Posts tagged political advocacy
CHICAGO TEACHERS UNION CUTS CLASS TO LOBBY, COSTING TAXPAYERS UP TO $141K
May 17, 2024 // Teachers can partake in political advocacy on their own time, but this day of action occurred during regular school hours and at taxpayer expense. It doesn’t help that most of the students they left behind are unable to read or do math at grade level, and could have benefitted from a normal day of instruction. Chicago Public Schools has seen steady budget growth combined with dwindling enrollment. CPS’ per-pupil operational spending is $24,132, up more than 50% from $15,878 in 2018. CTU held a similar event with students during the March 19 primary election when they took students out of class to hear from proponents of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s real estate transfer tax hike, were told how to vote and then marched to the polls. The tax hike failed.
Opinion: This Looming Regulatory Change Is Endangering Your Entrepreneurial Livelihood. Here’s What You Can Do About It.
March 7, 2024 // On the independent contractor language, the U.S. Department of Labor acknowledges in its new rule that there may be "conceptual overlap" with the ABC Test's most harmful section to independent contractors. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce says the "DOL's claim that the regulation does not reflect the ABC Test leaves something to be desired." The independent contractor CRA was introduced in the House and Senate in early March with more than 70 co-sponsors and needs more in both chambers to advance. Federal lawsuits have been filed against both federal agencies, trying to stop these policy changes through the courts. But, given the snail's pace with which the wheels of justice can turn, it's important for Congress to act.
Taxpayers funding teachers unions? In Idaho, it’s all too common
February 5, 2024 // The Boise School District goes a step further by providing teachers a monthly salary enhancement for “professional activities” that just happens to approximate the cost of union dues and can be conveniently deducted from their paychecks and forwarded to the union by the district. At least 51 school district teachers union contracts include provisions providing paid time off for teachers who serve as union officials to engage in union work and advocacy on-the-clock and at taxpayer expense. Some contracts even specifically permit teachers to lobby the legislature on the union’s behalf while on paid release from their teaching duties. Again, while the direct cost to taxpayers is difficult to measure precisely, it could easily range from $500,000 to $1 million per year. And at least 31 school districts provide the teachers union with preferential, no-cost access to and use of school facilities and communications well beyond what community groups or even competing unions are entitled to.
COMMENTARY Is a Worker Revolt Brewing After Michigan Repeals Its Right-to-Work Law?
September 5, 2023 // Michigan employees affected by this law don’t have to put up with this violation of their freedom of association. They don’t need to pay dues to a forced-membership organization. They don’t have to keep supporting a union’s radical political agendas. They don’t have to watch a portion of their paychecks going to pay for union oligarchies out of state. They certainly don’t need to pay for fancy dinners, cars, vacations, and political junkets and pad the pockets of union bosses. By tossing out the union altogether, employees can keep their money in their own hands and out of the hands of political machines and their elected attendants. The Center for Independent Employees, which assists employees seeking to prevent unionization at the workplace or remove an unwanted union, is already hearing rumblings of this revolution through our offices and our ground game in Michigan.
Employee Rights Act Is Back
April 25, 2023 //
Labor Relations Radio, Ep 11—Guest: Joe Perpiglia, ABC President of Eastern PA talks about union RCOs, sabotage and more
March 24, 2022 // Unions are trying to pass ordinances in cities and towns nationwide to exclude non-union employers and their employees from doing public works. They’re called Responsible Contractor Ordinances (RCOs)
Labor Unions Collected $37 Million in COVID Relief They Were Ineligible To Receive
February 2, 2022 // The Paycheck Protection Program launched in March 2020 to provide relief to small businesses and charities amid the COVID-19 pandemic. But 226 labor unions that were ineligible for the program received $36.7 million in forgivable loans, according to a report provided exclusively to the Washington Free Beacon.