Free Republic

New Jersey's highest court on Tuesday ruled that Gov. Chris Christie can cut $1.6 billion from state pension funding, The court, in reversing a lower court ruling, said while it lamented the "staggering" loss of public trust resulting from broken promises, the pension payment at issue was not a contractual obligation entitled to constitutional protection.

As New York Governor Anthony Cuomo fast-tracks his arbitrary wage increase targeting the state’s fast food industry, scarce attention has been given to the actual language in the proposal. Cuomo, of course, hastily created the Fast Food Wage Board soon after an error-ridden op-ed appeared in the New York Times. The non-legislative board held its first meeting last week as it determines an "adequate" wage for fast food workers in the Empire State. Acting Labor Commissioner Mario Musolino, who is overseeing the three-member kangaroo court, set forth a definition to guide its efforts. Musolino has said that “fast food chains”...

MADISON, Wis. — Less than a week after he was elected governor of Wisconsin in 2010, Scott Walker went to Milwaukee at the invitation of his political patron, Michael W. Grebe.Mr. Grebe was Mr. Walker’s campaign chairman. He was also president of the Bradley Foundation, a leading source of ideas and financing for American conservatives. And the bankers, industrialists and public intellectuals on the foundation’s board wanted to honor the state’s next governor over dinner at Bacchus, a favorite restaurant of the city’s elite.While the Milwaukee-based Bradley Foundation could not endorse candidates outright, it provided more than $2 million in...

Here’s how the scam works: Near the end of each academic year, APSCUF informs their members that it miraculously found an extra $25 per person in dues that it doesn’t need. The union then portrays itself as an honest broker and offers the money back as a “rebate.” The rebate form gives members three options for their $25: 1. Let the union keep it; 2. Donate it to APSCUF’s political action committee; or 3. Have it sent back to them. Presenting this “found” money with these options and urging members to donate to APSCUF’s PAC has proven extraordinarily effective —...

The AFL-CIO, along with some public sector unions, announced a campaign finance freeze in March. Unions hoped the threat of withholding contributions would scare Democratic lawmakers out of supporting President Barack Obama’s Trade Promotion Authority, or “fast track,” to negotiate the Trans-Pacific Partnership — a trade agreement labor groups say would hurt manufacturing jobs in the U.S.

".......His political career started in 1993, when he was elected to Wisconsin’s State Assembly. After four terms in the legislature, Walker was elected to serve as county executive of Milwaukee in 2002. According to the governor’s official bio, Walker cut the county’s workforce by upwards of 25 percent, reduced debt by 30 percent, and authored nine consecutive budgets that did not increase property tax levies. Keen observers of Wisconsin’s political scene would have, even at this early stage in his career, seen in Walker a potential threat to public unions, whose pension demands often act as parasites to the public...

Volvo's choice of right-to-work state South Carolina for its $500 million assembly plant puts the Swedish car maker on a collision course with the United Auto Workers, but Gov. Nikki Haley predicts the union will be the latest labor organization to find itself unwelcome in the Palmetto State. The company announced last week plans for its first facility in North America, a plant that will employ up to 2,000 workers and turn out 100,000 cars per year. Haley, an outspoken critic of unions, has made it clear the union is unwelcome, but United Auto Workers President Dennis Williams said his...

In 1992 Luigi Battaglieri was a teacher in the Fraser Public Schools, earning an annual salary of $34,659. That's when he quit being an educator and went to work for the state's largest teachers union, the Michigan Education Association. Battaglieri rose in the union hierarchy and eventually became its president, collecting a six-figure salary along the way. But because of a deal made with the school district back when he stopped teaching, Battaglieri now collects an annual government pension of $85,903, which is more than twice his salary as a teacher. He will receive these payments the rest of his...

Democrats are hypocrites when it comes to decrying big money in politics. They demonize the Koch brothers but remain silent when it comes to the massive spending by labor unions. And the biggest hypocrite of them all is President Obama, who railed against the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision while raising a billion dollars for his re-election in 2012. The majority of that money came from Democratic whales who apparently didn't hear the president when he was lecturing America about the evil influence of billionaires on politics.

