Posts tagged Public Employees
Kentucky Students Struggle to Read and Do Math as Teachers’ Unions Sit on More Than $22 Million
October 8, 2026 // Since 2018: KEA’s workforce fell 40 percent Direct member benefits fell 32 percent Net assets climbed 198 percent, reaching $12.3 million At the same time, KEA spent 53 percent of its FY2025 budget on staff compensation and benefits. Executive Director Mary Ruble received $254,498, roughly 4.6 times the approximately $55,000 average Kentucky public-school teacher salary used in the report. KEA’s political operation tells another striking story. 96.1 percent of KEPAC political spending went to liberal issue committees or Democratic candidates and party committees. KEA lobbying disclosures also show $150,000 allocated to receptions and events for legislators in 2026 alone.
Ballot Question 2 asks: Should public defenders have the right to unionize?
September 29, 2026 // Question 2 would allow employees of the Committee for Public Counsel Services, or CPCS, to participate in collective bargaining. If they negotiate a contract, CPCS would then be required to request the funding needed for that agreement from the governor within 30 days. The Yes On 2 campaign was organized to help grant public defenders the right to join a union. The campaign’s central argument states: CPCS employees should have the same opportunity to organize and negotiate collectively that many others have.
New York’s union bosses just invented a new way to silence their critics
September 17, 2026 // But read past the press release and you find the real target: the state attorney general now has subpoena power and can seek $1,000 per violation against any person or group, in state or out, whose mailers about a worker's right to leave a union get labeled "impersonation." Unions get their own private right to sue on top of that. I've spent three decades in regulated finance, and I know what an uncapped $1,000-per-item liability schedule does to an organization's willingness to speak. It doesn't punish fraud. It punishes volume.
Hochul accused of ‘hit job’ on behalf of teachers’ unions in act of ‘pure censorship’: labor group
September 15, 2026 // "This is an anti-speech law aimed at one kind of speaker," said Withe. He asserted that the New York law was "copied" from a similar measure in Oregon, which the Freedom Foundation is already challenging in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. He said his organization will "make the same case here." Fox News Digital spoke with Ryan Walters, former superintendent of Oklahoma public schools and CEO of Freedom Foundation’s education arm, the Teacher Freedom Alliance. Walters called the New York law an example of "pure censorship and targeting of political opponents by Democrats protecting their union bosses."
Union endorsements cross party lines in Mont. federal races
September 8, 2026 // Democratic candidate Sam Forstag and Republican Aaron Flint — both competing for the 1st Congressional District — signaled they support collective bargaining rights for public and private workers. This position is similar to Montana U.S. Senate candidates independent Seth Bodnar, Democratic candidate Alani Bankhead and Republican Kurt Alme. Forstag, Flint, Bodnar and Alme have union endorsements.
Opinion: Gavin Newsom’s mind-boggling record of giveaways to unions
August 25, 2026 // Richer government contracts and expanded public employee benefits don’t come from nowhere. They land on taxpayers — the same taxpayers already staring down the nation’s highest gas prices, some of the steepest home insurance increases in the country and a cost of living that keeps pushing people out of the state entirely.
Opinion: John Moorlach: AB 1383 is a costly pension mistake in the making
August 21, 2026 // Assembly Bill 1383, introduced by Assemblymember Tina McKinnor, D-Inglewood, would increase pension benefits for public safety employees — allowing earlier retirement with higher payouts — while reducing the contributions those employees are required to make. The bill provides no new funding to cover these expanded obligations, which would further destabilize the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) and local government budgets.
Appeals court overturns ruling declaring Act 10 unconstitutional
July 30, 2026 // The Wisconsin Supreme Court is weeks away from the investiture of Appeals Court Judge Chris Taylor as its newest member. Taylor joining the Court gives liberals a 5-2 majority on the panel. However, Justice Brian Hagedorn has already recused himself from previous procedural decisions involving this case because he served as Walker’s legal counsel and played a major role in writing Act 10. If the Supreme Court were to take up the case, it’s likely a final decision wouldn’t be reached until after November’s elections and the inauguration of a new governor and start of a new legislative session in January. With Democrats hopeful they’ll be able to win trifecta control of state government, the actions of the other two branches of government could render the lawsuit moot.
Op-ed: You can’t legislate member loyalty
July 23, 2026 // Oregon State House Bill 3789, which last year made it illegal to “impersonate” a union, created new restrictions and legal risks to communicating with union-represented workers. The Freedom Foundation maintains that the law was designed to suppress effective outreach and has challenged it on constitutional grounds.
1-in-3 reject union membership in AFSCME Council 31
July 21, 2026 // AFSCME Council 31’s questionable spending could be driving workers away. The union’s report with the Labor Department reveals that: Just 20% of its spending was on “representational activities” in 2025. It spent a record-high $3.4 million on politics that year. Nearly half of its own officers and employees made over $100,000.