Posts tagged public unions
Opinion: Unions’ victories shake Utah politics
April 25, 2025 // Legislators will not go quietly into the night, allowing an activist judge to dismantle Utah’s school choice program. Expect legislation to shore up the program, and judges to once again be recipients of legislative ire. Pignanelli: Unless resolved soon, the role of public employee associations will be a feature in political party conventions and swing legislative districts. The Supreme Court’s ultimate ruling on the scholarship program could foster another constitutional ballot proposition.
For California’s largest public union, telework poses challenge — and opportunity
April 15, 2025 // SEIU Local 1000’s leaders in recent years have struggled to stem a decline in the percentage of members who pay dues. The group represents roughly 95,000 state workers, which includes accountants, nurses and custodians. Fewer dues-paying members in their ranks means less sway at the bargaining table and with state leaders.
Opinion:The Fall of Florida’s ‘Zombie Unions’
December 26, 2024 // The Florida Education Association (FEA), which represents teachers and school staff, has lost about 13% of its members since 2023, according to a review of federal data by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. That’s because members in several school districts voted not to recertify their chapters, allowing them to disband.
Op-Ed: Florida vs. Michigan on Public Unions
August 30, 2024 // Each local union chapter must show that at least 60% of its eligible members are paying dues, or the state requires it to hold a new election. That sets teachers, clerks and custodians free from unions that haven’t won them over, and at least 20 units have been decertified in the past year. A few other states have also rolled back union coercion. Arkansas and Tennessee enacted paycheck protection for teachers. Kentucky legislators overrode a veto by Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear to secure the same. On the other side of the trend is Michigan, where Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed a repeal of paycheck protection for teachers last summer. She also ended a requirement that schools pay teachers based on merit instead of seniority alone
‘You better be ready for a fight’: Labor union warns Legislature not to target worker’s rights in Utah
March 6, 2024 // Pushback by Utah’s labor unions was enough to derail a pair of bills that aggressively targeted workers during this year’s legislative session. A show of force from Utah’s labor unions likely played a big hand in the outcome. HB429 sought to eliminate career path protections for new state employees, reclassifying them as “at will.” Right now, after a 6-month probationary period, state workers can only be fired “for cause.” The bill squeaked through the House of Representatives on a close vote, but died in a Senate committee after hundreds of Union members showed up in person to oppose the bill.
New York: EDITORIAL: No right to know public employees’ addresses
May 10, 2023 // We believe information about public employees’ disciplinary records related to their jobs should be disclosed in many cases, especially when it affects public safety, such as in the case of police officers. Taxpayers have every right to know how public employees conduct themselves on their dime and to know how their supervisors handle accusations against public employees of malfeasance. The state Freedom of Information Law does not, nor should it, shield public employees from disclosure of actions that might embarrass them or make them look bad. We agree with that. But certain personal information about public employees — like their home addresses — should not be disclosed.
AMENDMENT 1 COULD LET ILLINOIS POLICE UNIONS UNDO SAFE-T ACT MANDATES
December 2, 2022 // In fact, government unions could override more than 350 state laws through their collective bargaining agreements. That includes at least 11 provisions related to DCFS workers and 38 provisions in the School Code aimed at protecting children. With nearly 30 state contracts expiring in 2023 – and more than 6,000 units of government in Illinois that could also negotiate union contracts in the next few years – Illinoisans could soon find out just how much power government unions have been granted. And they could see it thousands of times over.
Biden administration uses taxpayer dollars to help grow public unions, critics push back
August 26, 2022 // “This upgraded resource will be an excellent tool for our union to locate non-union employees across the federal government who are rightfully entitled to representation and a voice in their workplace,” said NFFE National President Randy Erwin. “NFFE specifically requested assistance in identifying the hundreds of thousands of unrepresented government workers, and today OPM delivered on its commitment to promote employee organizing and collective bargaining by rolling out the enhanced database. We are excited to help these federal employees who have not yet joined a union organize in their workplaces and obtain critical rights and benefits through unionizing.”
MADIGAN PLEADS ‘NOT GUILTY’ TO 22-COUNT CORRUPTION INDICTMENT
March 15, 2022 // Besides illegal corruption, Madigan engaged in legal corruption with government worker unions in which he oversaw decades of generous benefits and pay in exchange for $10 million in contributions to campaign committees he controlled. The results have been the nation’s worst pension debt, which grew 753% during his reign.
Illinois has seen 48 teacher strikes in 10 years.
March 5, 2022 // Illinois has seen 48 teacher strikes in 10 years. None of Illinois’ neighboring states let unions use students and their educations as bargaining chips.