Posts tagged cities
Youngkin administration moves to protect public employees and taxpayers from union excesses
May 27, 2025 // First, the regulations would expressly extend to public employees the right to select a union pursuant to a secret-ballot election. In so doing, the proposed rules would protect public employees from being pressured or coerced into unionization via the infamous “card check” process, by which union organizers approach employees directly about publicly signing union petition cards. In its brief comment on the proposed regulations, the Virginia Education Association (VEA) claimed that, “All collective bargaining resolutions adopted by Virginia school boards, to date, provide for free and fair secret ballot elections…” But, as the Freedom Foundation documented in its comment, this is simply incorrect:
Over 9.2 million workers will get a raise on January 1 from 21 states raising their minimum wages
December 18, 2024 // Twenty-one states will increase their minimum wages on January 1, raising pay for more than 9.2 million workers by a total of $5.7 billion. In addition, 48 cities and counties will raise their minimum wages above their state wage floors, mostly in California, Colorado, and Washington.
Commentary: Unions are bad for cities
August 16, 2024 // The truth is that unionization doesn’t even increase wages for all union members. Single-salary schedules ensure that senior members earn the most and new members the least, regardless of value or merit. While union leaders may brag about the union member premium — the ostensibly higher wages that unionized workers earn — it only exists for older members, where it exists at all. What’s more, unions’ seniority layoff system protects longer-serving union members before anyone else. The most junior employees are the first to be let go and the last to be rehired. Last-in-first-out layoffs do nothing to improve productivity, but they do a lot to protect senior members.
Sky didn’t fall with Iowa’s collective bargaining reform
January 30, 2022 // But despite the angry claims from Democrats and their allies, the sky has not fallen. The vast majority of public bargaining units in Iowa have since recertified their unions, having engaged a true majority of members in the representation of their collective interests. Salaries continue to be negotiated. Employees continue to be represented. And Iowa’s workforce continues to rise to the occasion.
Polis throws cold water on public unions bill
January 21, 2022 // Colorado: A bill to allow public employees to engage in collective bargaining has run into its biggest hurdle: lack of support from Gov. Jared Polis