Posts tagged taxpayer
Op-ed: Virginia Must Clarify Its Labor Laws
June 9, 2025 // The ideal outcome for Virginia would be to repeal the Democrats’ 2020 law and return Virginia to being one of the few states that outright prohibit collective bargaining in the public sector. North and South Carolina have for decades, and Utah joined them with a new law signed by Governor Spencer Cox (R.) this year. But with Democrats currently in control of the Virginia General Assembly, a repeal effort would go nowhere. In the meantime, the proposed regulations are needed to make sure local government unions are following the law. Virginia is a right-to-work state with many strong protections for employees in unionized workplaces. Public employees deserve those protections just as much as private employees do.
Op-ed: Tennessee: The nation’s best right-to-work state
May 13, 2025 // Community Benefits Agreements might sound benign, but in reality, they have become a tool for politically motivated groups to extract money and influence on the taxpayers’ dime. These agreements often dilute or divert economic incentives by forcing businesses to commit funds to causes, organizations or hiring mandates or quotas that go beyond their agreed-upon economic obligations. This new law will block special interests from cashing in on taxpayer-funded incentives.
Commentary– Justin Hill: Protecting the Secret Ballot: A step forward for Mississippi’s workers and taxpayers
February 24, 2025 // this measure prohibits “neutrality agreements,” which can unfairly prevent employers from sharing information with their workers. Employees deserve the right to hear both sides of the issue rather than being presented with only the union’s perspective and talking points. Transparency is critical for workers to make informed decisions about their future. This legislation applies only to future economic incentives and union organizing efforts. It does not impact existing unions, current economic incentive agreements or subcontractors. Compliance with this law is straightforward and does not conflict with federal labor regulations. When a similar law was challenged in Arizona, the courts upheld the state’s right to protect the secret ballot process.
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.”
Free-Market Groups Back Bill to Protect Taxpayers from Union Abuse
September 18, 2024 // H.R. 9594 was introduced by Congressman Scott Perry (R-Pa.) and swiftly referred to the House Oversight Committee. The bill would allow federal agencies to charge public-sector labor unions for the employee hours and agency resources which are used on activities that serve those unions. Currently, federal employees who are union members can spend their on-the-clock hours working for a union instead of doing their jobs, while still being paid their taxpayer-funded salaries. The unions also use government facilities and resources to conduct their work at taxpayer expense. H.R. 9594 would recover these wasted taxpayer funds
Opinion: Bill Would End Taxpayer-Funded Union Activities by Federal Employees
August 5, 2024 // Although the Trump-Pence administration tried to rein in official time—limiting it to no more than 25% of employees’ time—the Biden-Harris administration reversed those reforms. Taxpayers presumably once again pay some employees to spend 100% of their time working for their unions. I say presumably because the Biden-Harris administration removed the Office of Personnel Management’s webpage on official time, which had provided transparency for more than a decade on how many federal employees did work for their union instead of for taxpayers, and how much time they spent doing it. Although we no longer know how many federal employees use official time, or how much total time they’re using, the disappearing webpage doesn’t indicate that official time has declined.
EDITORIAL: Project labor agreements are bad policy
May 29, 2024 // And limiting the bidding only to union labor hikes project costs. Such a price-increasing effect is a generally recognized impact of constricted competition. It pertains in particular when nonunion firms have been eliminated from even bidding on the project; if unionized firms know their only rivals for a project are other union firms, they will feel significantly less pressure to take a sharp pencil to their bid. Various studies have estimated the added cost of PLA-ed projects in the 10 percent to 20 percent range (though other analyses contend there is no significant price effect).
Counterpoint: Davis-Bacon Requires Pork Spending, Costs Taxpayers Billions
October 23, 2023 // The Davis-Bacon Act was passed in 1931 and was initially meant to counter a Depression-era practice of literally busing in workers from a lower-paying region so employers didn’t have to hire local workers who would not work for the wages being offered. This practice benefitted many workers, frequently African-Americans, who lived in poor regions with little work. Busing in unskilled labor is rarely a factor with the law, as most federal projects involve skilled labor. The present-day purpose behind the Davis-Bacon Act is to boost unions. The Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division is the entity that surveys businesses and determines the prevailing wage for these types of projects. This wage mirrors what companies with collective bargaining contracts — union wages — pay their workers. Unions that drive up their members’ wages are thus protected from the economic consequences of doing that if their business involves federal contracts because non-unionized businesses will have to pay the same wages and, therefore lose any wage-price advantage. The AFL-CIO is one of the main boosters of the law, unsurprisingly.
Orange County’s Police Unions Are Increasingly Electing, Unseating Their Own Bosses
August 30, 2023 // But in both Anaheim and Santa Ana, the police unions account for some of the largest political spending on citywide elections. And in both cities, the result has been massive raises for police officers, despite concerns from some residents that such raises were fiscally irresponsible – forcing Anaheim residents to dip into their general fund reserves in 2020. At the county, big Sheriff Deputy raises created conditions where critical investments in public health couldn’t be made, an impact largely unnoticed by the public. Until the pandemic arrived.
It’s a Gloomy Outlook for Jobs Under Biden. Here’s the Formula to Change That.
May 19, 2023 // For the sake of personal and societal happiness, for the sake of the financial well-being of American families, for the sake of solving America’s dire fiscal situation, and for the sake of preserving the foundation of American society, policymakers need to recognize the value and rewards of work. By protecting individuals’ rights to pursue the type of work and compensation that is best for them, expanding alternative education and job-training opportunities, and not forcing workers into unions, policymakers can expand opportunities for people to achieve meaningful and rewarding work. Work truly affects every aspect of American life. Our economy, our personal financial and physical well-being, our nation’s fiscal sustainability, and even our national security depend on it.