Posts tagged taxpayers
MEGHAN PORTFOLIO And FRANK RICCI: Teachers Union Uses ‘Crises’ To Reshape School Governance
February 12, 2026 // We wrote an MOU in a day, which in our district is definitely a record.” Under normal circumstances, agreements of this magnitude take weeks or months to negotiate and approve. That MOU now locks the district into a new operating framework. Unlike formal contracts, MOUs typically require only a single management signature and a single union signature. State labor laws and collective bargaining agreements often reduce school board authority to one individual, allowing grievance settlements or stipulated agreements to be implemented without the board’s deliberation, vote, or public input.
Lawmakers join Chicago Teachers Union to push for more school funding
February 12, 2026 // State lawmakers have introduced legislation backed by the Chicago Teachers Union to immediately increase evidence-based funding and additional public school services. Republicans say Illinois' taxes already are too high. State Sen. Graciela Guzmán, D-Chicago, is a former CTU organizer.
Commentary: Another favor for unions — at the expense of taxpayers, workers
February 11, 2026 // Personal contact information that is required to be transmitted on a recurring schedule includes an employee’s name, work and personal emails, cell, work and home phone numbers, home addresses, date of hire, job title, rate of pay and work site. This is not a one-time compliance task. Even if the data exists, the mandate is a recurring export, verification and delivery obligation that consumes staff time and taxpayer money. This bill looks small on paper, but it creates a very real, ongoing workload for public employers.
Oregon Punishes the Freedom Foundation
December 30, 2025 // The censorship is masked in the good-government language of fighting fraud, but don’t be fooled. The Workers Fraud Protection Act, which takes effect Jan. 1, makes it “unlawful to falsely impersonate a union representative” and imposes punitive fines. The law cites a definition of fraud that includes merely giving a “false impression” of union matters. The bill was written specifically to give unions a cudgel against the Freedom Foundation. The nonprofit sends mailers informing workers of their right to decline union representation. Unions say the Freedom Foundation misleads workers by using union colors and logos to make the mail seem as if it is coming from the union itself.
MAXFORD NELSEN: The Other Education Choice: Freeing Teachers from Monopolistic Unions
November 17, 2025 // Public-sector collective bargaining tends to crowd out the interests of students, families, and taxpayers in education policymaking, but teachers unions’ power comes from subjecting teachers to a monopoly system of workplace restrictions. While individual educators now have the legal right to forgo union membership, state policymakers have many opportunities to improve educators’ ability to exercise that right. To level the playing field and increase teachers unions’ accountability to the public and their own members, policymakers should consider reforming or replacing collective bargaining in public education.
Chicago Teachers Union lobby day costs taxpayers up to $19.3K
November 16, 2025 // Just 2-in-5 Chicago students read at grade level. They could have benefitted from a normal day of instruction. CTU chose a political agenda and personal gain above students. Each time it takes teachers out of the classroom to lobby, the costly burden impacts both students’ futures and taxpayers’ pockets.
Editorial: Unions share blame for layoff fallout
November 1, 2025 // "To date, the Stamford law firm of Silver Golub & Teitell has been paid $50.8 million for representing the unions and the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition, according to the state comptroller's office," Mr. Hughes wrote. "The settlement set attorney fees at 17.5% of the total damages each class member receives," extrapolating "to roughly $290 million in compensatory and economic damages." Union attorney Jonathan M. Levine figured the actual payouts amounted to between $190 million and $215 million.
Commentary: When fighting Trump, take union claims with a grain of salt
October 7, 2025 // Government unions faced another momentous reform seven years ago when the Supreme Court ruled in Janus v. AFSCME. The court held that public sector workers have a First Amendment right to completely withdraw from union membership and dues. In essence, the court created a nationwide right-to-work law for all public sector workers, including teachers, police officers, firefighters, and all other federal, state, and local government workers. No longer would they have to join or pay a union to keep their job. Government unions hated this ruling, of course. In a desperate attempt to sway the Supreme Court, union-paid prognosticators predicted massive negative economic effects if the court ruled against unions.
Opinion: Hochul must shame LIRR unions —by revealing their outrageous strike demands
September 15, 2025 // The agency’s overtime spending regularly stands out by national standards (only periodically rivaled by the MTA’s other big rail outfit, Metro-North, which is stuck operating under the federal law that governs the LIRR). LIRR employees in 2023 made an average of more than $26,000 each in overtime alone.
VA redirects millions in wasteful union spending back to Veterans
August 27, 2025 // In FY24, the following VA employees were on taxpayer-funded union time, performing work for unions instead of providing care for Veterans: More than 1,000 VA employees in direct patient-care roles. Six registered nurses who collectively earned nearly $1.2 million per year in wages and benefits. Five attorneys who collectively earned $1.25 million per year. Four pharmacists who collectively earned more than $700,000 per year. One physician’s assistant who earned $225,000 per year. One Veterans claims examiner who earned $190,000 per year.