Unions
May 15, 2019 — John Hinderaker
The American labor movement was known, historically, for both political moderation and political effectiveness. But private sector unions are in a state of apparently terminal decline, as currently only 6.4% of private sector workers are union members. Perhaps shrinking membership and political clout explains why unions have become shriller and more radical. The AFL-CIO is a case in point. Yesterday, the AFL-CIO posted this bizarre tweet, which consists of a
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July 2, 2018 — John Hinderaker
The National Educational Association is the largest of America’s teachers’ unions. It is perhaps the #1 force for evil in our contemporary politics. Naive observers assume that the teachers’ unions represent children and their parents or, at a minimum, the average teacher. Sadly, this is not true. The NEA is a far-left organization that relies on state power to forcibly extract dues and “fair share” payments from innocent teachers, which
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June 27, 2018 — Scott Johnson
The Supreme Court has just issued its long-awaited ruling in Janus v. AFSCME 31, holding that public sector unions cannot compel the payment of agency fees from nonmembers. The ruling was 5-4, with Justice Gorsuch casting the vote that Justice Scalia would have cast in the case before the Court presenting the same issue at the time of Justice Scalia’s death. In an opinion by Justice Alito, the Court overruled
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January 31, 2018 — Steven Hayward
It may be hard for readers to believe this—and I do advise sitting down—but Gov. Jerry Brown is—relatively speaking, mind you—about the only adult in the room in Sacramento among Democrats. If you doubt me, just wait till we have a governor named “Gavin” next year (which California richly deserves), and you’ll see what I mean. Governor Moonbeam has actually vetoed a lot of bad bills that any other liberal
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November 5, 2017 — Paul Mirengoff
The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is in the vanguard of the “progressive” movement in America. As night follows day, or so it seems these days, the SEIU is also in the vanguard of sexually harassing its female employees. From Fox News, we learn: Another two union bigwigs from the nation’s second largest union, the Services Employees International Union (SEIU) have been accused of sexual misconduct and abusive behavior toward
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September 28, 2017 — John Hinderaker
It didn’t make the biggest headlines, but the most important thing that happened today was the U.S. Supreme Court’s granting of certiorari in Janus v. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Council 31. I wrote about the Janus case here: The case raises issues substantially identical to those in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association. In Friedrichs, decided last year, the Court split 4-4 following the death of Justice
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August 31, 2017 — John Hinderaker
A case titled Janus v. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Council 31 is on appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court on a petition for a writ of certiorari. The 7th Circuit’s opinion in the case is here. It is widely expected that the Court will grant certiorari. The case raises issues substantially identical to those in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association. In Friedrichs, decided last year, the
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February 16, 2017 — John Hinderaker
Iowa, like so many other states, has gone Republican. What happens when you have a Republican legislature and a Republican governor? The corrupt public sector union spigot gets turned off. Public sector unions in Iowa will have less authority to negotiate working conditions for teachers, nurses and correctional officers under a bill passed Thursday in the new Republican-controlled Legislature that critics say is aimed at crippling organized labor in the
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July 26, 2016 — Steven Hayward
One thing conspicuously missing from both party conventions is any talk of government debt and deficits. Even Democrats usually acknowledge grudgingly that our deficits are a time bomb waiting to go off, though this is usually in service of their Great White Whale obsession, which is to raise taxes on Great White Males. So it is with considerable interest that I note the increasing visibility of the real-time collapse of
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January 11, 2016 — John Hinderaker
Public sector unions are probably, nationwide, the number one obstacle to progress. Today a critically important case relating to public employee unions, Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, was argued in the Supreme Court. My colleague Kim Crockett, who works with me at the Center of the American Experiment, is a leading voice in Minnesota on employee freedom. She was at the Supreme Court this morning to support Rebecca Friedrichs and
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September 29, 2015 — Paul Mirengoff
Fox News reports that the Teamsters union has decided not to endorse Hillary Clinton for president at this time. According to James Rosen, the union’s 26-member board decided unanimously to withhold endorsing Clinton. Rosen’s Teamsters source cited three reasons. First, the Teamsters are unhappy with Clinton’s recent announcement that she opposes construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. Second, they want to see whether Joe Biden will enter the race. Third,
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August 27, 2015 — Paul Mirengoff
Clark Griffith explains why he thinks “Tom Brady will lose and baseball players win.” It’s because “in Major League Baseball, grievances are heard and decided by an impartial arbitrator. In the National Football League, the person who hears and decides grievances is the commissioner.” I want to focus on a more general question: Why has the Major League Baseball Players Association consistently negotiated more favorable contracts on a full range
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July 1, 2015 — Steven Hayward
In no particular order: • Remember the famous Fox Butterfield headline in the New York Times: “Crime Keeps on Falling, But Prisons Keep on Filling”? Well yesterday the Times outdid itself with an early edition headline on the Greek crisis: “Trillions Spent, But Crises Like Greece’s Persist.” Gee: I wonder if there’s a connection? Maybe someone can ask Fox Butterfield. One wonders what the Times headline will be when it
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May 14, 2015 — Steven Hayward
The Wall Street Journal editorial page this morning explores why Chicago’s debt has been downgraded to “junk” status, reviewing the unsustainable structure of its public school teacher pensions, which are only the one small aspect of Illinois’s public sector pension crisis. But the precipitating event that caused Moody’s to downgrade Chicago’s debt to junk was the decision of the Illinois Supreme Court last week that the state may not alter
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April 7, 2015 — Steven Hayward
Today voters in Chicago are at the polls voting in the mayoral runoff between “Rahmbo” Emanuel and a candidate much further to his left, Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, in what has been a surprisingly tight race. Emanuel may very well lose, to someone who might make de Blasio look moderate by comparison. One thing is certain: turnout will be very very low. This is increasingly typical of urban politics today, and Fred
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November 8, 2014 — Steven Hayward
Back in May I suggested, less than half facetiously, that if we are indeed to consider paying reparations for slavery, the Democratic Party should have to pick up the entire tab, for all of the obvious reasons. I was reminded of that idea when stumbling across the most interesting story on the front page of today’s New York Times: “Finding $816 Million, and Fast, to Save Detroit.” The details are
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June 30, 2014 — Paul Mirengoff
Conservatives hoped that the Supreme Court would take the opportunity presented by Harris v. Quinn to strike down a 1977 decision holding that full-fledged public employees “who choose not to join a public-sector union may nevertheless be compelled to pay an agency fee to support union work that is related to the collective-bargaining process.” The Supreme Court did not do so. This does not mean, however, that the 1977 decision
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