MADISON – Wisconsin Education Association Council President Mary Bell is a liar.

That’s according to a recent blog on BigGovernment.com by Collin Roth of Media Trackers.

Roth looked into recent media reports that WEAC officials asked prospective gubernatorial candidates to promise to veto any budget that doesn’t restore collective bargaining privileges for public sector unions.

He was inspired by Bell’s comments to the LaCrosse Tribune in which she insisted the union never asked for a veto pledge.

“Absolutely not,” Bell told the newspaper. “It’s not the approach that any of us would take.”

James Palmer, executive director of the Wisconsin Professional Police Association, helped expose WEAC’s request for a veto pledge for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He told Roth he’s sticking to his statement, that WEAC and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union “demanded a hard commitment” on the veto pledge in exchange for their endorsement.

Bell is lying when she says otherwise, Palmer told Roth.

(more…)

MILWAUKEE – The sky is falling. Hell’s freezing over.

Well, almost. The Milwaukee school board has decided to invoke Act 10 and cut labor costs, without permission from its large and influential teachers union.

Welcome to the real world of school finance, Milwaukee.

If you recall, Milwaukee was one of those districts that couldn’t accept the benefits of Act 10 this year.

That’s because the school board, despite its financial problems, retroactively entered into a four-year collective bargaining agreement with its teachers union, complete with salary increases, in 2010.

Apparently someone in Milwaukee woke up in recent months. The district announced last week that the school board took “bold action” Nov. 17 by approving a three-year wage freeze for all employees, which will be applicable as soon as current collective bargaining agreements expire.

The teachers contract expires in June 2013, while pacts with the district’s other unions expire next year.

(more…)

School reformers across the nation are closely watching Ohio, where a statewide referendum next Tuesday will determine the fate of SB 5, the legislation that would greatly curtail collective bargaining privileges for teachers and other public employees.

This gutsy law, approved by the legislature and Gov. John Kasich, is similar to the very effective Act 10 in Wisconsin. It would allow cash-strapped school boards to cut labor costs, balance their budgets and put more focus on student instruction without interference from local unions.

Of course the teachers unions (and every other sort of union) hate this law, because it threatens their ability to dominate school budgets. They led a petition drive to challenge the law through popular referendum and are pouring cash into the campaign to kill it.

We Are Ohio, the coalition spearheading opposition to the law, received $19 million in donations during the last campaign financing reporting period, according to a recent story in the Columbus Dispatch. In contrast, Building a Better Ohio, which supports the law, reported contributions of nearly $7.6 million.

Of course, much of the money for We Are Ohio is coming from organized labor. Reports indicate that the Ohio Education Association contributed more than $4.75 million to the campaign in the most recent filing period. (more…)