Tag Archives: Government Unions

Sherrod Brown Compares GOP Governors to Hitler, Stalin

Posted in ohio, politics on March 12th, 2012 at 8:30 am
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Last year while governors across the Midwest worked to reform broken public union laws, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) slandered them in a speech that could have easily been written by one of the millionaire “leaders” at SEIU, NEA, or AFSCME.

During one of his stemwinders about the wondrous things unions do, Sherrod dropped a reductio ad Hitlerum on Governor Kasich (OH), Governor Walker (WI), and Governor Christie (NJ):

Bizarrely, Sherrod claims he’s not comparing Kasich, Walker, and Christie to Hitler, Stalin, and Mubarak in the middle of comparing them to Hitler, Stalin, and Mubarak. While he’s conflating overdue reforms with mass murder, Sherrod also repeats one of his favorite deceptions by pretending government unions are the same as private industry unions.

Several media outlets noted the dictatorial portion of Sherrod’s rant, and the next day he apologized for stepping in it:

“But in speaking about this, I should not have mentioned the hostility of tyrants like Hitler to unions,” Brown said. “I don’t want my mistake to distract from the critical debate in Ohio, and I apologize for it.”

Sherrod didn’t want “to distract from the critical debate” over public union reform! Even now, slamming Ohio’s Senate Bill 5 as an “attack on workers” is the cornerstone of Sherrod’s stump speech – yet he always runs out of time before debating any of the critical specifics. Big Labor’s opponents are evil because it’s evil to oppose Big Labor.

Sherrod Brown is desperate to get additional mileage out of the union bosses’ $40 million smear campaign, but remember what was actually in Ohio’s union reform bill:

  • Replace automatic step increases with merit pay for public workers.
  • Require public employees to pay 10% of their pension costs and 15% of their health insurance costs.
  • End forced payment of “fair-share” fees for public workers who don’t want to join a union.
  • End last-in, first-out firing policies, requiring considerations other than tenure when local governments must make layoffs.
  • Public workers retain the privilege of collective bargaining for wages & working conditions, but may no longer go on strike against the public.

No less the Progressive than FDR, patron saint of caring Democrats, knew public unions are an awful idea. Either Sherrod Brown is too dense to recognize government and private industry are different, or he’s been lying for years to protect his favorite interest group.

Footnote: This clip is from the same speech where Sherrod claimed public union reform violates Christian principles. Refer again to the bullet points above; those are the sort of hateful reforms that get you slandered on the Senate floor as a tyrannical heathen by Sherrod Brown.

Transcript of the C-SPAN clip follows.

Sherrod Brown: Because we, as a country, we stand for a more egalitarian workforce. We stand for worker rights. We believe workers should organize and bargain collectively, if they choose. We believe in a minimum wage. We believe in workers’ compensation. We believe in worker safety. We believe in human rights, and all of that is about the labor movement, and, you know, you can support labor rights in Guatemala, but you better damn be sure you’re supporting labor rights in Wilmington, and Columbus, and Cleveland, and, and Detroit, and Dover, Delaware, and everywhere else.

And that’s, um, that’s, those were, those were some of the words Secretary Clinton said – I’m obviously expanding on them – but, as a nation, you know, I I I I look back at history and some of the worst governments we’ve ever had, you know one of the first things they did? They went after the trade unions. Hitler didn’t want unions, Stalin didn’t want unions, Mubarak didn’t want independent unions. These, these autocrats in history don’t want independent unions. So when I see, when I see in Egypt, or if I see in, in the old Soviet Russia, or I see – history tells me about Germany – I, I, I’m not, I’m not comparing what’s happening to the workers in Madison or in Columbus to Hitler and Stalin, but I am saying that history teaches us that unions are a very positive force in society that creates a middle class and that protects our freedom.

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Sherrod Brown’s Bailout Bonanza

Posted in ohio, politics on February 27th, 2012 at 10:03 pm
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If you look at the votes Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) casts, the things he says, and the bills he sponsors, one thing is clear: Sherrod is a dyed-in-the-wool statist. For every domestic policy question, his answer is bigger central government.

