TALAHASSEE, Fla. – What’s happened to Florida Gov. Rick Scott?

When Scott took office earlier this year, he wasted no time establishing himself as a bold education reformer by placing limits on teacher tenure, basing teacher pay on student achievement, and increasing the number of charter schools.

Scott deserves credit for getting those reforms across the finish line, but he seems to have lost his nerve for bold action in the current fight over school funding.

Instead of explaining to taxpayers how Florida’s public school budgets are being overrun by special interest labor unions, Scott is sounding like a spokesman for the Florida Education Association, telling lawmakers he will “not sign a budget … that does not significantly increase state funding for education.”

Scott says he wants to “invest” – a favorite union buzzword – a billion more dollars into public education, and would pay for it by cutting $2 billion in Medicaid reimbursements to hospitals.

State Democrats wasted little time in framing Scott’s proposal as “school books versus seniors.” That’s a pretty harsh but nonetheless accurate analysis.

Scott is buying into (and selling) the faulty premise that Florida’s public schools are being underfunded by taxpayers. Instead, the governor’s focus should be on how school employee unions divert millions of dollars away from classrooms and into expensive, goodie-filled labor contracts that benefit adult employees at the expense of students.

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MONROE, Ohio  – What a difference a month makes.

On November 8, over 60 percent of Ohio voters shot down SB 5, the law designed to save school budgets by limiting the collective bargaining privileges of school employee unions.

Like their Big Labor brethren, teacher unions rejoiced over SB 5’s demise. They knew that their expensive collective bargaining agreements – stuffed full of automatic pay raises, free or low cost health insurance, sick day payouts and retirement bonuses – were safe.

One month later, Ohio communities are beginning to see just what SB 5’s defeat means for their local public schools. With collective bargaining alive and well, school boards can no longer hope to control labor costs, which typically consume 75 percent of a district’s budget.

Instead, many school officials are left with only painful solutions to their districts’ budget woes: laying off young teachers, increasing class sizes, cutting academic programs, and raising pay-to-play fees on students who wish to participate in extracurricular activities.

In other words, Ohio’s families can soon expect to pay more in school taxes and fees, for less education. That’s the reality of Big Labor’s victory over SB 5.

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NESHAMINY, Pa. – Some well-meaning people still cling to the notion that teachers union collective bargaining is healthy for public schools.

We invite them to visit Neshaminy, Pennsylvania, or at least do some research on the three-year labor standoff that has been tearing the school district and community to shreds.

Neshaminy teachers are among the most highly compensated in the state, with above-average salaries, generous insurance and retirement benefits. Their last contract expired in 2008, and they haven’t been able to negotiate a new one because the school board, battling financial problems brought on by the recession, can no longer afford extravagant compensation.

The teachers union has responded with ugly tactics, including a threat to strike and a decision to “work to contract,” which is a nice term for a general work slowdown. The community has reacted with anger toward the union’s self-serving demands, and the Philadelphia suburb has been poisoned with an environment of anger and mistrust.

“What started as a skirmish a few years ago has become an all-out war, precipitated by union misinformation, deception and malice,” one citizen wrote to a local newspaper. “In this two-sided war between an intransigent teachers union and suffering taxpayers/parents/students, there can be no sitting on the fence; we’ve advanced too far for that.

“Everyone should take a stand for what they believe in.”

Spoiled union avoiding concessions

Let’s start with a few facts:

The Neshaminy school district, like most across the nation, is facing dire financial problems. It has closed two school buildings in recent years, laid off more than 60 employees and cut several student programs, in an effort to keep up with runaway labor costs.

The Neshaminy Federation of Teachers has been working under the terms of an expired collective bargaining agreement for the past three school years. Those terms are very generous indeed.

The 675 teachers on staff are the second highest paid in the state, with an average salary of $81,816. Teachers have never had to contribute a dime toward health insurance premiums for themselves and their families. Teachers receive longevity bonuses, reimbursement for unused sick days, as well as a $27,500 cash bonus and full health coverage upon retirement.

The school board has made it very clear that the district can no longer afford lucrative labor expenses during the current economic crisis. Still, it has offered contract terms that would be considered generous in many school districts across the nation.

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Part of the purpose of Ohio Senate Bill 5 is to keep local government officials from giving away the store and costing taxpayers unnecessary funds.  This gets to the root of the main difference between who is negotiating with private-sector and public-sector unions.

Private-sector unions sit across the table from a for-profit business. A business has to operate on its profits or go out of business. They aren’t likely to give too much away, because they are in some way personally invested. On the other hand, public-sector unions are negotiating with elected officials. While most are good managers of the public’s money, some are not. Elected official have no personal stake at risk, no “skin in the game,” since they are negotiating with the public’s money–other people’s money. Unlike a private company, you need not have experience or success to earn that management position; you simply have to get elected. As we’ve seen only too well with President Downgrade, getting elected doesn’t make you a good leader.

