by rondelord | Feb 3, 2015 | Collective Bargaining, Fire, Health Insurance, Labor, Pensions, Police, Politics, Public Employees (Non-Sworn), Unions
These are trying times for the American labor movement. Employer backlash; the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act, which restricted union activities and allowed states to pass “right-to-work” laws; and deindustrialization have led to a decades-long decline in union membership, a...
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 | Feb 3, 2015 | Fire, Labor, Pensions, Police, Politics, Public Employees (Non-Sworn), Unions
The three largest cities in Riverside County are still having difficulty in fully funding public employee pension costs. The emergent problem of rising unfunded liabilities, soaring costs and falling investment returns have been a long-time coming. The challenge for...
by rondelord | Feb 3, 2015 | Collective Bargaining, Fire, Health Insurance, Labor, Police, Politics, Unions
San Antonio Mayor Ivy Taylor is hopeful the city of San Antonio and officials representing local police and fire unions can come to terms on a new collective bargaining agreement within the next six weeks. That timeline is critical, she said, as extended negotiations...
by rondelord | Feb 3, 2015 | Collective Bargaining, Fire, Labor, Police, Politics, Public Employees (Non-Sworn), Unions
The city of Aurora this week approved new contracts for three key city unions. The contracts with two units of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, or AFSCME, and with the Association of Professional Police Officers were literally years in...
by rondelord | Feb 3, 2015 | Collective Bargaining, Fire, Labor, Pensions, Police, Politics, Unions
ROCKFORD — Rep. Joe Sosnowski (R-Rockford) says there is just no way Illinois can tax its way out of an estimated $110 billion in unfunded state pension liabilities and another $50 billion in health care costs for state retirees, and so he’s proposing...
