggregate limits” — maximum totals on contributions to all candidates and party committees combined — on individuals’ election contributions were unconstitutional in a case titled McCutcheon v. FEC. This ruling annoyed Big Labor, which enjoys 10 of the top 14 spots in the ranking of organization contributors to […]
Posted on Apr 03, 2014 by LaborPains.org Team
The Missouri State House of Representatives passed a bill this week that would provide public-sector employees the right to opt out of automatic deduction of dues and agency fees paid to unions. Although Missouri public employees are not currently protected by a “right to work” law that allows them to refrain from paying any dues […]
Posted on Mar 26, 2014 by LaborPains.org Team
Unions used to be the leading source of organizational political contributions. A quick look at the Opensecrets list of “heavy hitters”—the top outside donors since 1989—shows that of the top 15 donor organizations, 10 are still labor unions. And Opensecrets only counts federal PAC contributions (which are opt-in); unions also maintain sophisticated state- and local-level […]
Posted on Mar 17, 2014 by LaborPains.org Team
We’ve pointed out before that unions’ ability to effectively compel members—including members who don’t support the unions’ political preferences—to support the politicians of the unions’ choosing makes them political power players. Now, our Executive Director is telling Pennsylvanians that Trumka’s money is coming to influence their election, a large bloc of members’ opinions aside: Last […]
Posted on Feb 27, 2014 by LaborPains.org Team
The American Federation of Teachers and its boss, Randi Weingarten, have waged a national war on public school reform that spans decades. Driven by the maxim, “Nice political career you have, shame if anything were to happen to it,” the nation’s most militant teachers union fights advocates for better public schools from New York to […]
Posted on Sep 20, 2013 by LaborPains.org Team
We’ve written many times before about the utter shamelessness of labor unions when it comes to getting what they want, even if it means deploying Westboro Baptist Church-style harassment tactics against families grieving the loss of loved ones. So it was with little surprise when we read a story out of San Diego today about a […]