Cincinnati.com did an investigation into public contracts in effect around Southwestern Ohio. What they found are some crazy provisions from an out-of-control system that is tilted towards the unions in Ohio. (more…)

From CBC News:

Workers at a Wal-Mart in Gatineau, Que., are officially decertified from their union after just more than a year with their first collective agreement.

Quebec’s Labour Relations Commission removed the more than 150 workers, who are employed at a store on du Plateau Boulevard in the city’s Hull sector, from their union.

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Last week, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels (R-IN) reviewed the reforms Indiana has instituted since he took office in a wide-ranging speech at The Heritage Foundation. From education reform to challenging public employee unions, Daniels has strived to make government work well. In an interview following his speech, Daniels discussed the reforms he made to state government, the Democrats’ walkout from the legislature this year, and what the federal government can learn from Indiana.

And the effort seems to have paid off. As we discussed in the interview, a recent Manhattan Institute poll revealed that 77 percent of Hoosiers rate Indiana’s government as “efficient.” That’s the highest percentage of any state surveyed and a stark contrast to neighboring Illinois’ 23 percent.

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From the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:

Wisconsin’s largest teachers union has a problem.

A union problem.

This week, National Support Organization, which bills itself as the world’s largest union of union staffers, posted an online notice discouraging its members from seeking work with the Wisconsin Education Association Council.

“Don’t apply for WEAC vacancies!” screams the headline.

The reason for the boycott?

Chuck Agerstrand, president of the National Support Organization, is accusing WEAC officials of “breaching staff contracts and destroying any working relationship with its employees.”

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James Hoffa Jr., aka Jimmy the Lesser, joined President Obama yesterday for a rally of the rapidly-dwindling faithful. (Thanks to some heavenly playwright for setting this scene in Detroit, a city more decimated by leftist ideology than any other.) As the President sat calmly by off-stage, Jimmy the Lesser excited the crowd with an old-fashioned stemwinder of trade unionist fire-and-brimstone. (Paging Jeremiah Wright.) It is worth multiple viewings:

The “Era of Civility” is definitely over, I guess.

Most of the commentariat is arguing over whether or not Jimmy the Lesser was making threats against the tea party (read American public). The wanna-be grundoons at Media Matters spittle that somehow Hoffa’s comments were taken out of context. Such an argument takes the context out of context. I’ve learned that when a Teamster or Longshoreman says things like “war” or “army” and calls his opponents “sons of bitches” it is prudent not to fidget over the nuances of language. Best to get ready for a dust-up.

But, the “debate” over whether or not Jimmy the Lesser was making threats is kind of beside the point. I watch his speech and see only one thing…panic.

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Co-authored with Trey Kovacs

Until recently, union bosses—not elected representatives—have been in control of the government employee compensation process. Using taxpayer dollars they obtain through mandatory dues, they elect the management they later negotiate with. However, across the country in states such as Wisconsin, Ohio, and Michigan, taxpayers are fighting back and the tide of Big Labor control is starting to change.

Now there is a new online tool to give taxpayers and policy makers critical information on which states favor Big Labor. The Competitive Enterprise Institute and Crossroads GPS recently launched a “Big Labor versus Taxpayer Index” that analyzes 1,150 labor laws and regulations throughout the country and exposes states that make coddling Big Labor a top priority.

For the first time ever, government union members outnumbered those in the private sector in 2009. These unions are at the forefront of the movement for more expansive and expensive government. They use collected forced dues to lobby for greater pay, lavish benefits and more members. They also have a legal monopoly over public services and, if they strike, can deprive citizens of essential services such as education and safety.

The result is a vicious circle. Politicians cater to government unions, and these unions in turn support these politicians’ election campaigns. Once these pro-Big Labor candidates are elected, they can provide the increased pay and benefits to government employees that is demanded by their unions. The unions then collect dues from their members, which enables them to give more political support to friendly politicians, and the cycle goes on.

Politicians can put the interest of government unions ahead of taxpayers in a multitude of ways. Below are a few examples rated by the index on how Big Labor can be put head of citizens.

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For Wisconsin, it seemed that the 2012 election had come a summer early. Until August 16th the airwaves were full of ads by campaigns and outside groups urging voters to turnout and support a candidate of choice in one of the nine recall elections around the state. What would have otherwise been a tranquil summer was brushed aside when a torrent of money, activists and professionals swept the state in a prolonged battle that started in the late winter and early spring over the issue of collective bargaining reform.