Sherrod Brown, a loud advocate for socialized medicine more sweeping than Obamacare, was nonetheless the 60th vote for Obamacare. Sherrod was a Senate champion of the auto bailout that left Chrysler owned by Fiat and General Motors controlled by Washington & the UAW. He cast the deciding vote for Obama’s “stimulus” boondoggle.

Make a list of federal bailouts and entitlement expansions from the past several years, and Sherrod Brown’s name comes up constantly. Here’s Sherrod at a June 2010 pep rally for a public union bailout:

For Sherrod, falling tax revenues present a familiar math problem. Union pay and benefits should never decrease, so when tax hikes are a political non-starter it’s time for more deficit spending! Sherrod steps in with free money to balance the equation, waving research from a union-funded Progressive group.

Sherrod Brown has built a 20 year Congressional career around our difficulty visualizing large numbers. Sherrod promises $75 billion as if he were bequeathing a gift to the peasants, knowing many voters actually believe “The Rich” can cover it – after forking over their fair share to fund Obamacare, the auto industry bailout, the stimulus bill, underwater mortgages, food stamps, unemployment benefits, and so on.

In Ohio, Sherrod is a key part of the industry thriving on this lie. If we oust him this fall, Policy Matters Ohio, Progress Ohio, Innovation Ohio, and the Ohio Education Association – plus locals of AFSCME, SEIU, and assorted openly Socialist groups – lose a seasoned class warrior and a reliable vote in Congress.

On top of the Local Jobs for America Act and the other programs listed above, here are a few other entitlement increases & federal bailouts Sherrod has hawked recently:

As a rule, Sherrod Brown’s ideas would be unwise even if we could afford them. Since we can’t, Sherrod is willfully contributing to a $15 trillion deficit – which he tries to blame on national defense and the Bush tax cuts.

The above clip is from a video posted by YouTube user thumos33. Transcript follows.

Sen. Sherrod Brown: Uh, Wendy Patton will talk in a few minutes about Policy Matter Ohio’s report that shows our region is facing elimination of critical public services at a time when we simply cannot afford that. The legal — the National League of Cities said last week 7 in 10 city managers and mayors are cutting jobs and services because of a loss in property – in property tax, especially in commercial real estate. But you don’t need me to recite these statistics, you know them because you live them every day, you’re seeing people still that can’t find work when they’re trying to.

[...]

Sen. Sherrod Brown: That’s why what you need from me and from Mayor Plusquellic and from Mayor Jackson is to take action. That’s why I will introduce next week when I return to Washington The Local Jobs for America Act, would help cities and municipalities save or create jobs even as they face these awful budget crises. This legislation is aimed at putting people back to work and turning them into taxpayers rather than benefit collectors. The bill would direct [Applause from the crowd] …the bill would direct $75 billion dollars over the next 2 years, uh, to cities, towns, and counties to save municipal jobs and prevent layoffs so that, so that fire- so that our, our, our cities, our communities, our counties are protected – firefighters, emergency medical personnel, law enforcement, all the services that are essential in a civilized society to a normal, decent life.

Cross-posted from Big Government.

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The USPS: Neither Snow, Nor Rain, Nor Bankruptcy?

Posted in ohio, politics on February 24th, 2012 at 9:30 am
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Yesterday The Columbus Dispatch reported on a story playing out in Ohio and across the country: the U.S. Postal Service is announcing specific plans for long-overdue closures and consolidation. Incredibly, leftists in Congress continue to demagogue reform despite the fact USPS lost $3.3 billion in the last quarter alone.

Back in December the USPS agreed to delay restructuring until May, at the behest of Socialist Bernie Sanders and several Senate Democrats. The USPS has been running deficits for years and is losing roughly a billion dollars a month, but Progressives won’t acknowledge market realities or admit the postal union’s demands are insane.

Ever the spokesman for unicorn economics, “Postal Service Protection Act” co-sponsor Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) has an online petition to “SAVE OUR POST OFFICES!”

Sherrod-Signal

Victimized by mathematics? Light the Sherrod-Signal!

Ohioans rely on post offices to do business and communicate with family – and thousands of Ohioans rely on them for jobs.

We can find a solution to our budget crisis that doesn’t involve shuttering these community institutions and handing thousands of workers a pink slip.

That’s why I’m joining Sherrod Brown’s fight to keep these post offices open!

