by rondelord | Aug 22, 2015 | Collective Bargaining, Fire, Pensions, Police, Politics, Unions
A proponent of the latest California public-pension ballot proposal has launched an email effort he says will drum up an army of volunteers to collect signatures. A spokesman for the measure’s union opposition countered that the email is “a fundraising scam.” The mass...
by rondelord | May 30, 2015 | Collective Bargaining, Fire, Labor, Pensions, Police, Politics, Public Employees (Non-Sworn), Unions
The Governmental Accounting Standards Board is implementing new rules that require governments, for the first time, to report unfunded pension liabilities on their 2015 balance sheets. This sticker shock should create new urgency for meaningful pension reform. A...
by rondelord | May 4, 2015 | Collective Bargaining, Fire, Labor, Pensions, Police, Politics, Public Employees (Non-Sworn), Unions
The next buzzword in California’s episodic public pension debate: “crowd-out.” As in, “California Crowd-Out: How Rising Retirement Benefit Costs Threaten Municipal Services.” It’s the title of a new report issued by the conservative Manhattan Institute. Leaders of the...
by rondelord | Feb 3, 2015 | Collective Bargaining, Fire, Labor, Pensions, Police, Politics, Public Employees (Non-Sworn), Unions
Let’s break out the crystal ball and peer into the future for Gov. Jerry Brown’s plan to bargain state-employee and retiree health benefits with unions. Background: California spends about $3 billion on medical benefits for state workers, plus $2 billion for retirees....
by rondelord | Jan 27, 2015 | Collective Bargaining, Fire, Health Insurance, Labor, Police, Politics, Public Employees (Non-Sworn), Unions
After years of making concessions to Gov. Jerry Brown, California labor leaders had hoped that the fourth-and-final-term Democrat finally would be in a giving mood. But after the governor’s budget proposal two weeks ago, several unions are bracing for tough talks in...