The political landscape of Wisconsin didn’t change much as a result of the costly and noisy recall elections. But that doesn’t mean some important lessons weren’t learned. Elections this historic always yield important information and raise intriguing possibilities about how future political battles will play out. In a state historically split nearly 50-50 along ideological, if not partisan, lines with independents often progressively minded, the summer campaign offers some lessons that conservatives can take heart from.

Even though Democrats are touting their ability to knock off two incumbent state senators as a major success in the face of failed GOP attempts to go after three Democratic senators, Democratic gains are shallow. Every incumbent senator who faced a recall challenge (regardless of party) survived except when a massive personal scandal or political earthquake hit. Sen. Randy Hopper’s ill-timed affair with a staffer exploded early in the recall cycle and irreparably damaged him politically. Sen. Dan Kapanke’s district had for years been trending Democrat, and his personal connection to voters was not enough to outweigh the long-developing party shift that finally flipped the seat’s party affiliation.

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This is one part of a running series entitled “Indoctrination Fridays,” a weekly review of leftist propaganda incorporated into public school curriculum, much of it geared towards elementary students.  For more of the series, please visit PublicSchoolSpending.com.

In the late 1990s, the Los Angeles Unified School District partnered with United Teachers Los Angeles – funded by a federal grant – to produce a multi-part curriculum entitled, “Workplace Issues and Collective Bargaining in the Classroom.”

Education Action Group obtained it from the California Department of Education.

The purpose of the lessons is to get students to appreciate the need for collective bargaining, and experience first-hand how it works. During the lessons, which can take up to a week of class time, students pose as either “labor” or “management” and bargain a teachers’ contract.  They grapple with such issues as health insurance co-pays, raises and hiring procedures. Finally, the union has someone to feel its pain!

The curriculum includes a video which touts the success of the program.  It’s insightful that the very first speaker on the video is the president of the teachers union, A.J. Duffy:

“UTLA plays a unique role in the labor movement in L.A. As the second largest teachers’ union in the country, with all of our other responsibilities, we are in the position to educate the next generation of civic leaders by reaching out to high school students and having them participate in a unique UTLA program. … The Collective Bargaining Education Project brings the lessons of labor to the classroom by involving students in the same process UTLA and other unions engage in to gain better wages and working conditions for teachers and students at L.A. Unified Schools.”

The union endorsements of the curriculum don’t stop there.

Linda Tubach, one of the curriculum’s creators, says “The students have a very direct experience with the issues that they’re going to face in their workplaces and their experience is a collective one in small groups, mentored by coaches who have direct experience in the collective bargaining process.”

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Today, delegates to the NAACP’s 102nd annual convention are meeting to consider this year’s resolutions. Last year’s resolution condemning the Tea Party for racism was the subject of intense media coverage.

This year, the Tea Party does not appear in any of the forty-plus resolutions under consideration. The bulk of the resolutions deal with civil rights, criminal justice, and socioeconomic issues, to which the NAACP proposes familiar left-wing solutions.

These include support for the so-called “Employee Free Choice Act” (a.k.a. “card check”) in addressing labor relations.

It is ironic, given the NAACP’s focus on voting rights at this year’s convention, and given the way the NAACP has described voter ID laws as an attack on black civil rights, that the NAACP would back a piece of legislation designed to strip workers of their right to a secret ballot in union elections.

Another NAACP resolution supports for collective bargaining rights for public workers, which it describes as “sacrosanct”–and includes a call to all NAACP members to “join in public protests and rallies in support of public and private employees and their efforts to maintain or preserve their rights to union representation and collective bargaining.”

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Will Be In Effect Wednesday, June 29th

On Tuesday, June 28, 2011, the Wisconsin Secretary of State’s office published Act 10, the law that included provisions to limit public sector unions’ ability to collectively bargain. The office says the law will be in effect starting Wednesday.

There weren’t any cameras or fanfare when Secretary Doug La Follette enrolled the law.

“It was business as usual,” Susan Churchill, Deputy Secretary of State, told the MacIver Institute.

Governor Walker signed Act 10 on March 11th. Secretary of State Doug La Follette decided to wait the full 10 working days allowed by law before enrolling it. That was originally scheduled to happen on March 25th, and the law would then be in effect on March 28th.

However, Dane County Judge Mary Ann Sumi placed a temporary restraining order on the Secretary of State from publishing the law. The controversy got even more convoluted when the legislative reference bureau, not named in the TRO, published the law on March 25th anyway, and the Department of Administration considered that sufficient to enforce it.

Sumi, again, took action to block the law, this time making the restraining order permanent. All this put Act 10 on a course to the Supreme Court.