If I’m reading Sherrod correctly, it’s evil to stop paying people who we can’t afford to pay. In what sense is this Progressive standard any different from Socialism?

To be fair, Sherrod has “a solution” to that nagging bankruptcy problem:

“Why couldn’t they serve coffee at a post office and charge a little?” he said.

Watch out, Starbucks! Americans will soon be congregating at their local post office for a cup of federal java.

To be a little fairer, the coffee caper isn’t Sherrod’s whole plan -

He said Congress should free the postal service from having to pre-fund its pension obligations for 75 years. He called that a “unique” requirement that costs the mail service more than $5 billion a year.

Unfunded state pension liabilities contribute to an estimated $4 trillion in debt, and leftists blame the states for not hiking taxes to cover Big Labor’s demands. With that in mind, Sherrod Brown’s big idea is to stop requiring USPS to sock money away in advance? This is a Progressive solution through and through – we’re running out of cash, so stop saving and spend, spend, spend!

Not everyone agrees USPS could be “saved” by fudging accounting rules. Take, for instance, the Postmaster General:

He also said, “Roughly 25,000 out of our 32,000 Post Offices operate at a loss” and that thousands of post offices generate less than $20,000 in annual revenue yet cost more than $60,000 to operate, and many of these unprofitable locations are a few miles away from another post office. He bemoaned the response to even the slightest effort to close any Post Office, as well as interference in other proposals to address the USPS deficit.

Who has a better grip on USPS finances: the Postmaster General, or Sherrod Brown and Socialist Bernie Sanders? If you thought Sherrod’s line about selling coffee was stupid, try this on for size:

“The postal service has been very restricted in what its [sic] allowed to do under law. It’s not been given opportunities to generate revenue,” Senator Brown said.

The U.S. Postal Service has a government-mandated monopoly on first class mail. Either Sherrod Brown is incredibly stupid, or he thinks Ohio voters are.

Well… we did elect Sherrod Brown. So maybe he’s onto something, after all.

Cross-posted at Big Government.

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Sherrod Brown and the Attack on Everything!

Posted in ohio, politics on February 13th, 2012 at 6:58 pm
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When Sherrod Brown (D-OH) spoke at the Ohio Education Association Representative Assembly last spring, he had a receptive audience for his class warfare routine. Since Sherrod is the most extreme leftist in the U.S. Senate and must face Ohio voters this fall, the state’s public union fight was a perfect chance to remind Big Labor he’s their man.

At the same event where he told horror stories about privatization and the Republican scheme to ruin Medicare, Sherrod rolled the NEA affiliate’s war against union reform into a theme of conservative “attacks.”

By the end of his 40-second detour into the Progressive causes and glorious federal programs conservatives are attacking, Sherrod had built up a 9x attack multiplier! This sort of word power makes Sherrod Brown a rhetorical king, so long as no one ever asks how to pay for the bankrupt boondoggles he adores.

Similar to the speech where he slammed the faith of the governors on Big Labor’s enemies list, Sherrod gets so wound up talking about conservative attacks that he forgets to explain his alternative! It’s a shame, because Sherrod Brown has had decades in Congress to cook up the perfect tax-and-spend formula.

Still, think how grateful young Ohio teachers should be that Sherrod Brown is protecting their union bosses. If not for Sherrod, Ohio teachers might be paid based on merit! Public layoffs would consider factors other than tenure! Teachers would be asked to cover slightly more of their benefits so schools could avoid layoffs altogether! What a dystopian ruin Ohio would be if the Ohio Education Association had slightly less power.

Sherrod Brown is consistent, at least. He always credits Big Labor and bureaucracy with America’s success, while treating union bosses as the backbone of American society.

I’d like to extend a special thanks to the Columbus Education Association for sharing Sherrod Brown’s energetic pandering to a crowd that demands the impossible from Ohio taxpayers. You can see Sherrod’s keynote and footage from his Q&A session on the union’s YouTube channel (for now).

Transcript follows of the clips featured above.

