Posts tagged Americans for Fair Treatment
Biden mends bridges with unions after rail dispute
December 12, 2022 // President Joe Biden has returned to the good graces of labor unions by announcing a $36 billion pension fund bailout that will prevent more than 350,000 truck drivers, warehouse workers, construction staff, and retirees from forfeiting their benefits. But Biden's intervention comes after he rankled the key Democratic constituency by urging Congress to enforce a tentative union dispute agreement between railroad companies and their employees in order to avoid a strike that would have crippled the economy before the holidays.
Op-ed: The Teachers’ Unions’ Blame Game
August 23, 2022 // AFT’s allocation of 30 percent of its 2020–21 expenditures to politics, totaling $48.4 million in political activities and another $5.9 million in contributions. And they’re only second to the National Education Association (NEA), which devotes nearly 50 percent of its expenses to political endeavors, according to research from Americans for Fair Treatment. Given that the NEA spends twice as much on politics (almost all of which is devoted to Democrats) as on representing its members, the union resembles a political, rather than membership, organization.
REPORT: Pennsylvania Teachers Vote to Kick Union Out of Their School
August 23, 2022 // Westinghouse Arts Academy Charter School in Wilmerding, Pennsylvania As a result of tens of millions of dollars of political spending, heavy resistance to reopening schools during the COVID-19 pandemic, and repeated efforts to label concerned parents as domestic terrorists, teachers unions have come under increasing public scrutiny. And that scrutiny is not limited to the general public, as teachers at one Pennsylvania charter school have decided that they want nothing to do with their union. Hunter Tower
Op-ed: Biden Takes Aim At Small Business Owners To Boost Union Profits
August 19, 2022 // It’s no secret that Democrats and America’s unions work for each other, but is Joe Biden’s Department of Labor hurting America’s small businesses just to give more to America’s unions? When George Shearer received a petition from the Teamsters seeking to unionize his family’s truck delivery business, he was shocked. The business had not been incorporated and although his father started and still owned it, he remained a full-time truck driver. They had just nine employees, with three of those being Shearer’s close friends who did not seem dissatisfied in their roles. However, Teamster recruiters were telling drivers they could nearly double their salaries through collective bargaining. Although this was clearly impossible, throughout the years they have boasted figures as evidence to why these types of unionization should take place. For more information on the subject, Lars speaks with David Osborne, who is the CEO of Americans for Fair Treatment.
Opinion: DO TEACHERS REALLY NEED A UNION?
August 11, 2022 // After wading through all the leftwing blather, I can’t help but wonder why any conservative, libertarian, right-leaning, centrist or apolitical teacher would continue to belong to a teachers union. In California, when a teacher joins a local union, she typically forks over about $1,200 yearly. If the union is an NEA affiliate, $768 will go to the California Teachers Association and $204 will be sent off to NEA command central in D.C. The remaining $200 or so stays at the local level. Much of the money that goes to CTA/NEA is spent on leftwing politics, and every penny of the unions’ income is tax-free. Barack Obama, Becky Pringle, Robert Pondiscio, RJ Martin, OpenSecrets.org, Caroline Hoxby, Mike Petrilli, Fordham Institute,
A Legislative Staff Unionization Wave is Hitting Blue State Capitols
August 8, 2022 // Frustrated by low pay and long hours, state house staffers in Massachusetts, California, New York and Washington state are seeking to organize. They hope to join their counterparts in Oregon, who became the first in the nation to unionize in 2021. The organizing effort in state capitols mirrors a similar push in Congress. In May, the Democratically-controlled U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution giving congressional staffers the legal right to negotiate over salaries, schedules, pay disparities, promotion policies and other workplace issues without the threat of retaliation. Since then, aides to eight progressive lawmakers have unionized. Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Ruth Milkman, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 2222, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Senate President Karen Spilka,
David Osborne: The Case For And Against Unions
July 21, 2022 // “When it comes to unions, money is everything. This is what drives the unions. It’s what keeps power. It’s what makes union officials quasi-celebrities in American politics.” AFFT CEO David Osborne
Some arguments against the move for unionization on Capitol Hill
June 17, 2022 // The latest example is the American Federation of Government Employees. One of their locals that represents EPA employees said that during collective bargaining, they plan to ask for a climate emergency declaration by President Biden. That’s, I mean, that’s not what we traditionally think of as collective bargaining, right? We think of it as being just about what the employee needs, their benefits, their pay, their working conditions. So when you add in sort of the public sector, it adds another layer of politics, and it becomes more complicated. And especially if you see something like that, where a union that represents people, members of the bureaucracy asked for an actual policy change in collective bargaining, what does that mean, for Congress, right, where you’re already talking about political staffers? Jared Serbu, policy issues,
Opinion: Divisive, political Randi Weingarten
June 13, 2022 // Among other recipients of AFT’s political donations were Priorities USA Action, a super PAC that supported Joe Biden’s presidential campaign, and the Sixteen Thirty Fund, an advocacy organization that is part of the Arabella network, which creates pop-up progressive organizations to attack figures like Elon Musk and Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett. In addition to her union’s political machinations, Weingarten likes to get involved directly in the political arena. She regularly attacks Republicans and conservatives on Twitter and through the news media, blaming conservatives for the country’s toxic political environment. A review of Weingarten’s public statements shows just how willing she is to pick fights—and not just with conservatives, but with parents as well.
AFT: Where Do Your Union Dues Go?
June 10, 2022 // During its 2020-2021 fiscal year, AFT collected $196.7 million in dues from school employees, a $10 million increase from last year, despite having 13,390 fewer members. AFT members pay $235 each year in union dues. AFT spent $49 million of members’ dues on politics last year, according to the union’s own reporting. The union spent an additional $6 million on “Contributions, Gifts, and Grants,” with much of this money going to political organizations. In total, this accounted for about 27% of AFT’s spending in 2020-2021. Only 36% of AFT’s spending went towards representational activities, Contributions, Gifts, Grants, Fedrick Ingram, Evelyn DeJesus, Michael S. Powell, Michelle Ringuette,