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For months the public employee unions have been orchestrating daily events in Madison to keep the media attention on their battle with Wisconsin Governror Scott Walker (check out #wiunion on twitter). You’ve seen the Entitledtown tent city, you know about the marches, the sing-a-longs and the other stunts. Well, on Wednesday the stunt of the day was supposed to be having students dress up like zombies and hold a ‘die in’ at the Capitol. Before that happened however, these pro-union protesters picketed and disrupted the Governor’s appearance at a Special Olympics ceremony.

Words escape me.

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Who thought it was a good idea to build a tent city on the concrete sidewalks of Wisconsin’s second largest city during 90 degree weather?

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To fix public schools, you have to control public schools.

And there’s little control when teachers unions, with their self-serving agendas, question every cost-cutting proposal and reform on the table.

That’s why so many state governments have taken swift action to limit the power of organized labor in public schools. Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, Idaho and Michigan were the first, and Tennessee added itself to the list on Wednesday.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam affixed his signature on House Bill 130 and Senate Bill 113, ending collective bargaining and giving local school boards the full authority to operate their districts in the manner they choose.

That doesn’t mean the unions are shut out of the discussion. The new laws create a process called “collaborative conferencing,” where the school board, administrators and union officials will be forced to sit and discuss many of the normal issues, including salary, insurance, grievance procedures and working conditions.

If the two sides agree on any number of issues, they can sign binding “memorandums of understanding,” that will serve the same purpose as collective bargaining agreements. But any issues that are left unsettled will be the sole domain of the school board, with no appellate procedure available to the unions.

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Glenn Reynolds in today’s The Washington Examiner:

So the public employee unions have been on the defensive across the nation, and they’ve been losing battles in state capitols from Wisconsin, to Ohio, to Tennessee.

Although there have been some violent incidents and death threats, overall, despite the talk from many right-leaning pundits about “union goons,” the actual danger posed by the union members appears to have been very small by labor-historical standards. Apparently, you just can’t get good goons nowadays.

And that makes sense. In the old days of the labor movement, the unionized industries were, you know, actual industries, involving miners, steelworkers and the like. And those are trades that foster exactly the qualities you need in good goons.

Why? Because they’re very dangerous activities that put a premium on teamwork. (Even in totalitarian countries, people know that it’s dangerous to get the miners upset.)

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From National Journal:

The cost of official time used by federal employees participating in union activities increased nearly 7 percent between fiscal 2008 and fiscal 2009, according to a new report from the Office of Personnel Management.

The report, the subject of a Wednesday hearing on Capitol Hill, found that federal employees spent nearly 3 million hours of official time on union activities in 2009 at a cost of $129 million to taxpayers, an increase of $8 million from fiscal 2008. The number of official time hours used per bargaining unit employee on union matters during fiscal 2009, however, decreased slightly from fiscal 2008. “Official time costs represented less than two-tenths of 1 percent of the civilian personnel budget for federal civil service bargaining unit employees,” Timothy Curry, deputy associate director of partnership and labor relations at OPM, testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce, Postal Service and Labor Policy.

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Judge Maryann Sumi Strikes again.

The judge who had been blocking implementation of Wisconsin’s public employee collective bargaining reforms has now struck down the law altogether, saying legislative Republicans failed to give proper notice before acting on the bill in committee.

Dane County Circuit Court Judge Maryann Sumi issued her ruling Thursday, writing that the law is voided because lawmakers failed to provide proper public notice of a Conference Committee meeting wherein the bill was amended.

“The court must consider the potential damage to public trust and confidence in government if the Legislature is not held to the same rules of transparency that it has created for other governmental bodies,” Sumi wrote.

Republicans argued that the Legislature, when in Special Session, is not bound by the law requiring a broad public notice.

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Even the most avid circus goers tire of the big top, apparently.

Saturday, various labor and left wing organizations attempted to hold another massive protest at the Wisconsin State Capitol.

The lackluster May Day rallies in Milwaukee and Madison were filled with pleas to head to Madison on May 14th to show Scott Walker that the fight isn’t over. Liberal radio hosts plugged the event. Lefty bloggers posted about it. Labor unions sent out emails and robo calls to their members. Madison coffehouses, bookstores and telephone poles were littered with brochures about the rally. People were bused in from across the state.

Yawn.

It appears “We’re not going away!” isn’t as catchy as “We skipped out of work, to show we deserve our pay.”

When the allure of shutting down schools or shutting down the legislature are missing, so are a hundred thousand protesters it seems. Now, 7-10,000 is still a crowd, but in Madison, Wisconsin the left can get that many out to protest an appearance by the rare conservative speaker on campus.

The changes to the public employee union’s collective bargaining power remain held up in court. But Act 10 has been signed into law. It’s done. It is just going to take some time to get past the liberal judges in Dane County.

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