Free Republic

TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES:I am transmitting an alternative plan for pay adjustments for civilian Federal employees covered by the General Schedule and certain other pay systems in January 2021.Title 5, United States Code, authorizes me to implement alternative plans for pay adjustments for civilian Federal employees covered by the General Schedule and certain other pay systems if, because of “national emergency or serious economic conditions affecting the general welfare,” I view the increases that would otherwise take effect as inappropriate.Under current law, locality pay increases averaging 20.67 percent, costing $21 billion in the first year alone, would go into...

... Democrats are expected to pass a package of labor union-backed policies through the House even though the chances that the Senate will consider the bill are roughly nil. The Protecting the Right to Organize Act (PRO Act) would insert new language into the National Labor Relations Act to compel the payment of union dues even by non-members working in unionized professions. That means the passage of the PRO Act would effectively undo so-called "right to work" laws on the books in many states.* The PRO Act would also implement a veritable grab bag of policies that labor unions have...

Just breaking....

Democrats in Virginia aren’t wasting time with their first statehouse majority in 26 years—by repealing the state’s 70-year-old right-to-work law that has helped the commonwealth thrive. Twenty-seven states including Virginia have right-to-work laws that give workers a choice of whether to belong to a union. According to the National Institute for Labor Relations Research, the rate of job growth was two times higher in right-to-work states between 2008 and 2018 than in states where workers can be compelled to join unions or pay dues as a condition of employment. This disparity is the result of a confluence of pro-growth policies...

Another supermarket in Brockton is closing down, leaving a vacant plaza on Belmont Street, one of the main corridors into the city. Citing flagging financial returns, Stop & Shop said it plans to close its store at 683 Belmont St. on the West Side of Brockton after 25 years in business. It is scheduled to close on March 28, the company said. “Stop & Shop has made the difficult decision not to renew the lease for our store on 683 Belmont Street in Brockton, Massachusetts, as the store was not meeting financial expectations,” according to a statement from the company...

Evidence shows school choice—or, as it should be called, “education freedom”—has obvious benefits for society. The expansion of National School Choice Week (NSCW)—the celebration created to spotlight the successes of school choice—is a testament to the movement’s positive effect on our nation. The concept of school choice is really simple: Every child, regardless of where he or she lives, how much money the child’s parent makes, etc., should have access to the educational opportunities parents deem best. Proponents of education freedom rightfully acknowledge every child is unique, and rather than force children into a one-size-fits-all classroom, they should instead be...

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) said Jan. 16 that President Donald Trump broke the law when he withheld aid from Ukraine. The union for that “independent, nonpartisan” agency naturally supports Democrats. Just don’t expect the media to tell you about it.

Award Winning Actor Robert De Niro really does make it hard for a politically engaged conservative who has enjoyed his movies to like him anymore. In the era of Trump, we’ve all come to expect political rants from De Niro as he accepts industry awards or gives interviews for television and in print. He did it again during the 26th Annual Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards Sunday. De Niro was honored with the SAG Life Achievement Award. Typically, the honoree fakes enough humility to convince the audience that he or she is just a regular person lucky enough to...

WASHINGTON - December 18, 2019 - National Education Association President Lily Eskelsen García released the following statement regarding the U.S. House vote on impeachment: “As educators, we teach students to ask questions and seek answers because the truth matters. Over the last several months, as the impeachment inquiry has unfolded, students across America have received a real-time civics lesson. What they have witnessed is a set of clear and incontrovertible facts that were brought to light confirming the allegations that the President failed to protect and uphold the Constitution of the United States. At this historic moment, and given the...

The #RedforEd teachers’ movement appears to be moving towards Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) as their choice for the 2020 Democrat nominee. The Sanders campaign highlighted that connection in its recent statement announcing its $34 million 4th quarter fundraising haul, noting, “‘Teacher’ was the most common occupation of Sanders’ fourth quarter donors, the five most common employers were Amazon, Starbucks, Walmart, the United States Postal Service and Target.”

SANTA FE — New Mexico state spending would rise significantly for the second consecutive year under a budget proposal unveiled by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Monday that would boost state spending by $596.3 million — or roughly 8.4% — over current levels. The nearly $7.7 billion spending plan includes a proposed 4% salary increase for New Mexico teachers and more money for school districts with a large number of “at risk” students, as the state continues to grapple with the fallout of a landmark legal ruling about its public education system. It would also provide additional dollars to hire...

