Unions
WEEKEND INTERVIEW with RAHM EMANUEL:: Rahmbo at the School Barricades – WSJ
By MB Snow at September 15, 2012 | 12:45 am
By DAVID FEITH -- Chicago Rahm Emanuel is his generation's most noted political pugilist, the guy who once mailed a dead fish to a fellow Democratic operative whose work had disappointed him. In 1992 he celebrated Bill Clinton's presidential victory with a steak knife and an enemies list, stabbing a table and screaming "dead" as he recited each name. Over time Mr. ... Go To Article
Commentary , Education , Election 2012 , Featured , General , Politics , Unions
CHICAGO TEACHERS STRIKE:: Beware of Backfire – City Journal
By MB Snow at September 12, 2012 | 1:13 pm
If Wisconsin governor Scott Walker has spent the last 18 months painting a portrait of public-employee unions as intransigent and selfish, the Chicago Teachers Union this week provided him with confirmation. On Monday, 25,000 Chicago teachers (average salary: $76,000 before benefits) walked out of their classrooms, leaving nearly 350,000 schoolchildren and their parents ... Go To Article
Commentary , Education , Featured , General , Politics , Unions
UNIONS: How Public Unions Became So Powerful – WSJ
By MB Snow at September 12, 2012 | 12:05 am
By PAUL MORENO, OPINION Updated September 11, 2012 -- The Chicago teachers strike has put Democrats in a difficult position. Teacher unions are the most powerful constituency in the Democratic Party, but their interests are ever more clearly at odds with taxpayers and inner-city families. Chicago is reviving scenes from the last crisis of liberalism in the 1970s, when ... Go To Article
UNIONS:: Chicago teachers to go on strike – CBS News
By MB Snow at September 10, 2012 | 12:00 am
(CBS/AP) CHICAGO — The Chicago Teachers Union announced Sunday night that it will go on strike Monday morning for the first time in 25 years after contract talks with the school district failed over issues including pay, benefits and job security. "We will be on the (picket) line," Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis said after emerging from all-day talks ... Go To Article
CA PENSIONS:: Santa Barbara County Firefighters Agree to Wage, Pension Concessions
By MB Snow at September 4, 2012 | 12:00 am
The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday will be asked to sign off on wage and pension concessions from a union representing more than 180 employees with the county Fire Department. Firefighters Local 2046 has reached a tentative agreement, which includes giving up a portion of previously negotiated wage increases and asking new hires to pay part of ... Go To Article
UNIONS:: forgo Dem convention for get-out-the-vote efforts – USATODAY
By MB Snow at September 3, 2012 | 10:53 am
President Obama moves toward a Democratic National Convention here this week with many unions, such as the AFL-CIO, refusing to financially support the three-day political extravaganza - in sharp contrast to the $8.3 million they contributed toward the Denver convention where he was nominated in 2008. Unions leaders opposed the selection of a convention city in a state ... Go To Article
WEEKEND INTERVIEW w/GLORIA ROMERO:: The Trials of a Democratic Reformer – WSJ
By MB Snow at September 3, 2012 | 12:52 am
Los Angeles Former Los Angeles Lakers Coach Phil Jackson once referred to Sacramento as a "cowtown," but Gloria Romero, a pro-labor Democrat who served as California's Senate majority leader from 2001 to 2008, takes exception to the belittling description. The capitol building in Sacramento, she says, has "the eighth most powerful economy in the world under that dome," ... Go To Article
California , Commentary , Featured , General , Politics , Unions
PENSIONS:: Retired schools chiefs earn big pensions – SFGate
By MB Snow at September 3, 2012 | 12:19 am
Here's some news to ponder on your Labor Day holiday - when it comes to big-bucks payouts, some of the biggest winners in the state retirement system are local school and community college chiefs. A check of the California State Teachers' Retirement System shows that 77 retired superintendents - some from very small districts - are spending their golden years earning ... Go To Article
MARK HEMINGWAY: Obama’s Labor Problem | WeeklyStandard
By MB Snow at August 24, 2012 | 12:35 am
AUG 27, 2012, VOL. 17, NO. 46 • BY MARK HEMINGWAY On Saturday, August 11, some 40,000 union members descended on the City of Brotherly Love for what was billed as the first-ever “Workers Stand for America” rally. The ostensible purpose of the rally—organized by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and AFL-CIO—was to gather support for a ... Go To Article
Barack Obama , Commentary , Economy , Election 2012 , Featured , General , News , Politics , Unions
STEVEN MALANGA:: Muni Investors Vs. California Public Workers – RCP
By MB Snow at August 15, 2012 | 12:46 pm
By Steven Malanga -- In 2005 the city of San Bernardino borrowed $50 million using pension bonds in an effort to shrink its massive debt with the California Public Employees' Retirement Systems (CalPERS). Two years later Stockton floated nearly $125 million in pension bonds because it faced the same pressures as San Bernardino. Neither city reformed or reduced its ... Go To Article
California , Commentary , Economy , Featured , General , Politics , Unions
