Posts tagged Public Employees
Wisconsin Supreme Court won’t hear case seeking to overturn 2011 anti-union law for now
February 18, 2025 // Dane County Circuit Judge Jacob Frost in December ruled that the law violates equal protection guarantees in the Wisconsin Constitution by dividing public employees into “general” and “public safety” employees. Under the ruling, all public sector workers who lost their collective bargaining power would have it restored to what was in place before 2011. The judge put the ruling on hold pending the appeal.
Commentary: CalPERS takes unnecessary risks that could cost taxpayers
February 3, 2025 // When CalPERS fails to meet its expected investment returns, California’s state and local governments—meaning taxpayers—are solely responsible for covering the resulting shortfall. Public pension liabilities are legally binding. There is no defaulting on them. Consequently, when public pension system investments underperform, government employers—again, taxpayers—must cover the gap.
Utah House approves banning collective bargaining for public sector unions
January 31, 2025 // “This bill does nothing to take away the ability for unions to advocate for their members,” Teuscher said. HB267 now awaits introduction in the Senate. During a media availability Monday afternoon, Sen. Kirk Cullimore, R-Sandy – who is sponsoring the bill in the Senate – defended the proposal. “This is not a union-busting bill,” Cullimore said. “It’s looking at collective bargaining.”
Make employers pay striking workers? Too silly
January 21, 2025 // Sponsored by Sen. Marcus Riccelli, D-Spokane, and cosponsored by 12 other Democrats so far, SB 5041 is similar to last year’s House Bill 1893 and Senate Bill 5777. Those pieces of legislation had the support of nearly all Democrats but failed to pass in the Legislature’s final hours. As long as the strike is legal, union workers could receive unemployment benefits while actively on strike. (Public employee strikes are not legal, so teachers, who strike frequently, should not be able to receive unemployment insurance benefits along with the taxpayer-provided pay they already receive, even in years that they strike. I hope to see legislative talks clarify that this is so.) Sen. Steven Conway, D-Tacoma, a strong proponent of employer-financed strike benefits, told NPR-station KNKX the bill would allow workers to access the benefits starting on the second Sunday after they begin withholding their labor and would be eligible for four weeks of benefits.
MICHIGAN: Unions licensed to deceive (editorial)
December 28, 2024 // With the enactment of Senate bills 790 and 791 in October, Michigan homecare providers are classified as public employees. Those are individuals — many of whom care for elderly or disabled family members — who receive a stipend from government programs for their work and sacrifice. The state law sets up homecare workers to be pressured into union membership and made to pay dues to the Service Employees International Union. Those caregivers get no benefit from union membership, because the amount of the stipend is decided legislatively and is not subject to collective bargaining. Providers need every cent available to them as they minister care.
Florida Continues to Lead the Nation on Labor Reform and Worker Freedom
December 10, 2024 // In 2023, Gov. DeSantis led the effort on a transparency bill (SB 256), otherwise known as the Teachers’ Bill of Rights. Our organization, Workers for Opportunity, was proud to help support this legislation through testimony before the Florida Legislature, newspaper essays helping explain the legislation and other advocacy efforts. We also utilized educational materials provided by The James Madison Institute.
Labor’s Future After Wisconsin Anti-Union Law Struck Down
December 5, 2024 // For that reason, the law’s categories of general and public safety employees, and its public safety employee exemption, were unconstitutional, Frost wrote then. Frost reiterated that ruling Monday. “Act 10 as written by the Legislature specifically and narrowly defines ‘public safety employee,’” Frost wrote. “It is that definition which is unconstitutional.”
Florida teachers union loses 20,000 members after government stops collecting dues
December 4, 2024 // In its annual Form LM-2 filed in November with the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL), the FEA disclosed having 111,133 employed, dues-paying members as of August 31, 2024, down from the 131,510 “active members” the union reported a year earlier. The precipitous decline far exceeds typical annual fluctuations in the union’s membership numbers and comes in the wake of Florida policymakers’ adoption of a package of government union reforms in 2023 championed by Gov. Ron DeSantis with the support of the Freedom Foundation and other conservative groups.
COMMENTARY: You Can’t Support Trump and Government Unions
November 21, 2024 // Trump and his allies have talked endlessly about the need to take on the “deep state” or “drain the swamp” in Washington, D.C. Sometimes such talk veers into conspiracy-theorizing, but it’s certainly true that many federal bureaucrats are opposed to Trump and their obstruction can prevent him from governing as he was elected to govern. For years, conservatives have been raising the alarm about the constitutional problems that an entrenched, unelected administrative state presents when it hinders the elected leaders from making decisions. Government unions stand in the way of making many reforms to the civil service that Trump would like to see.
Back-to-Back Opt-Out Milestones Suggest Record Year in New York
September 17, 2024 // Last year, the Freedom Foundation helped a record 1,351 New Yorkers take control of their paychecks by saying “no more” to government unions that don’t represent them. In 2024, we’ve already assisted with 1,025 opt-outs — and it’s only September! With nearly 76% of last year’s total and four months to go, the Freedom Foundation is expected to surpass 1,500 opt-outs in New York by year’s end. July 2024 marked New York’s best month ever for opt-outs, only to be outdone by August. These back-to-back record months prove that now, more than ever before, public employees are taking action to keep union dues in their own pockets instead of funding Big Labor’s ideological agendas.