Posts tagged taxpayers
The Texas Supreme Court recently handed a significant victory to taxpayers, and Louisiana lawmakers should take note.
July 29, 2024 // The court held that the CBA did not authorize union activities like lobbying, supporting candidates, or engaging in other partisan political activities while on release time. To allow this type of activity would violate the Texas Constitution’s Gift Clauses, which prohibit state and local governments from allocating public resources to private purposes. Release time is time spent conducting union business—lobbying, attending conferences, or negotiating collective bargaining agreements—for which the member is granted paid time away from the job he or she was hired to do. In other words, it’s a form of taxpayer funded lobbying.
U.S. Taxpayers To Bail Out Failing Musicians’ Union Pension Fund With $1.5 Billion, PBGC Announces
July 15, 2024 // “As of July 15, 2024, PBGC has announced approval of about $61.9 billion in SFA to plans that cover about 1,076,000 workers, retirees, and beneficiaries,” the PBGC stated in its announcement. In June, Democrats stated they planned to use the taxpayer-funded pension bailout scheme to rally union voters in the upcoming November general elections.
WIOA Reauthorization Draft Includes “Blacklisting” Provision, Violating Employers’ Due Process Rights
July 3, 2024 // The blacklisting provision, if implemented, would bar employers from WIOA funding based on findings that are still subject to appeal. As a result, an employer may be denied funding even though a court may rule on appeal that the employer did not violate the law. Efforts to blacklist employers from federal initiatives and funding began under the Obama administration when it issued Executive Order 13673, “Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces,” in July 2014. The Executive Order called for the debarment or suspension of federal contractors from the federal procurement process for allegations of labor and employment law violations. A final rule and guidance implementing the Executive Order were issued in August 2016, but both were blocked from taking effect by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas and by Congress via a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution.
Public employee unions took over Michigan. Now they’re eyeing Pennsylvania
May 7, 2024 // Bad as this is for taxpayers, the union-backed legislators have made things even worse for workers. A new law requires government employers to provide unions with employees’ personal contact information within 30 days of hiring. Employers must update and resubmit this information every 90 days. Unions are thus given free rein to inundate workers with political or other material whether it is wanted or not.
Op-ed: A ‘Fairness Initiative’ to Tackle Too-High Government-Employee Pay
March 29, 2024 // You probably don’t recall those compensation discussions because you were not part of them. The “negotiations” to set pay and benefits for government employees, which are conducted between two groups of government employees, tend to be resolved quickly and with alarming amicability. On one side of the table are union officials representing government workers. On the other side are government employees representing you and your fellow taxpayers. You did not choose those representatives. In all likelihood, you are unaware that they are representing you. They were chosen for you by Joe Biden. And when the two parties get down to hard bargaining, there is no unseemly discord. Not a single fistfight has been reported.
Commentary: Biden’s Independent Contractor Rule Threatens the Evolution of Work
March 15, 2024 // So what's the advantage of reclassifying independent workers as employees? The same as the disadvantage: It makes it harder for workers to be their own boss, to choose their own schedules, to represent themselves, to set their priorities as they see fit. If you believe in the evolution of the workplace and worker self-determination, this is bad. But if you believe in a one-size-fits-all work model where individuals are employed by traditional businesses and represented by traditional unions, this is great.
Sen. Joni Ernst Introduces Legislation To Track Taxpayer Dollars Subsidizing Federal Employee Unions
March 15, 2024 // President Joe Biden’s Office of Personnel Management (OPM) stopped reporting “taxpayer-funded union time,” or “official time,” which agencies use to pay federal employees to conduct activities on behalf of federal employee labor unions, not the agencies which employ them or U.S. taxpayers. In 2019, which is the last year for which data is available, OPM reported that union activities during official time cost taxpayers $135 million. Federal employees spent 2.6 million hours, or 296 years, working for their union instead of doing their agency jobs.
HOUSE DEMOCRATS ADVANCE SEIU BILL IN OREGON KNOWING IT WOULD STRIP CAREGIVERS OF THEIR RIGHTS
February 29, 2024 // Specifically, Oregon’s HB 4129 would require the state to contract with up to two private vendors to administer part of the state’s Medicaid-funded homecare program. By doing so, it would create a new employment model governed by private-sector labor law, under which caregivers would lose their protections under the Harris ruling. SEIU 503 is the union purporting to represent Medicaid-compensated homecare workers in Oregon, and it’s has taken a big hit since Harris.
Teachers Union Strike in Mass. Amid Statewide Revenue Deficits
February 11, 2024 // Nearly two weeks later, and close to a million dollars in fines incurred by the illegal strike, the NTA and the District finally agreed to a 2.5 percent cost of living adjustment through fiscal year 2025, a 3.25 percent increase by 2026, and a .75 percent increase for 2027—a stepped total of 12.6 percent over four years. According to the NTA, the deal includes “the best parental leave benefits in the state,” with 10 additional paid days by the district. According to Newton officials, however, the deal cost their residents an additional $53 million more than budgeted. In March of 2023, Newton residents voted 53-47 against additional tax increases proposed to cover increased spending. Without the additional tax revenues to fund the union’s demands, Newton city Mayor Ruthanne Fuller, said during negotiations that the city would need to layoff teachers and other city employees, such as police and firefighters, to meet the bargaining demands.
Taxpayers funding teachers unions? In Idaho, it’s all too common
February 5, 2024 // The Boise School District goes a step further by providing teachers a monthly salary enhancement for “professional activities” that just happens to approximate the cost of union dues and can be conveniently deducted from their paychecks and forwarded to the union by the district. At least 51 school district teachers union contracts include provisions providing paid time off for teachers who serve as union officials to engage in union work and advocacy on-the-clock and at taxpayer expense. Some contracts even specifically permit teachers to lobby the legislature on the union’s behalf while on paid release from their teaching duties. Again, while the direct cost to taxpayers is difficult to measure precisely, it could easily range from $500,000 to $1 million per year. And at least 31 school districts provide the teachers union with preferential, no-cost access to and use of school facilities and communications well beyond what community groups or even competing unions are entitled to.