Posts tagged taxpayers
Op-Ed: County collective bargaining bill rewards unions, harms employees and taxpayers
May 17, 2022 // Buoyed by taxpayer support and armed with coercively inflated dues revenue, unions will plow resources into electing county commissioners more favorably disposed to union demands at the bargaining table, thus further increasing their power.
Biden Administration’s Davis-Bacon ‘Reforms’ Are More Pork for Labor Unions
May 17, 2022 // The construction industry currently faces supply chain disruptions, unprecedented materials-cost inflation, declining investment in structures, and a skilled-labor shortage of 650,000 people in 2022. To make matters worse, the Biden administration proposed controversial new regulations in March that will needlessly increase construction costs and discourage small businesses from bidding on taxpayer-funded projects.
Pennsylvania: Americans for Fair Treatment Releases CBA Database
May 16, 2022 // While the database is a huge step forward in contract transparency, the database can only include contracts that have already been approved by lawmakers. Many public employees still do not have the opportunity to see their full contracts before they are voted on. Trent Bryden, a teacher in Northeastern, PA, explained in a recent op-ed that he and the public do not have appropriate access to the contract that governs most of his work.
Op-Ed: HOW TO FIX AMERICA’S WORKER SHORTAGE: PUSH FOOD STAMP RECIPIENTS TO GET A JOB
May 16, 2022 // States should encourage more people to find the independence that comes with employment, which will not only help end America’s worker shortage, but also grow the economy by nearly $160 billion. That matters especially after the economy shrank in the first three months of the year.
Opinion: Connecticut Hits Its Taxpayers With a Huge Payoff to Unions
April 6, 2022 // If Hartford lawmakers consent, state employees will pocket $2,500 bonuses, back pay averaging nearly $2,000, and raises of 2.5% to 4.5%. Another $1,000 bonus and more raises await in July, around the time their unions will decide whether to offer Mr. Lamont’s re-election bid the same intense backing they delivered in 2018.
Flint Taxpayers Pay For Employees Doing Union Business, City Doesn’t Track How Much
March 28, 2022 // In states like Michigan that permit public sector workers to unionize and engage in collective bargaining, some government employees also become officers in those unions. Michigan permits these union officer/public employees to use a specified amount of their hours on the job to do union work, rather than the job they were hired to do. This practice is called “union release time.”
Act 10 Savings Tops $15 Billion Since 2011
March 27, 2022 // Before the unions convince you that contributing 12.6% towards health insurance is an unfair and undue burden, think about this. A state employee in Wisconsin pays $2,952 a year for the regular family plan with dental. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the average annual worker premium contribution is $6,015 a year. State employees pay roughly half of what the average taxpayer pays for health insurance and the state employee is receiving platinum coverage for that reasonable amount.
PROVISO TEACHERS’ UNION REJECTS TRUCE AS STRIKE KEEPS 4,200 STUDENTS OUT FOR 8 DAYS
March 21, 2022 // The Proviso teachers’ union declared the strike over compensation March 4, canceling classes for the district’s 4,200 students for 8 days so far. The local school board tried to call a time-out to get students back in class, but the union refused.
Editorial: Biden’s favors to unions keep costing taxpayers
March 16, 2022 // Pitching the executive order as a cost saver is disingenuous, as collective bargaining inherently drives up costs. It’s the same faulty logic used to defend prevailing wage laws that force union-level pay and benefits on publicly funded construction projects.