by Ron DeLord | Nov 27, 2016 | Collective Bargaining, Fire, Labor, Police, Politics, Public Employees (Non-Sworn), Unions
Thunderclaps have an echo; the bigger the boom, the bigger the reverberation. On November 8, Donald Trump was elected president of the United States, revealing the smarty-pants set in Washington DC to be not so smart after all. Ten days later, on November 18, the...
by Ron DeLord | Nov 27, 2016 | Collective Bargaining, Fire, Labor, Pensions, Police, Politics, Public Employees (Non-Sworn), Unions
SACRAMENTO — A year after his 2010 election, Gov. Jerry Brown made a rare appearance at a legislative committee hearing to confront lawmakers about the steep cost of public employee pensions — and to demand that they pass his 12-point pension overhaul....
by Ron DeLord | Nov 20, 2016 | Collective Bargaining, Fire, Labor, Police, Politics, Public Employees (Non-Sworn), Unions
The death of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia likely spared public-employee unions a devastating legal defeat. In Scalia’s absence, the 4-4 stalemate in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association allowed labor groups to continue charging an “agency fee” to...
by Ron DeLord | Nov 20, 2016 | Fire, Labor, Pensions, Police, Politics, Public Employees (Non-Sworn), Unions
As South Carolina lawmakers grapple with how to fix the state’s ailing pension system, the cost of having roughly $20 billion in unfunded liabilities is ticking up. That cost is rising by about $150,000 an hour, said state Rep. Jeff Bradley, R-Beaufort, a member of...
by Ron DeLord | Nov 20, 2016 | Collective Bargaining, Fire, Health Insurance, Labor, Police, Politics, Public Employees (Non-Sworn), Unions
MEMPHIS, TENN. — The city of Memphis has decided to reinstate pre-65 retiree healthcare subsidies–much to the chagrin of some union employees. Memphis cut most retiree healthcare subsidies to shift contributions to the city’s pension fund two years ago. Retirees over...
by Ron DeLord | Nov 20, 2016 | Canadian unions, Collective Bargaining, Fire, Labor, Politics, Public Employees (Non-Sworn), Unions
The City of Medicine Hat and its firefighters have agreed to a wage freeze in 2017. It is an almost unprecedented feat in public sector bargaining, but one budgeters said was needed to grapple with a looming shortfall. Council members, who unanimously ratified the...