First of a Three-Part Series Wouldn’t you like to have a job where you get paid to slack off, and no matter what, have a powerful authority to back you up, winning battles to preserve your salary, benefits, and your every demand if your boss tries to fire you? It’s a fact of life for many government workers. A dive into government labor fights at the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) reveals a nasty secret—the great lengths federal unions go to protect government slackers, at your expense. Cases at the FLRA, a quasi-judicial body that oversees disputes between federal agencies...

The debate has America split—literally. With Wisconsin's adoption of so-called right-to-work legislation earlier this year, 25 states now prohibit mandatory union dues, and with legislation being pushed in several more states, the right-to-work movement is talking about a national "tipping point." Under right-to-work legislation, no person can be compelled, as a condition of employment, to join or not to join a labor union or pay dues. Republican legislators in Missouri passed a right-to-work measure this month, but Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon has said he will veto the bill. A bill almost passed in New Mexico, and backers are pushing similar...

... f State, County and Municipal Employees in response to the civil unrest in late April and early May after the death of Freddie Gray from injuries suffered in police custody. The organizers targeted the neighborhoods of West Baltimore, where Gray was arrested. AFSCME Maryland has done voter registration efforts before, but the unrest "put it into hyperdrive," said Patrick Moran, president of the union group. On Saturday, the ASFSCME members had more luck elsewhere, registering 22 new voters. One of them was 18-year-old Brandi Womack, who was set to graduate from Carver Vocational-Technical High on Sunday. Womack, whose mother,...

In every major city that is increasing the minimum wage (Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles), labor unions have been at the forefront of the change. For example, in an op-ed for the Huffington Post titled “Raise Los Angeles’ Minimum Wage and Enforce It1,” Rusty Hicks, a labor leader in L.A. who represents over 300 unions, wrote: It’s no secret that we believe the minimum wage must be raised in order to lift working families out of poverty. Most voters and many members of the city council and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors agree with us. But we believe...

This has to be the month's top entry in the "Just when you think you've seen it all" category — and it will be more than a little interesting to see how the nation's press handles it. As the Associated Press reported a week ago, the City Council in Los Angeles, by a vote of 14-1, ordered the drafting of a law mandating a citywide minimum wage of $15 per hour by 2020, noting that "the support of Mayor Eric Garcetti virtually guarantee its eventual adoption." Now that it's almost a done deal, labor unions whose members earn less want...

CARSON CITY — Two longstanding pillars of organized labor — union membership and employee seniority — would face changes under a Nevada collective bargaining bill that addresses how local governments and unions do business together. The Assembly Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday heard Assembly Bill 182, which would allow government employees to quit their union membership whenever they wish. AB182, sponsored by Assemblyman Randy Kirner, R-Reno, also would allow local governments to look at employees beyond simply their seniority level when making layoffs. Kirner said the bill’s purpose falls in line with Nevada’s standing as a right-to-work state in...

Those who think the minimum wage doesn't cost jobs might want to have a chat with unions in Los Angeles.

Big hotels in Los Angeles will soon be required to pay at least $15.37 an hour to their workers... Hotels that have a unionized workforce can be exempted from paying the $15.37 hourly wage, if workers agree in their contract to relinquish that opportunity.

Labor leaders, who were among the strongest supporters of the citywide minimum wage increase approved last week by the Los Angeles City Council, are advocating last-minute changes to the law that could create an exemption for companies with unionized workforces. The push to include an exception to the mandated wage increase for companies that let their employees collectively bargain was the latest unexpected detour as the city nears approval of its landmark legislation to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2020. For much of the past eight months, labor activists have argued against special considerations for business...

It was a while ago that our Attorney General, the one and only Eric Holder, claimed that our country was a bunch of “cowards” for not wanting to discuss issues of race. I am willing to discuss them. And contrary to the opinion of race baiters and progressive, grievance mongers, I won’t bow to the narrative they have developed over the past seven years. Most Americans believe race relations in this country are bad and deteriorating. In my lifetime I have not had any difficulty with someone of another race. Perhaps that is because I was in the military for...

Labor leaders, who were among the strongest supporters of the citywide minimum wage increase approved last week by the Los Angeles City Council, are advocating last-minute changes to the law that could create an exemption for companies with unionized workforces. The push to include an exception to the mandated wage increase for companies that let their employees collectively bargain was the latest unexpected detour as the city nears approval of its landmark legislation to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2020. For much of the past eight months, labor activists have argued against special considerations for business...