Clip 1, Sherrod Brown: The vote in November on SB 5 [the union reform bill] repeal is the most important election in the country, the most watched election in the country, because of the attack – the attack on worker and collective bargaining rights, the attack on voting rights, the attack on women in Columbus, in the state legislature. In Washington, the attack on Head Start, the attack on Pell grants, the attack on public radio, the attack on Medicare, the attack on Social Security. All these things, I think, are absolutely hostile, absolutely enimical to what we, as a nation, have stood for for 75 years. The reason we have a prosperous middle class in this country, more than anything, is in the 1930s Congress passed, with Franklin Roosevelt signing, collective bargaining rights.

Clip 2, Sherrod Brown: How can young people not have second thoughts about a profession when the politicians that run our state – the conservative politicians that run our state – are attacking their profession and attacking what they stand for?

Cross-posted at Big Government.

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Ohio Right to Work: Not This Year

Posted in ohio, politics on February 3rd, 2012 at 8:30 am
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This week the Ohio Attorney General approved ballot language for a Right-to-Work amendment to the Ohio constitution. I agree with fellow Third Base Politics writer Bytor, who covered the issue a couple months ago: a Right-to-Work amendment in November 2012 is a terrible idea.

The Senate Bill 5 campaign proved Ohio voters remain too receptive to union rhetoric. Trying to rehash the same arguments during a presidential campaign already focused on Progressive class warfare would be a nightmare.

Summer 2010 - Banners from OEA staffers on strike

Class: During a 2010 strike, Ohio Education Association staff hung a banner telling the OEA boss to kill himself.

The ridiculousness of public unions prompted me to start writing and researching with a purpose beyond, “here’s what annoys me today, and I know my friends wouldn’t want to hear this rant.” I wish I were more effective at making the case for union reform! If you could find another sap who spent more free time than I did over the past year arguing for the need to reform Ohio’s government union law, I would be amazed. On this subject, Ohio conservatives have a lot of work left to do.

Big Labor’s pockets are deep, and any attempt at union reform means attacking the strength of people who get rich pushing class warfare for a living.

LaborUnionReport, in a terrific summary of Right-to-Work, had this to say about the proposed amendment to Ohio’s constitution:

This brings us back to Ohio.Ron Paul supporter and Tea Party consultant Chris Littleton is spearheading an effort to put Right-to-Work on Ohio’s November ballot. If successful in getting enough signatures to have the initiative placed on the ballot, Littleton and his compadres will likely do nothing more than ensure an Obama victory in Ohio.

With unions collecting more than $8 billion per year in union dues, no amount of money Littleton can raise will be enough to outspend the unions on the issue Right-to-Work—as evidenced by the recent fight over SB5 (Issue 2) in November.

In fact, union bosses and Democrats are likely hoping for Littleton to get enough signatures to put Right-to-Work on the ballot. [Don't be too surprised if unions, either directly or indirectly through third-party operatives, quietly encourage people to sign the petitions.] Once Right-to-Work is on the ballot, unions can turn Ohio into World War IV (again).

Regardless of the amount of money Littleton and his associates may make from putting Right-to-Work on Ohio’s ballot, his efforts put the rest of the nation at risk of seeing Barack Obama win Ohio and, as a result, likely re-election. This is something that, hopefully, even Littleton’s presidential pick, Ron Paul, would see the practical ramifications of avoiding if it meant putting Obama back in the White House for four more years.

  • Even though Ron Paul has been cagey on stating he would not run as a third-party candidate, his son, Rand Paul, has stated that it would be impractical, knowing that it would ensure an Obama victory. Hopefully, his Ohio supporters are as practical in that regard when it comes to placing Right-to-Work on November’s Ohio ballot.

As the saying goes: “Pick battles big enough to matter, small enough to win.” Or, in the case of Ohio, another way to put this is: Forego the battle for now, if it helps you win the war later.

With the nation nearing $16 trillion in debt and owing $117 trillion in unfunded liabilities, despite the legislature in Indiana winning Right to Work, putting a Right-to-Work initiative in Ohio is not worth the risk. Not now. Not this year.

I’ve got no beef with Chris Littleton. The 1851 Center and the Ohio Liberty Council do good work, as brilliantly demonstrated by the success of the Ohio Healthcare Freedom Amendment last November. I don’t expect many people to care about my opinion, but I will not be signing a petition to get Right-to-Work on the 2012 ballot.

Before telling me what a spineless pushover I am, take a few minutes to review my work for Senate Bill 5.

