public unions
18 pieces tagged “public unions”, newest first.
Trump Goes Postal
The Postal Task Force delivers its report, and — surprise — it’s not good at all.
‘Trump Has the Nerve to Eliminate Pay Raises for Federal Employees’
He also called for performance-based pay raises. What a novel concept.
Judge Puts Brakes on Trump’s Federal Union EO
An Obama appointee seeks to stymie Trump’s efforts to reform public unions.
Public Unions Get Smacked by Major Reforms
The president signed three executive orders that administer various forms of accountability.
Want the Big Bucks? Join the Government
The public-private sector wage disparity isn’t a fantasy. It’s real, and it’s worsening.
A Chance to Mend First Amendment Rights
When the Supreme Court contemplates changing its mind, it must weigh the institutional interest in the law’s continuity against evidence that a prior decision has done an injury, even a constitutional injury. The court took 58 years to begin, with the 1954 school desegregation decision, undoing its 1896 decision affirming the constitutionality of “separate but equal” public facilities and services. On Monday, oral arguments at the court will indicate whether it is ready to undo 39 years of damage to the First Amendment rights of millions of government employees.
Freedom of Speech and Public Employee Unions
U.S. labor unions have long been experiencing a decline. In 1954, union membership for both public and private sector employees combined peaked at 28.3 percent. Today only around 11 percent of all workers belong to unions. The overall rate of union membership would be much lower were it not for the public sector — teachers, police officers, other municipal workers — where the rate of union membership is considerably higher at nearly 36 percent. This higher rate among the public sector is why the outcome of Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association is a major concern for labor leaders.
Giving Power to the People
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker just proposed a plan to overhaul the country’s labor laws, called “My Plan to Give Power to the People, Not the Union Bosses.” It would do that by expanding employee choice and holding unions accountable to their members. One of the main underlying themes of the Republican presidential hopeful’s private-sector reforms is transferring power and decision-making from unions to their members. For instance, the plan would guarantee employees’ rights by strengthening secret-ballot elections. Under current law, unions have ways to work around the protections, making such elections less than secret. The change would protect workers from retaliation by not disclosing their choices to unions during workplace elections.