Union bosses are excited that they have prevented their members from getting raises. It’s a bit mind-boggling, but that’s what happened. Last week, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) celebrated defeating a bill in the Senate that would have allowed raises, declaring that the legislation would have stripped workers’ “fundamental …
“Collective bargaining rights are under attack—again,” warns the SEIU. The union claims employees face a “federal attack on your rights at work.” How? From a bill that would let employers pay union members higher wages. Union rates are not just minimum wages. They also set maximum wages. Employers may not …
Union contracts do not just set the minimum compensation that workers can earn; they also set maximum wages. Employers may not pay employees more than their union has negotiated. Unions typically base pay on seniority and job classifications—not individual effort or productivity. Workers cannot bargain individually for more. By law, …
Unions suffered a resounding defeat in Wisconsin last week. They’re far from down and out, however. Unable to reverse their decline in membership under existing law, they are circumventing Congress and using the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to create an entirely new type of union. A new rule hatched …
Engaged voters and policymakers have a number of things to ponder after the dust settles in Tuesday’s historic Wisconsin election. While Governor Scott Walker (R) easily survived the union-led effort to recall him, the real story may be how soundly the voters ratified Walker’s controversial policy changes. Walker ended collective …
Last week, The Heritage Foundation released important new research on the real cost of public pensions. In response, many different public-sector advocates have offered the same, curious, fallacious argument. Heritage found that, in Wisconsin, for example, total pension costs are more than two-and-a-half times what government actuaries estimate. (The difference …
A Wisconsin political advocacy group with ties to the Democratic Party and Big Labor is circulating pamphlets to state residents revealing their neighbors’ names, addresses, and voting histories. The campaign is an apparent attempt to pressure residents in the Madison area, which is overwhelmingly Democratic, to vote in Tuesday’s gubernatorial …
“What Mr. Walker and his backers are trying to do is to make Wisconsin—and eventually, America—less of a functioning democracy and more of a third-world-style oligarchy.” New York Times columnist Paul Krugman was more theatrical than most in denouncing Act 10, the set of public-sector reforms signed by Wisconsin Governor …
