Posts tagged AFSCME
Illinois needs responsible Tier 2 pension reform
November 22, 2024 // Illinois is at risk of getting in costly trouble with the federal government over its Tier 2 public employee retirement benefits. Here’s a solution that doesn’t make the state’s monstrous public pension debt even worse. Illinois’ public pension problems are facing a new threat impacting the newer hires covered under the more modest “Tier 2” retirement benefits: the state can either add $280 million a year into their plans or face the feds demanding over $856 million a year.
COMMENTARY: You Can’t Support Trump and Government Unions
November 21, 2024 // Trump and his allies have talked endlessly about the need to take on the “deep state” or “drain the swamp” in Washington, D.C. Sometimes such talk veers into conspiracy-theorizing, but it’s certainly true that many federal bureaucrats are opposed to Trump and their obstruction can prevent him from governing as he was elected to govern. For years, conservatives have been raising the alarm about the constitutional problems that an entrenched, unelected administrative state presents when it hinders the elected leaders from making decisions. Government unions stand in the way of making many reforms to the civil service that Trump would like to see.
Thousands of UC patient care, service workers to strike Wednesday, Thursday
November 21, 2024 // "The University's proposals include $700 million in economic increases for AFSCME members and a direct response to what AFSCME had asked for — the greater of a $25 an hour minimum wage or a 5% across-the-board raise," according to the UC. "Our proposals would increase AFSCME members' pay by an average 26% over the five-year contract. We have also proposed $75 or $100 monthly credits for AFSCME members to offset employee premium increases." University officials said the union in May stopped responding to or acknowledging the university's proposals and declared an impasse
It’s fine to steal for a union, but not from a union
November 18, 2024 // It bears noting that in none of the cases litigated by the Freedom Foundation did law enforcement even treat the forgery as a crime. No serious criminal investigation was ever undertaken, nor were the perpetrators ever prosecuted. Evidently the double standard extends from coast to coast and even beyond U.S. shores.
Workers at Shedd Aquarium vote to unionize
November 5, 2024 // When certified, Shedd Workers United/AFSCME will represent about 180 employees including guest relations, learning and community, development, and others, organizers said. Workers at other institutions in the city such as the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Newberry Library have also formed unions in recent years.
Philly’s largest city workers union votes to authorize strike during rush-hour rally
November 3, 2024 // During the rally, the union members held a voice vote to authorize a strike, FOX29 reported, but the union is expected to take a formal vote during a meeting in the next week. Union leaders will give Mayor Cherelle Parker's administration a 10-day notice about a potential strike, 6ABC reported. In August, District Council 33 submitted a 17-page proposal for a four-year contract that included pay raises, better pension plans, alternate work schedules, pandemic relief and a change in the residency requirement that most workers live in the city.
Op-Ed Andrew Holman: Union political spending doesn’t represent all their members
October 30, 2024 // Most of Pennsylvania’s public sector unions’ certifications date back to the 1970s, meaning many of their employees have never had the opportunity to vote on their representation. Without accountability, public sector unions are free to divert resources from representation toward partisan politics with no regard for members. The rank-and-file deserves better from their unions.
Largest Public Sector Labor Unions Unite to Get Out the Vote in Battleground States
October 23, 2024 // This joint action represents a significant escalation of labor's political engagement, with the unions pooling resources and mobilizing their combined membership of several million workers and includes people of all backgrounds working across the public service – as nurses, child care providers, sanitation workers, first responders, teachers, education support professionals and higher education workers, among others.
Government Unions are Down — But Not Out
September 10, 2024 // For nearly a decade, the Commonwealth Foundation has tracked state-by-state changes in labor laws. Every two years, the Commonwealth Foundation releases its research on the ever-changing legal landscape for public sector unions, assessing each state’s efforts to promote public employees’ rights or cave to unions’ entrenched influence. This fourth edition examines government unions’ attempts, following Janus, to hold onto and expand special legal privileges under state laws. The research also highlights the states reining in government unions’ power and influence by empowering workers.
Unions pursue law changes to boost membership
September 8, 2024 // “The overarching theme is that the unions have really responded to the membership losses since JANUS to drive up union membership,” Osborne said. In the JANUS decision, courts held that unions could no longer collect “fair share” dues from non-members who benefit from collective bargaining agreements. Follow-up litigation has challenged the cumbersome process many former members had to overcome to leave the union and recoup dues improperly withheld. In the report, states known as union “strongholds” scored lower than others that have enacted collective bargaining reforms.