Posts Tagged ‘union power’Reuters bests state media at covering San Bernardino’s collapseMonday, April 1st, 2013 April 1, 2013 By Chris Reed If you had to fashion a nut graph to explain why so many local California governments are in deep fiscal trouble, here's my nominee for an honest generic overview: Over the past 20 years, the city/county/district's political leaders have often acceded to union de... San Diego mayor resumes public-employee enrichment schemesThursday, March 14th, 2013March 14, 2013 By Chris Reed Well, that didn't take long. Bob Filner -- a paleoliberal former Democratic congressman who was elected mayor of San Diego in November --- is embracing the same sort of ridiculously generous public-employee compensation policies that led to his city's immense fi... Some minority L.A. Dems realize unions are dubious alliesTuesday, March 12th, 2013 March 12, 2013 By Chris Reed The hegemony of Democrats in California is based to a striking degree on the ability of public employee unions -- whose leaders and most affluent members are predominantly white -- to keep minorities on board even though "social justice" means sharply different thi... San Diego mayor embraces voter nullificationFriday, March 1st, 2013March 1, 2013 By Chris Reed In 2006, San Diego voters gave a landslide win to a ballot measure that would force groups of city workers to compete against private firms for the right to provide city services in a process known as "managed competition." For four years, union supporters on the... Republican lawmaker touts bill pushed by labor bulliesThursday, February 21st, 2013 Feb. 21, 2013 By Chris Reed You don't have to be a union hater to be amazed at all the different ways labor decides to make its Sacramento puppets jump through hoops. The latest example is legislation that would require charter cities to use "prevailing wage" policies on construction projects ... EdSource look at superintendent turnover ignores union elephantSaturday, December 8th, 2012Dec. 8, 2012 By Chris Reed There are none so blind as those who will not see. EdSource does a 1,500-word analysis of a new study showing far higher turnover of superintendents in large school districts than smaller ones in California, discusses several theories, but never even mentions the fac... Joe Mathews weighs in on CalWatchdog pieceWednesday, December 5th, 2012Dec. 5, 2012 By Chris Reed Joe Mathews, one of the least ideological mainstream California political pundits, has weighed in on the analysis I did last week on the evidence that unions are trying to stifle direct democracy in California by monkey-wrenching petition drives, trying to invalidate... The union assault — covert and overt — on direct democracyThursday, November 29th, 2012 Nov. 30, 2012 By Chris Reed For decades, signature-gathering to win placement of measures on the local or state ballot in California has followed a basic script. Once proponents gathered some 30 percent more signatures than the minimum threshold necessary, they shut down operations, confident ... Union power protects miscreants, not just pay and benefitsTuesday, November 20th, 2012Nov. 20, 2012 By Chris Reed As the Legislature's refusal to pass a bill making it easier to fire classroom sexual predators shows, union power isn't just about protecting jobs, pay and benefits. It's also about insulating bad apples, even criminals, from the consequences of their behavior. A s... Playing dumb on why students are charged illegal feesThursday, November 1st, 2012Nov. 1, 2012 Chris Reed: I think some of the best writing about California's public schools appears on education-specific blogs and websites, not in newspapers. I've read EdSource regularly for a long time. But these sites also serve up lots of copy from people in the education establishment who ... |