Posts tagged union activities
Op-ed: MARY KATHARINE HAM: Teachers union bosses put themselves first, teachers and students last
April 23, 2025 // Just recently, Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst uncovered $3.3 million in taxpayer money, and 87,000 hours spent at one agency alone over just two years that went to thousands of hours of union-related activities instead of the American people. Elsewhere, the IRS union is negotiating for its members to show up only once a week in person and retain a bunch of generous bonuses. An unwelcome April surprise, just like your tax bill!
Commentary: Taxpayer-Funded Union Work Deserves Transparency, Limits
March 21, 2025 // The Office of Personnel Management estimated federal employees spent at least 2.6 million hours on official time in fiscal year 2019, at a cost to taxpayers of $135 million. This was after President Trump sharply curbed taxpayer-funded union time via a 2018 executive order. Because unions have a right to unspecified quantities of official time under federal statute, the most the president can do without congressional action is implement parameters around its use or, in the case of the Biden administration, crank it to 11. In his drive to become “the most pro-union president in history,” Biden rescinded Trump’s executive order limiting official time and directed federal agencies to grant unions more taxpayer-funded union time.
Attorney: Campton Hills retaliated against cop for unionizing attempt
February 6, 2025 // DiMaggio and Walsh appeared Wednesday at a Campton Hills Fire and Police Commission hearing on whether the officer should be put on unpaid leave. “Officer DiMaggio has been on paid leave for 10 months now while the village has sought reasons to discipline him after he investigated and formed a union for the police officers,” Walsh said.
Report Shows Extent of Tax Dollars Spent on Public-Sector Unionism
January 17, 2025 // The results of the 2024 presidential election were a repudiation of Biden’s “most pro-union administration in American history,” in favor of one that sides with actual workers, as opposed to union bosses. Congress has every right to demand oversight over the expenses of the executive branch, especially when taxpayer dollars are funneled to union bureaucrats that are working in the interests of themselves and not the American people.
White House scrubs webpage showing how taxpayers fund union activities
November 22, 2023 // The OPM, which oversees federal employment and recruiting, removed both the webpage and reports assembled over the past two decades analyzing how much taxpayer money is spent funding union activities. Additionally, OPM appears to have stopped assembling official time reports, which have historically been published every few years during the past four presidential administrations since 1998. "If federal employees are going to be legally permitted to engage in union work while on-the-clock, the very least taxpayers are owed is an accurate accounting of the associated costs," Maxford Nelsen, the director of research and government affairs at free market think tank Freedom Foundation, told Fox News Digital.
SSA, AFGE renegotiate agreement to give employees more official time
August 29, 2022 // After months of ongoing discussions, SSA and AFGE reached an agreement on July 25 to reinstate previous levels of official time for union activity, and the union’s use of SSA facilities, that existed in an earlier iteration of the national contract from 2012. Rich Couture, AFGE’s spokesperson for SSA, told Federal News Network that settlement discussions earlier this year ultimately led to the changes to the contract. The new provisions of the national agreement will raise the caps on the maximum hours that union representatives can use toward union time, and put more available hours in a bank for other SSA employees. The new provisions of the national agreement will raise the caps on the maximum hours that union representatives can use toward union time, and put more available hours in a bank for other SSA employees. SSA Acting Commissioner Kilolo Kijakazi,