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Michigan Union Bosses Hate School Choice

Posted in politics on January 26th, 2012 at 9:00 am
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When Governor Rick Snyder (R) and Republicans in Michigan’s state legislature implemented reforms to the state’s broken public school system last year, the Michigan Education Association (MEA) cried foul. The tone of MEA “leaders” trying to bolster their Middle Class credentials should sound familiar to anyone from Wisconsin or Ohio:

[MEA President Iris] Salters joined about 1,000 union members protesting at the state Capitol on Tuesday, saying the bill is “again a way to say to labor, you don’t count. It’s a way to say to employees, get back. I believe it’s just like being in the slave days.”

Why such desperate race-baiting against reforms that would modestly limit public union power? MEA bosses, following the example of higher-ups at the National Education Association, extract a tidy living from their members’ pockets.

Michigan Average Annual Pay compared to Michigan Education Association

Michigan occupational averages are from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. MEA staff and officer pay comes from the Department of Labor. While the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers estimate average annual wages in Michigan at $43,280, average pay for MEA staff and officers is $96,373.

Crazy, isn’t it, how angry public unions get about reforms that would threaten their monopoly? MEA bosses must truly care about their underpaid, unappreciated members!

MEA President Iris Salters, quoted above comparing school choice and merit pay to slavery, took $283,280 from Michigan teachers’ paychecks last fiscal year. MEA Public Affairs Director Doug Pratt defended her logic and her threat of an illegal strike:

“MEA will not stand silent while Michigan’s public schools and middle class are under attack,” Pratt said.

“These votes are our way of increasing the awareness and action among our members statewide to stand in defense of our jobs, our rights, and the futures of our students and communities. Should lawmakers fail to end these attack on the people of Michigan, we will not shy away from taking action to stop them.”

Emphasis mine. To be honest, the more I learn about NEA affiliates across the country, the less I worry about my time wasted fighting for Ohio’s union reform bill. Union bosses everywhere seem to be reenacting the same idiotic melodrama!

Meanwhile, 148 of 334 MEA staff and officers are paid six figures. Counting Ms. Salters, the top of the payroll includes 6 people who take more than $200,000 a year from Michigan teachers:

  • LUIGI BATTAGLIERI, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: $267,367
  • ARTHUR PRZYBYLOWICZ, GENERAL COUNSEL: $238,475
  • STEVEN COOK, VICE PRESIDENT: $228,799
  • THOMAS FERRIS, SOUTHERN ZONE DIRECTOR: $207,525
  • GRETCHEN DZIADOSZ, AED UNISERV: $200,869

Public Affairs Director Pratt, standing athwart education reform yelling “STUDENTS,” took $174,879 from Michigan teachers last year.

How did Michigan taxpayers survive before the Michigan Education Association?

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Union Bosses Against School Choice

Posted in politics on January 24th, 2012 at 9:30 am
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The National Education Association (NEA) and its state affiliates push an agenda that benefits union bosses at taxpayer expense. In America’s 28 forced-unionism states, teachers in NEA-organized schools who opt not to join must still pay dues, creating a huge pot of money for NEA to spend portraying teachers as victims and union bosses as their only friends.

NEA calls its political action committee “The NEA Fund for Children & Public Education.” Subtle, right? But NEA doesn’t stop at spending tens of millions on Progressives who will shovel money at public education without demanding reform for broken tenure and compensation policies. The nonpartisan materials on NEA’s member-funded website include, to sample a few recent items:

Given the union’s claim to stand for Middle Class workers, a casual observer might expect the salaries of NEA officers and staff to resemble the average working stiff’s. That casual observer would be very, very wrong.

U.S. Hourly Wage Percentiles, Full-time private industry vs. NEA

Based on the most recent U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data, 90% of full-time private industry workers in America are paid $39.81/hour or less. Assuming a 40-hour week, NEA officers and staff are paid an average of $55.23/hour.

Average annual pay for NEA officers and staff is $114,882, using figures from the union’s most recent filing to the U.S. Department of Labor. NEA bosses preach collectivism while collecting hefty paychecks from members who they insist are underpaid!

