by rondelord | Jan 27, 2015 | Collective Bargaining, Fire, Labor, Police, Politics, Public Employees (Non-Sworn), Unions
While becoming more and more powerful, public sector unions are losing favor with taxpayers, Daniel DiSalvo, author of “Government Against Itself: Public Union Power and Its Consequences,” said during a forum hosted by The Illinois Policy Institute Tuesday in Chicago....
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...
by rondelord | Jan 26, 2015 | Collective Bargaining, Fire, Labor, Pensions, Police, Politics, Public Employees (Non-Sworn), Unions
When former Enron trader and Texas billionaire John Arnold donated more than $1 million to a November 2014 initiative to reform the public pension system in Phoenix, pension activists took notice. Arnold’s donation to Proposition 487, also known as the Phoenix Pension...
by rondelord | Jan 26, 2015 | Collective Bargaining, Fire, Labor, Police, Politics, Public Employees (Non-Sworn), Unions
Public employee unions look out for their members’ financial interests, not those of the public. So why are taxpayers stuck paying the salaries of union leaders who are hostile to them? After all, unionized government workers pay dues to their unions. For some...
by rondelord | Jan 26, 2015 | Collective Bargaining, Fire, Labor, Pensions, Police, Politics, Public Employees (Non-Sworn), Unions
Chicago faces a $300 million deficit in 2016 with shortfalls continuing “for the forseeable future” — even before piling on $20 billion in pension liabilities that have saddled the city with the “worst credit rating of any major city other than Detroit.” And if state...
by rondelord | Jan 20, 2015 | Fire, Labor, Pensions, Police, Politics, Public Employees (Non-Sworn), Unions
TRENTON — Some 800,000 people, working and retired, are beneficiaries of New Jersey’s pension system, a collection of funds going deeper into the red. It’s a system that Gov. Chris Christie, in his State of the State address last week, called “an insatiable beast.” In...
