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By Charles M. Phipps on January 13th, 2016 
Earlier this week the Supreme Court heard arguments in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, a case that asks whether public workers who are not members of a union can be forced to pay “fair share service fees” in order to cover the cost of collective bargaining. A group of California teachers is suing to end the compulsory fees, which costs them $650 per year instead of the $1000 that union members pay. Both the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times have articles indicating that the tone of the proceedings seemed to indicate a majority of the Justices would be voting to overturn a 1977 Supreme Court ruling that allowed the fees.
Los Angeles Times– “Everything that is collectively bargaining is within the political sphere,” Justice Antonin Scalia said.
So the key question, according to Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., is “whether or not individuals can be compelled to support political views that they disagree with.”
On Monday, […] → Keep reading
By Charles M. Phipps on February 2nd, 2014 
The big push by the Democrats to increase the minimum wage is designed to do two things: Placate the lower income class, who already mostly support the Democrats, and make the unions happy. But in reality, increasing the minimum wage is nothing but a job killer. Obama and the Democrats tout an increase from $7.25 to $10.10 an hour and Obama has announced he will be issuing an executive order setting the minimum wage for workers covered by new federal contracts to $10.10 an hour. What he neglects to tell anyone, however, is that this will only affect around ten percent of the 2.2 million federal contract workers, since most already make more than $10.10 an hour. Also, it won’t take effect until 2015 and will only affect new federal contracts, not existing ones. All in all, it is not the big change that Obama is making it out to be.
Obama isn’t the only one advocating for an […] → Keep reading
By Charles M. Phipps on November 16th, 2012 
Unless you’ve been living in a cave it isn’t news that the Hostess Brands, Inc. has announced it is closing up shop and will be seeking to liquidate assets, including all properties and equipment. After eighty two years, no more Twinkies, for the time being. It’s likely another company will acquire the brand and begin producing snack cakes again at some point.
What caused the collapse of Hostess? Union refusal to negotiate concessions. The Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union refused to agree to wage reductions that would have kept the doors open.
Hostess had filed for bankruptcy earlier this year and the filing included a plan to stay in business. If the union agreed. The plan included an 8 percent cut to employee pay, a reduction in health benefits and a freeze to pension plan payments for over two years. If the concessions were agreed to, union workers would get a 25 percent equity in […] → Keep reading
By Charles M. Phipps on July 1st, 2011 
A Milwaukee-area firefighter’s parade float honoring firefighters lost on 9-11 has been shunned by the firefighters union. The float was designed with a grid that looked like a portion of one of the severely damaged buildings after the twin towers collapsed, with artificial building rubble spread across the floor of a small flatbed truck. A flagpole like the one in the famous photo was extended from one end of the float, and the firefighters posted scrolls with the names of all the firefighters, police officers and emergency workers killed in the 2001 attacks.
The float has been in previous parades and has drawn enthusiastic responses from parade watchers.
Matt Gorniak, a Milwaukee-area fire lieutenant is the driving force behind the float. With the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks coming up later this year, Gorniak and his church’s youth group decided to revive the float in Racine’s upcoming Independence Day parade, one of the biggest in the area.
[…] → Keep reading
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