You may want to put down any liquids before looking at specifics:

  • John Wilson, Executive Director: $492,484
  • Dennis Van Roekel, President: $460,060
  • Lily Eskelsen, Vice President: $371,904
  • John Yrchik, Executive Director: $328,617
  • Becky Pringle, Secretary/Treasurer: $325,384

Last year, 44 NEA staff and officers were paid more than $200,000. Out of just over 700 officers and staff, 446 were paid six figures. Review the numbers from the Department of Labor.

If an NEA member ever berates you about the shortcomings of school choice legislation, cut them some slack! Only an Obama strawman says free markets are perfect, but Obama strawmen are the only counterpoints offered in NEA materials. Wait for a pause in the union script, share this info, and ask why forcing kids to attend a school where teachers are forced to fund NEA beats messy individualism!

The National Education Association and its affiliates throughout the country will lie about who they are, reward themselves richly with member dues, and attack anyone who points out the appalling truth. Don’t let selfish NEA posturing dissuade you from fighting for what’s right.

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Big Labor Partisanship at Teacher Expense

Posted in politics on January 17th, 2012 at 10:30 am
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However they market themselves, public unions are political by nature, brimming partisanship that goes beyond their skewed campaign spending. Every Republican teacher, public safety worker, and government employee forced to pay “fair share” dues should be outraged.

My state’s National Education Association (NEA) affiliate, the Ohio Education Association (OEA), takes millions in fees from non-members each year. Operating on NEA’s model, OEA insists all teachers be forced to pay for the union’s non-political business. This would be well and good, if OEA conducted any non-political business.

From the union’s mission statement:

OEA believes that for those whose business is public education, activism is an obligation.

OEA has the same definition of “activism” as every garden variety leftist group: Demand bigger government under the guise of fairness and equality. For example, ACORN’s 2005-06 Political Program (hat tip: Publius’ Forum) lists OEA as a “Coalition Partner” -

We see the combination of these efforts as key to maintaining and expanding the level of electoral participation by more progressive voters in the state, along with playing a role in pushing voter alignment along axes of community concerns and economic security.

In other words, OEA worked with ACORN to push the entitlement mindset and get entitlement-minded voters to the polls. For… the children?

More recently, OEA was listed as a state partner of “Health Care for America NOW” (a lobbying group devoted to socialized medicine) and the Ohio Voter Fund (a coalition of leftists against voter ID).

NEA and its state affiliates are enthusiastic cheerleaders for Keynesian deficit spending, though I wouldn’t want the task of finding a math teacher who insists one minus two equals jobs!

Honestly, NEA’s entire “Education Votes” blog could be an Obama 2012 campaign site. NEA publicly endorsed Obama’s reelection last July, ending hours of heated debate among no one: every Big Labor affiliation and stump speech flies in the face of the lie that partisanship is limited to official campaign spending.

When the public union stranglehold was threatened in Ohio last winter, OEA’s class war machine went into overdrive at the expense of willing and unwilling dues-payers alike. Progressive talking points come easily to a group that instructs members to indoctrinate children on the glories of unionism!

NEA bosses take advantage of the goodwill teachers generate, paying themselves and Democrats handsomely while claiming credit for members’ hard work. Unless you look forward to the second Obama term NEA is sinking millions into, be sure your friends and family know teachers’ unions want higher taxes and bigger government.

There’s much more evidence than what I’ve listed here, and I’ll continue highlighting the ugly Progressive truth about NEA and its partners here in Ohio.

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Ohio Workers Keep Losing Thanks to Big Labor’s Win

Posted in ohio, politics on January 11th, 2012 at 11:00 am
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In Wisconsin, Governor Walker’s public union reforms are pummeling the Big Labor narrative by saving taxpayer dollars and teachers’ jobs. Meanwhile, the professional class-warriors who get rich pushing “solidarity” force districts into layoffs by refusing to revisit unaffordable contracts.

After similar reforms failed in Ohio thanks to a smear campaign exceeding $30 million, Ohio’s public workers are enjoying the sort of union victory that’s often accompanied by a pink slip.

A month ago I shared stories from around the state of firings caused by the same union bosses who screeched against Governor Kasich’s “attack on workers.” To the surprise of neither of my website’s readers, this avoidable trend continues.

Voters who opposed reform have caused the very problems Big Labor insisted reform would create:

Marion Police say they are committed to answering the city’s 9-1-1 calls but come the [sic] January 1st, callers could see delays in response times.

