Posts tagged District of Columbia
DHS Security Guard’s Federal Lawsuit Forces IGUA Union Bosses to Stop Illegal Forced Union Dues Demands
June 6, 2024 // Crawley is not a member of the IGUA union, but is still subject to IGUA’s monopoly bargaining power over the security guards at the DHS Nebraska Avenue Complex. As part of the settlement, IGUA union bosses must reduce the compulsory fee that they seize from Crawley as a condition of keeping her job. Before she filed suit, union bosses demanded the equivalent of full membership dues from her. In her federal lawsuit, which she filed at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Crawley sought to defend her rights under the 1988 Right to Work Foundation-won CWA v. Beck Supreme Court decision.
WASHINGTON D.C.: Sofitel Lafayette Square Employees Have Successfully Obtained Secret Ballot Vote to Remove Unite Here Union from Hotel
May 28, 2024 // After Unite Here union officials imposed union control over hotel employees without a secret ballot vote, workers at Sofitel Washington DC Lafayette Square have successfully obtained an election to remove the union. Sofitel employee Mwandu Chibwe submitted on May 15 a petition asking the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to hold a decertification election at her workplace. Ms. Chibwe is receiving free legal aid from the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation.
25 states will hike minimum wage in 2024
December 22, 2023 // Sean Higgins, an analyst at the libertarian Competitive Enterprise Institute, said many food and hospitality workers already earn more than their state minimum. He noted that employers have raised salaries to compete for a shrinking pool of applicants. “Raising state and local rates does hurt the smaller businesses, the classic mom and pop enterprises, who will employ local high school or college-age kids if they can but may not be able to justify that if the minimum rate increases,” Mr. Higgins said.
More than 75,000 Kaiser Permanente workers threaten strike if labor agreement not reached
September 25, 2023 // The Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions warned Kaiser that more than 75,000 workers will strike in early October if an agreement is not reached by the end of next week. The unions say understaffing has led to dangerous wait times for patients. Kaiser Permanente is the largest nonprofit health-care organization in the U.S. serving nearly 13 million patients. Kaiser has called the unions’ claims misleading and urged employees to resist a call for a strike.
Commentary: Analysis shows $17 minimum wage could exacerbate rising prices, pushing child care costs up 20%
August 15, 2023 // Such massive cost increases would almost certainly price some families out of child care completely. Some parents who want to work would be pushed out of the labor force, leading to lower household incomes. Households that have only one parent and must use child care would be more likely to turn to non-licensed, typically illegal, child care. On top of that, child care jobs would be lost, even as employment among child care workers, declined by 18.2% between 2019 and 2022. While not all parents want or need full-time child care, a $17 minimum wage could also hurt families who use only part-time child care or even occasional babysitters. For example, a family who currently pays $10 per hour for 10 hours of after-school care per week would face an extra $70 per week, or $3,640 per year, in added costs.
FREEDOM FOUNDATION APPLAUDS REP. FITZGERALD’S PROPOSAL TO OVERHAUL THE NEA’S FEDERAL CHARTER
July 19, 2023 // Some of the reforms include: prohibiting the NEA from engaging in electoral politics and lobbying, a restriction included in 60 percent of federal charters; requiring the NEA to submit an annual report to Congress; fully repealing the NEA’s D.C. property tax exemption; prohibiting the NEA from collecting dues from a public employee unless the employee has been notified of his or her right to refuse — and affirmatively consented — and require the NEA to collect dues without the use of government payroll systems; prohibiting taxpayer-funded release time for NEA officers; barring the NEA from incorporating the core tenets of Critical Race Theory into its governance, operations and advocacy; subjecting the NEA and its affiliates to the financial transparency requirements and union democracy protections of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act; and, requiring the NEA to refrain from initiating, and to actively intervene to prevent, any strikes or work stoppages by its affiliates.
Former D.C. Police Union Vice Chairman Pleads Guilty to Time and Attendance Fraud Scheme
May 17, 2023 // Former D.C. Police Union Vice Chairman Pleads Guilty to Time and ... of the Attorney General to prosecute local fraud and public corruption cases Defendant Billed MPD While Working Outside Employment
Union membership declines in New York, other states
April 25, 2023 // A recent report by The74Million noted that overall union membership declined or barely increased in several states, despite growth in public-sector jobs in 2022. Because of the rapid public-sector job growth, public unions had a net increase of about 83,000 new members nationwide, maintaining membership rates at 33%. Most of the public-sector union membership rate growth was in California, which added 250,000 new government jobs and resulted in over 111,000 new union members. But other states did not follow California’s lead. The report said, “21 states and the District of Columbia lost 284,517 members, for a net decline of 28,021 outside of California. New York and Minnesota were the biggest losers.”
Opinion: Biden’s political hacks won’t stop charter schools’ growth
May 16, 2022 // Much to the delight of teachers’ union bosses, the Biden administration is quickly becoming history’s most anti-(school) choice political pack, demonstrated most recently in its proposals to make charter schools’ access to federal funding more difficult.
Union-backed Activists Push $15 In New Report, But Restaurant Workers Still Don’t Agree
April 11, 2022 // The report itself calls for a “universal $15 minimum wage.” But actual tipped restaurant employees disagree with this policy – and actively oppose movements to eliminate local, state, and federal tip credits. Why?