Posts tagged retirement system
Commentary: Australia’s Not-So-Super Retirement System
July 23, 2026 // In Australia the accountability problem is exacerbated by unions’ sway over a particular type of super fund. Known as industry super funds, these were originally set up by employers and unions to steward the savings of workers in the 1970s and 1980s. In 2025, ISFs controlled more than 40% of Australian superannuation assets. Under Australian law, employers and unions appoint directors to ISF trustee boards under what is called the equal representation model. Union leaders say this ensures that workers have some indirect influence over decisions made by ISF boards and managers. That claim is difficult to square with trends in union membership. The proportion of Australian employees who belong to unions fell from 51% in 1976 to 13.1% in 2024. Unions long ago lost the authority to serve as legitimate proxies for Australian workers.
Opinion: Retirement Board, city unions prioritize members over taxpayers
June 23, 2026 // It was ironic. Some of the same union members that Lang could have legally laid off but instead saved their jobs by slightly reducing their pay, those same folks turned around and sued him. “Rocking-chair money,” Lang called the wages that the city workers demanded for not working.
Disregard for students showcased in Sheridan teacher strike
May 27, 2026 // The Sheridan teachers did have a legal right to strike, but not a morally justifiable one. They seriously disrupted the lives of innocent schoolchildren and their parents, holding them hostage to the union’s demands. When a grocery union strikes, customers can do business elsewhere. However, teachers are government employees within a school district that has a monopoly on publicly-funded education. And unlike private sector employers, Colorado school boards can refuse to allow a union. In 2012, a new Republican majority on the Douglas County School Board decertified its teacher union when the collective-bargaining agreement expired. (A new Democrat majority on the DougCo school board will likely welcome the union back with open arms.)