Patrick Wright, director of the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation, was a guest on "The Greg Marshall Show" on WMKT AM1270 in Traverse City Wednesday, discussing a forced unionization scheme that has impacted thousands of home-based health care providers.
Although still the exception, it’s not unusual to see public school districts spending more during the year than the amount of tax revenues they expect to collect from local, state and federal sources. The reasons are many and include severe enrollment declines, rising labor costs mandated by union contracts, an obsolete “defined-benefit” pension system, and general local, state and national economic conditions.
A Free Press columnist said Dr. Michael Hicks, a Mackinac Center adjunct scholar, presented a “sober, scholarly summary” during his Issues & Ideas forum presentation in Lansing Wednesday.
Hicks was talking about his recent study, “The Puzzle of Indiana’s Economy Through the Great Recession,” and how policy choices made in Indiana and Michigan, among other states, impacted how state economies did over the past few years.
Background from the first article in this series:
Thousands of home-based health care providers have been forced into a union because they receive assistance from the state while they take care of loved ones who are disabled. The Service Employees International Union receives close to $6 million annually in forced dues from this abusive arrangement.
Labor Policy Director Paul Kersey was a guest today on “The Frank Beckmann Show” on WJR AM760, discussing the new union proposal to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot that would establish collective bargaining for government employees as a right and reverse several reforms that have saved taxpayers millions of dollars.
At a news conference in Detroit, the group Protect Our Jobs unveiled the Constitutional amendment that they intend to put on the ballot.
Whatever virtues collective bargaining may have in the private sector, where workers must contend with companies that seek to maximize their profits, the situation of government employees is entirely different. In government, if unions succeed in forcing burdensome work rules or unsustainable benefits into a contract, it is taxpayers who must bear the burden.
Labor Policy Director Paul Kersey is cited in stories in The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press today about a potential union power grab that would reverse several recent reforms aimed at saving taxpayers millions of dollars and possible prevent the Legislature from enacting right-to-work protections for Michigan employees.
A new video by Senior Investigative Analyst Anne Schieber is posted today at the “Big Government” section of Breitbart.com about the Michigan Senate’s failure to protect thousands of home health care aides from an SEIU illegal unionization scheme.
Background from the first article in this series:
Thousands of home-based health care providers have been forced into a union because they receive assistance from the state while they take care of loved ones who are disabled. The Service Employees International Union receives close to $6 million annually in forced dues from this abusive arrangement.
Background from the first article in this series:
Thousands of people throughout Michigan have been forced into a union because they receive assistance from the state while they take care of loved ones who are disabled. The Service Employees International Union receives close to $6 million annually in forced dues from this abusive arrangement.
An Op-Ed in today’s Idaho Press-Tribune by Fiscal Policy Director Michael LaFaive and Adjunct Scholar Todd Nesbit explains why that state should not increase tobacco taxes. LaFaive and Nesbit have done extensive research, which you can read here and here, showing that increases in tobacco taxes increase cigarette smuggling and crime in states that do so.
General Motors is suspending production of the Chevy Volt and laying off about 1,300 workers while “seeking to align our production with demand,” according to the New York Post. The Post, the Tucson Citizen and The American Spectator all cite research by James Hohman, the Center’s assistant director of fiscal policy, showing that each Volt sold costs taxpayers up to $250,000 in tax subsidies.
Caps on the amount school districts can spend on employee health care premiums will save taxpayers millions of dollars and redirect money to the classroom — where it should be spent — to the benefit of students, according to an Op-Ed by Education Policy Director Michael Van Beek in Sunday’s Detroit Free Press.
Background from the first article in this series:
Thousands of home-based health care providers have been forced into a union because they receive assistance from the state while they take care of loved ones who are disabled. The Service Employees International Union receives close to $6 million annually in forced dues from this abusive arrangement.
MichiganVotes.org sends a weekly report to newspapers and TV stations around the state showing how state legislators in their service area voted on the most important or interesting bills of the past week.
Y = Yes, N = No, X = Not Voting
Senate Bill 971, Limit unionization of grad student research assistants: Passed 62 to 45 in the House
To establish that state university graduate students who work as research assistants are not considered government employees for purposes of enrolling them into a union, if their work terms do not meet an IRS "20 factor test" for employee status.
The Mackinac Center Legal Foundation has joined the Cato Institute and the National Federation of Independent Business in filing a joint amicus brief urging the United States Supreme Court to take the case of an Illinois woman who is forced to pay a portion of a Medicaid stipend she receives for caring for her quadriplegic brother in the form of “dues” to the SEIU.
Jack Spencer, capitol affairs specialist for Michigan Capitol Confidential, was a guest on "The Vic McCarty Show" Thursday on WMKT AM1270 in Traverse City, discussing the illegal, forced unionization of home health care aides and the millions of dollars in "dues" money the scheme has funneled to the SEIU.
For decades, individual teacher compensation levels in Michigan public schools have been set with no consideration of “outputs” — concrete measures of whether students actually learned anything. Instead, pay is based on various “inputs” with no proven relationship to student learning — government certifications, number of pedagogy degrees, years on the job, etc.
Background from the first article in this series:
Thousands of home-based health care providers have been forced into a union because they receive assistance from the state while they take care of loved ones who are disabled. The Service Employees International Union receives close to $6 million annually in forced dues from this abusive arrangement.
Labor Policy Director Paul Kersey in a Detroit News Op-Ed today questions the legitimacy of public-sector unions' concerns over Public Act 4, given their own history of undemocratic behavior.
Kersey points out that very few government union employees ever get a chance to actually vote for or against their union. He also addresses concerns about the emergency manager law in this recent blog post.
Senior Economist David Littmann appeared this morning on "The Tony Conley Show" on WILS AM1320 in Lansing to discuss his recent commentary on former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain's "9-9-9" tax reform plan.
Numerous papers and wire services are reporting that groups opposed to Public Act 4 have filed petitions containing about 225,000 signatures to have the law repealed, more than enough to see PA 4 placed on the fall election ballot. Like Wisconsin and Ohio, Michigan will now have its own high-stakes election over the power of government unions.
Facing a severe overspending problem, East Detroit Public Schools will try to increase revenue by attracting new students through a schools-of-choice program. The board recently agreed to open its doors to any student who lives nearby — unless, that is, the student lives in Detroit.
Michael LaFaive, director of the Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative, was a guest on "The Vic McCarty Show" today on WMKT 1270AM in Traverse City discussing a proposed ballot initiative that seeks to overturn the state's emergency manager law.
Paul Kersey, director of labor policy, also discussed the issue today on "The Tony Conley Show" on WILS 1320AM in Lansing.
Background from the first article in this series:
Thousands of home-based health care providers have been forced into a union because they receive assistance from the state while they take care of loved ones who are disabled. The Service Employees International Union receives close to $6 million annually in forced dues from this abusive arrangement.
