Posts tagged Freedom Foundation
SEIU SUES OREGON EMPLOYEE FOR EXPOSING FORGERY
July 18, 2022 // Staci Trees, an employee of Oregon Department of Transportation, resigned her union membership in December 2020, only to learn that SEIU intended to keep deducting regular dues from paychecks, claiming she had signed a membership agreement authorizing it to do so. When she asked to see the document, however, it was so obviously a forgery that even SEIU couldn’t defend its authenticity. Rebekah Millard, Gov. Kate Brown,
Pro-shutdown teachers union bosses raked in $200K during pandemic
July 15, 2022 // According to filings with the U.S. Department of Labor, President Denise Specht made $211,639 between Sept. 1, 2020 and August 31, 2021. Her vice president and treasurer each made $216,000. More than 80 Education Minnesota employees made over $100,000 during the same time period, the filing shows. Several of these employees are only described as “field staff” on the Department of Labor filing. President Denise Specht, Gov. Tim Walz,
Gavin Newsom Is Praised For Nation’s First Union Dues Tax Credit, But It’s Not A Done Deal
July 14, 2022 // “Ever since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2018 decision in Janus v. AFSC SC +3.2%ME struck down as unconstitutional state laws requiring public employees to pay union dues or fees, unions and allied state lawmakers have sought to compensate for the resulting, and ongoing, loss of revenue and political influence,” said Maxford Nelsen, director of labor policy at the Freedom Foundation, of the motivation behind the union dues tax credit. “A lot of bad, coercive policies have been enacted by union-dominated states seeking to undermine Janus, but California’s proposal to create a tax credit for union dues could be the worst yet.”
National View: Union members doing the math, withdrawing dues
July 6, 2022 // As more and more teachers learn they have a right not to fund labor leaders’ lavish lifestyles and a political agenda they may not agree with — especially when gas and groceries have become increasingly expensive — they begin doing the math on how stopping union dues deductions can alleviate some of their financial burdens. The problem is that most teachers are not even aware of their rights under Janus, and that’s because the teachers union officials do not want them to be educated about their options. Washington Post, Charles Lane, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, Philadelphia, Denise Specht, Bernadette Burnham, Rodney Rowe
Public employee First Amendment rights shouldn’t be a secret
June 28, 2022 // Unions could earn the allegiance of public workers, giving those who want nothing to do with them a reason to keep giving them money. They could stop pursuing political agendas. In other words, they can become responsive to their members and make themselves attractive to potential members so that they earn voluntary membership — something every other private organization (and these unions are private organizations) must do. Constance Cooke, Office of Financial Management, paid leave law, overtime, rest and meal breaks
Opinion: States should protect caregivers’ Medicaid funds from union skims
June 27, 2022 // Yet, while a number of states including Michigan have taken action to prohibit the dues skim, a May rule by the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reversed a Trump administration effort to stop the skim nationally. A separate 9th Circuit decision last week also continues to allow unions to trap home care providers into paying them. Robert and Patricia Haynes, cerebral palsy, Gov. Rick Snyder, Harris v. Quinn, Cindy Ochoa, most pro-union president ever,
LAWSUIT ALLEGES UNION DENYING ‘FAIR REPRESENTATION’ TO NONMEMBERS
June 23, 2022 // Oregon state law requires unions to offer “fair representation” to every member of the bargaining unit — even nonmembers — in return for being designated as the workplace’s exclusive provider of union services. U.S. District Court in Eugene, also names Oregon Department of Administrative Services Director Katy Corba
Op-ed: Hunter Tower: In Pennsylvania, Janus is more relevant than ever
June 21, 2022 // Government employee unions responded to Janus by adopting a variety of still-being-litigated defensive strategies, including: only processing opt-out requests during a two-week annual window; challenging each request in court, forcing individual workers to battle the union’s well-financed legal team; subjecting union defectors to workplace harassment; and, when all else fails, forging the worker’s signature on membership documents. HB-2042, Charles Lane
Freedom Foundation: ‘Education union spent more money on political activities than worker representation’
June 15, 2022 // “It includes lobbying government officials, get-out-the-vote activities, and even internal targeting or messaging towards union members in getting them to try to vote a particular way,” said Maxford Nelsen, director of labor policy at the Freedom Foundation. “It’s a fairly broad range of activity that falls under the heading of political activities and lobbying and it is broader than just writing checks to candidates for office.” The tax form also revealed that the NEA spent more than $55 million on benefits for union officers. “By the time you get to the NEA headquarters, salaries for full-time staff working in the NEA headquarters are definitely far higher than most teachers are getting,” Nelsen told Legal Newsline. Juliette Fairley, Legal Newsline, Rebecca Pringle,
LA Superior Court court reporter accuses union of forging her signature on membership card
June 13, 2022 // “My first reaction was this must be some kind of clerical error,” said Kirsti Parde. “I sent two different demand letters explaining this isn’t correct and asking to see my original signature but they ignored both letters.” Scaling back included withdrawing her membership from Service Employees International Union (SEIU) 721 so that Parde could save the $175 a month she had been paying for 24 years. Santa Clarita, court reporter, Los Angeles Superior Court, Kirsti Parde, SEIU 721, Central District of California federal court, Shella Alcabes,