Posts tagged union release time
Phoenix to Face AZ Supreme Court Scrutiny over Public Records Refusal
September 14, 2025 // Coming just days before Goldwater lawyers argue another important case before justices—one involving the rights to free speech and privacy—this new case, called Goldwater Institute v. Phoenix, involves the Arizona Public Records Act (the state’s version of the Freedom of Information Act). The Institute sought documents from the city concerning its labor negotiations with public sector unions—negotiations that produce contracts that often include illegal subsidies such as “release time” (which was the subject of still another case we won before the Supreme Court). But the city refused to turn over the documents, claiming the records could be kept from the public under the so-called “best interests of the state” exception—a judge-made rule that enables government entities to withhold information if they think turning over certain information would be bad for the “public interest.” There’s a lot wrong with that. For one thing, the city failed to show that disclosing the documents would actually harm the public. Instead, the city’s witnesses simply claimed that disclosing the documents “may result in” the “politicization” of negotiations between the city and the union.
Podcast: Championing Worker Freedom Across The States: Alan Jernigan and Vincent Vernuccio on ALEC TV
August 23, 2025 // As debates over worker rights ripple across the country, one message continues to echo from state to state: workers deserve the freedom to choose the work arrangements that fit their lives best. But how should lawmakers turn that principle into policy?
End the Practice of Federal Government Serving as Unions’ Bill Collector
August 9, 2023 // The Paycheck Protection Act would help federal employees by requiring their unions to be more transparent and accountable to them. It would protect taxpayers by no longer requiring them to foot the bill for a private organization’s bill collections. And it would eliminate the special-interest bill collection subsidy granted to federal employee unions.
Abortion becomes union business
July 26, 2022 // Typically, union release time is paid time-off used by employees who are conducting official union business. But according to In These Times, a pro-union magazine, Professor Rebecca Givan thinks union officials should be able to use release time to help union members get an abortion, by using the time off to provide assistance like childcare or transportation.
Taxpayer Victory! Gov. Ducey Signs Goldwater Institute’s Release Time Reform Act by GOLDWATER INSTITUTE
April 12, 2022 // “Public funds should advance the public’s interest, not the political and lobbying activities of private labor unions,” said Goldwater Institute President and CEO Victor Riches. “This law will ensure that tax dollars cannot be used to pay government workers to lobby and engage in political activities for labor unions instead of working for the public.”
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.”