Posts tagged unconstitutional
FREEDOM FOUNDATION DEMAND LETTER FREES ANOTHER CALIFORNIA PUBLIC EMPLOYEE
November 15, 2023 // Mr. Purciel sent a letter to AFSCME Council 57 exercising his constitutional right to leave the union. The union ignored him. Mr. Purciel also contacted the payroll officer for the County of El Dorado and requested that they stop making deductions from his lawfully earned wages and providing his money to the union. The government payroll department told Mr. Purciel that they would not end the deductions without the direction of the union. This is an unfortunate consequence of the statutory scheme operating under California Government Code Section 1157.12, which forces public employees to direct requests that “cancel or change deductions for employee organizations to the employee organization, rather than to the public employer.”
Labor union challenges constitutionality of debt limit law
May 10, 2023 // The union’s lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, says the debt limit statute allows the president to cancel government spending that’s been approved by Congress, and that violates the separation of powers. The lawsuit states that the union does not seek to challenge the “controversial proposition” that Congress can limit the country’s debt. But it contends that “Congress may not do so without at least setting the order and priority of payments once that limit is reached, instead of leaving it to the President to do so.” “Nothing in the Constitution or any judicial decision interpreting the Constitution allows Congress to leave unchecked discretion to the President to exercise the spending power vested in the legislative branch by canceling, suspending, or refusing to carry out spending already approved by Congress,” the lawsuit states.
Know your Janus rights: Government employees still can’t be forced to pay unions in Michigan
March 31, 2023 // “Passing bills that are currently unconstitutional can mislead employees into believing that the law has changed and that they must now pay a union,” said Steve Delie, director of labor policy at Mackinac Center for Public Policy. “Public sector employees across the country have a First Amendment right to not pay a union thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Janus v. AFSCME decision. Repealing right-to-work does nothing for public sector employees except cause confusion.”
Puerto Rico was ruined by public unions | Opinion
March 7, 2023 // He writes that public employee unions are, in fact, unconstitutional. “The operating machinery of American democracy is now in the grips of public unions. Voters elect officials who have been disempowered by union controls.” This, he writes, violates the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits elected officials delegating, giving away (in this case to unions) sovereign powers to govern. My short career as a “union leader” led me to the conclusion that the Puerto Rico government and the Puerto Rico economy have deteriorated so badly primarily because of the huge mistake of giving enormous power to public employee unions.
Philip Howard’s Not Accountable Focuses on Reform of Public Sector Unions
January 24, 2023 // Philip K. Howard, chairman on the nonpartisan, nonprofit reform group Common Good, examines the phenomenon of public sector unions and how they rose to power in his new book Not Accountable: Rethinking the Constitutionality of Public Employee Unions. The short answer is that public sector unions are shielded from the market forces that keep private sector unions in check—a government agency is not in danger of going out of business. Public sector unions also have an in-built advantage when it comes to bargaining. Management is typically an elected official who needs the union’s help at election time and fears having it as an enemy. Public sector unions can in effect be represented at both sides of the bargaining table, Howard notes. Unions have these advantages to insulate themselves from any criticism or challenges to their power while warping public policy to their will. It’s a sobering read. The unions pressure the government to devote more public funding to bolstering the workers, diverting funds that would otherwise go to public services or maintenance of public infrastructure.
Biden Proposal Could Lead to Employee Status for Gig Workers
October 11, 2022 // The proposal is intended as a so-called interpretive rule that doesn’t have the legal force of a regulation specifically authorized by Congress, and it applies only to laws that the department enforces, such as the federal minimum wage. States and other federal agencies, like the Internal Revenue Service, set their own criteria for employment status, and the rule would not directly affect what they decided about the status of gig workers. But many employers and regulators in other jurisdictions are likely to consider the department’s interpretation when making decisions about worker classification, and many judges are likely to use it as a guide. As a result, the proposal is a potential blow to gig companies and other service providers that argue their workers are contractors, though it would not immediately affect the status of those workers.
Opinion: Lifting the Rock on Labor Union Corruption
May 28, 2022 // Here’s how the scheme works: A public employee has money taken out of his or her paycheck and sent to a union representing their bargaining unit. The union, in turn, uses the money not only for collective bargaining activities, but also to fund radical political causes across California. When the employee finds out about it and objects, the union gives them the silent treatment or tells them to get lost
Orange County Lifeguards Push for Rehearing of First Amendment Challenge to Union Scheme Trapping Them in Union Membership
May 16, 2022 // Restrictions will trap lifeguards in union membership and full dues payments for almost four years after they opted out of union
Teachers union urges Washington Supreme Court to uphold capital gains tax
May 16, 2022 // The Washington Education Association has a filed a brief with the state Supreme Court that calls for opening the door to the imposition of a graduated income tax without a constitutional amendment or voter approval.
At Ninth Circuit, Las Vegas Police Officer Defends First Amendment Right to Stop Funding Unwanted Union
April 22, 2022 // Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) officer Melodie DePierro is challenging an “escape period” enforced by officials of the Las Vegas Police Protective Association (PPA) union as an infringement of her constitutional rights recognized in the 2018 Foundation-won Janus v. AFSCME Supreme Court decision. DePierro ended her PPA membership in 2020.