That’s because the [sic] 15 officers are being cut from the department.  Another position is expected to be eliminated in 2012.

Emphasis mine. Delayed response times were one of the many unexplained evils that would have allegedly resulted from making public employees a little more accountable to the public.

In Lorain, millions in cuts plus millions borrowed from the state aren’t enough:

The cuts would be in addition to laying off 18 teachers and nine teachers’ aides, which was approved Wednesday night by board members and would save $1.5 million. The layoffs take effect Jan. 23.

In Wapakoneta, home of Neil Armstrong, the teachers’ union is preparing to strike over a pay freeze and increased benefit costs, although administrators and non-union staff have already taken a pay freeze:

The district, like many, has faced difficult financial times. It had $1.2 million of deficit spending last fiscal year and is projected to spend $1.6 million more than its annual revenue this year.

Shelli Jackson, the union’s “Labor Relations Consultant,” was paid $111,811 in member dues last year. An Ohio Education Association-orchestrated strike against a struggling district would be one small notch in her class warfare belt, and one giant kick in the pants for taxpayers.

The Gallia County Schools union has also threatened to strike if they’re asked to pay anything towards their insurance:

Gallia County Schools Superintendent Charla Evans told WSAZ.com the board has made several offers they believe to be fair. She said the school system is spending more than it is taking in. The teachers and support staff have rejected both offers.

In Hancock County, the Van Buren Education Association threatened a strike when their school board voted to impose a final offer with inadequate raises:

That offer included a two-year contract that freezes teacher salaries this year, with a 1.12 percent raise in the 2012-13 school year.

Teachers who are on the single health care plan are also required to pay more toward benefits.

Threatening to strike when asked to pay slightly more towards insurance is a common public union tactic because it works. For Exhibit A in the National Education Association’s top-down mastery of class warfare, refer again to the results of the Ohio union reform campaign.

Exit survey: How un-frozen has your salary been over the past few years? When is the last time you heard a public employer suggest a pay cut? What do you expect will happen to teachers without seniority when local unions squeeze school boards into contracts they cannot afford?

Cross-posted at Big Government.

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Big Labor’s Big Campaign Spending

Posted in politics on December 16th, 2011 at 10:00 am
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Boiled down to the essentials, union backing of leftist politicians is good business: Democrats push policies that benefit union bosses at the expense of employers, customers, and often the unions’ own members. This is doubly true of public unions; of course someone who gets rich taking money from government workers wants bigger government!

The case for union reform is tough to make due to Big Labor’s dishonestly political nature. Claiming to speak for all teachers/mechanics/factory workers/Middle Class Americans, unions have a rhetorical curtain thick enough to hide tens of millions in partisan spending. Democrats gain loyal constituents, union bosses get to make unsustainable promises, and corporations take the blame when jobs are cut or shipped overseas.

Take a look at this Center for Responsive Politics chart of top campaign contributors (view PDF screencap):

When Progressives respond to union reform with cries of “racist!” and every victim card in the book, keep this in mind: 3 of the 11 biggest political donors in the nation are public unions.

  • AFSCME – 3rd overall, with 94% going to Democrats
  • NEA – 6th overall, with 82% going to Democrats
  • AFT – 11th overall, with 90% going to Democrats

They’re in good Big Labor company, with 76% of SEIU (5) donations given to Democrats and each of these unions giving more than 85% of their contributions to Democrats: IBEW (9), Laborers Union (10), Teamsters (12), Carpenters & Joiners (13), CWA (14), UFCW (17), UAW (18), IAMAW (20).

Union bosses outspend by millions the corporations whose political influence they get rich demonizing. Democrats are expected to toe the union line as a matter of principle, while any Republican attempt at reform is framed as political payback. When GOP leaders are cowed into silence by this ridiculous double standard, union bosses win – and everyone else loses.

In Ohio, voters recently demonstrated their willingness to buy union talking points. This is why conservatives must work to inform our fellow citizens, and why 2012 is an awful time to push a state Right to Work amendment.

The chart above is one angle of what the GOP presidential candidate will be up against next year. Whenever you hear a Democrat complain about the corrupting influence of money in politics, agree with them – and then present this chart.

Cross-posted at Big Government.

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