Archive for June 2013

Gary Marvin Davison points out teacher unions stymie teacher quality. Counterpoint Teachers unions such as Education Minnesota consistently promote practices that undermine excellence in the classroom. Education Minnesota is the second best funded lobbying force in the state, eclipsed only by the National Rifle Association. Having aided the election of Gov. Mark Dayton and a DFL-controlled Legislature,…

Although it cannot be proved it was union money, Sally Jo Widmer did manage to gamble  over $350,000 away. AFT union officials caught on to the embezzlement after an audit, and it is believed the 30-year union president used at least $808,000 in Auburn Teachers Association money for her own purposes. As we previously reported, it took AFT union…

Once again, the population is leaving forced-dues states for the freedom of Right to Work states, especially the under-18 population.  It looks like Right to Work states are great places for teachers to find a job, as well as remain free to seek professional representation. Read the study at the National Institute for Labor Relations Research.…

AFT President Randi Weingarten is using corporate campaign tactics against hedge fund managers who dare oppose expanding public sector pension funds, such as the Hudson Institute.  Corporate campaigns are more often waged by private sector union officials, such as the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), spreading lies, half-truths and innuendoes about a certain business in…

Desperate to recoup some of the power they’ve lost, teacher union officials have brought yet another suit against Wisconsin’s Act 10, which gave teachers Right to Work entitlements, severely reduced the scope of monopoly bargaining, and requires that teacher union officials be recertified as the exclusive representative in each district each year.  TMJ4 news has the…

The Concerned Educators Against Forced Unionism’s 38th Annual CEAFU Conference schedule is now available.  There is still time to register for this Saturday’s conference which will be held online from Noon-6:00 PM Eastern. Important links: CEAFU.org Conference Landing Page CEAFU.org Conference Registration Page Conference Schedule (PDF Format)

A Pennsylvania school board member joins the ranks of stopteacherstrikes.org officers Simon Campbell and Heidi Adsett in bringing teacher union power plays to the public’s attention. Scott Armstrong writes in the Daily Caller: In Allentown, the Lehigh Valley’s poorest municipality, the school district’s 2013-14 preliminary budget calls for an 8 percent tax increase and the…

United Federation of Teachers president boasts of his union’s power to choose the next mayor of New York City. If this were so, why didn’t his “magic” work with the current mayor?  That relationship has been rocky, to say the least.   Jill Colvin has the  story in politicker.com. It was just after Hurricane Sandy struck the city when the…

More official time scams, allowing teacher union officials to conduct union business at taxpayer – and student – expense.   An illegitimate expense?  Or the cost of “labor peace?”   In any case, it seems no one’s ever questioned the “past practice,” so it continues.   Jake Griffin has the story in The Daily Herald. Taxpayers in Wheeling Elementary District…