Articles

Public employee unions and sympathetic legislatures in many states have combined to perpetuate union power. One way they do this is by getting government employers – like a school district – to pay union leaders to work for the union. They negotiate a contract that gives certain teachers “release time” – basically, excusing them f ...

Today begins SCOTUSblog’s online symposium discussing the case that could free government workers nationwide from being coerced to support public employee unions. … ...

The very powerful public employee unions in Illinois have long relied on their favored status to garnish wages of workers and “represent” them in politically-fraught negotiations over collective bargaining agreements with the state. The unions’ power is so great that state laws allow them to steal wages and purport to speak for wo ...

New York laws and regulations deem family daycare providers (individuals who operate daycare businesses in their homes) to be “public employees” and requires a union to be the daycare providers’ exclusive representative for bargaining with (e.g., lobbying) the state over daycare regulations and policies. The workers who are “ ...

I will be on the air for another round of radio interviews this week. On Thursday morning, I’ll be talking about the Montana case and our Obamacare challenge with Pastor Greg Young. You can listen live here at 8:00 a.m. PST tomorrow morning, and you can listen to the recording here. Then Thursday evening at 6:00 p.m. PST, I … ...

Alexis De Tocqueville was deeply impressed by America’s use of voluntary associations to pursue undertakings both large and small, in every aspect of life.  Public employee unions may soon be included in that category of voluntary associations, as several justices in today’s oral argument in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Associatio ...

Public employee unions in California hold tremendous political power, influencing both policy and politicians with tremendous effectiveness. We described the depth and breadth of this influence in our brief recently filed in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association. Unions have a special ability to wield their power behind closed doors, as col ...

The California Teachers Association—one of the most politically powerful groups in the state—may have to start funding its political campaigns with the money of only those teachers who actually support its goals.  Unlike other groups that seek donations from like-minded people who support the organizations’ goals, the CTA has long benefi ...

In Harris v. Quinn, the Supreme Court today struck down an Illinois executive order and law that declares all personal home healthcare assistants to be public employees, for the sole purpose of being represented by a union that seeks to lobby for greater government spending (Medicaid) on home healthcare. Under the Illinois law, the Service … ...