The lead contractor for a Mississippi River bridge is involved in a now-public feud with the state of Iowa over whether the bridge is buildable. The I-74 bridge is meant to replace a bridge on the same location connecting Moline, Ill, and Bettendorf, Iowa. Known as the Iowa-Illinois Memorial Bridge, the bridge is a pair of suspension bridges located near the geographic center of the Quad Cities. The original bridge was designed by engineer Ralph Modjeski. The first span opened in 1935 as a toll bridge. In 1961, an identical twin span, built from the same blueprint, opened to facilitate...

Pennsylvania Turnpike users can expect 6% toll increases in 2020 and 2021 but then — if the state Legislature follows through with plans to change how the state funds public transit — the rate of annual increases gradually will go down to 3% in 2028. Nikolaus Grieshaber, the turnpike’s chief financial officer, outlined the agency’s financial future recently in an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about the 6% toll hike that begins Jan. 5. The increase marks the 12th year in a row that rates have gone up and will increase the fee for a car traveling the length of...

Will County billboards that warned motorists about bridges stoked public-safety fears and helped convince state lawmakers of the need to approve a $45 billion infrastructure plan. The billboards and their impact arguably deserve to rank among the top political stories of the year, if not the decade. Construction unions paid to display the messages “Cross bridge at your own risk” and “Bridge ahead in critical condition” on electronic billboards near Interstate 80 bridges over the Des Plaines River in Joliet. The billboards heightened motorists’ fears about crumbling infrastructure and generated bipartisan support for the $45 billion Rebuild Illinois program. Marc...

On a single day in December 2015, Gary Jones, who resigned last month as president of the United Automobile Workers, spent more than $13,000 of the union’s money at a cigar store in Arizona. His purchases included a dozen $268 boxes of Ashton Double Magnums and a dozen boxes of Ashton Monarchs at $274.50 each. “Hi Gary, Thank you & Happy New Year,” read a handwritten note from the store. The purchases, documented by a federal complaint filed against a union leader in September, were part of more than $60,000 in cigars and cigar paraphernalia that Mr. Jones and other...

Biden, who often touts himself as a “union man” on the campaign trail, made the promise while speaking at a rally organized by the progressive organization Fight for 15 in Los Angeles, California. During his remarks, which came only hours before the Democrat presidential primary debate, the former vice president channeled his more progressive rivals when stating that fight for $15-an-hour was about more than economics. “It’s not just the numbers, and by the way there’s been a war on fast food workers for a long, long time,” the former vice president said, before lambasting companies like Chuck E. Cheese...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The new North American trade deal addresses most concerns of U.S. labor unions, Richard Trumka, head of the AFL-CIO union federation, said on Thursday, but even so he expects it could take more than a decade to reverse job losses resulting from the original 25-year-old trade pact.

Bernie Sanders faced pushback from union members in Las Vegas on Tuesday over how the Democratic presidential candidate would fund a government-subsidized health care plan that would force union members to forfeit the benefits they’ve spent years bargaining for. The 77-year-old independent U.S. senator from Vermont addressed a town hall meeting hosted by Culinary Union Local 226 and its parent union, Unite Here. Though union members in the crowd were widely supportive of Sanders – shouting “Bernie! Bernie!” as he wheeled out his stance on immigration, criminal justice and climate change – a group of about 12 people began to...

School-bus drivers Billie McClinsey and Brad Mayer didn’t like being represented by the Teamsters and wanted to put the matter to a vote. That should have been straightforward. Federal law provides that if union opponents collect signatures from 30% of their co-workers, they can ask the National Labor Relations Board to schedule a vote. But the process is frequently made convoluted and oppressive. As a result, Messrs. McClinsey and Mayer are trapped—likely indefinitely—in the union they oppose. The NLRB is soliciting comments on proposals to lift barriers that limit workers’ right to remove a union. Messrs. McClinsey and Mayer work...

Cierra Brown is trying to do all she can on her own, but it rarely feels like she’s doing enough. Cierra Brown estimates her commute to work would only take about 25 minutes if she had a car. That’s part of the reason she returned to McDonald’s in January: Her car had broken down and she needed money. But at McDonald’s, Brown only earns $9.50 per hour as a cashier, which barely helps cover rent and is far from enough to solve her vehicular woes. Without a car, one of Brown’s main headaches is getting to work. Her typical bus...