Forced-Dues Drive Pennsylvania Public Union Salaries, Outpace Private Sector's and Members' Wages

Forced-Dues Drive Pennsylvania Public Union Salaries, Outpace Private Sector's and Members' Wages

Forced-dues continue to fill the coffers of unions, as well as, union presidents'  and politicians' pockets according to this recent study by the Commonwealth Foundation: Government Unions and Forced Dues Almost half of government workers in Pennsylvania are union members, compared to 9.3 percent in the private sector. Pennsylvania is a forced union state, meaning that workers can be forced to join a union or pay a [so-called] "fair share fee" just to keep their job.  Most government units in Pennsylvania are "agency shops," with a specified union to which workers must pay a fee. When state and local governments automatically deduct dues and fair share fees from government workers' paychecks—as is the practice in Pennsylvania—employees have little or no say in how their money is used. Union Bosses Union bosses collect hefty salaries derived from member dues and fair share fees. In most cases, the salaries are several times the average union member's annual pay. While acknowledging that budgets were tight, AFSCME Council 13 President David Fillman got a 6 percent raise in 2010, making his salary higher than Gov. Tom Corbett's. Dues and fees often go towards expensive conferences, outings and junkets.  For example, in 2009-10 the Pennsylvania State Education Association—the state's largest public sector union—spent: More than $250,000 on a board of directors retreat in Gettysburg. More than $89,000 for a "political institution meeting" at the Radisson Penn Harris in Camp Hill, Pa. $20,000 for advertising in the Pittsburgh Steelers Yearbook. Almost $5,900 at Kimberton Golf Club and more than $5,100 at Concord Country Club in Chadd's Ford. Political Activity and Lobbying
Forced-Dues Drive Pennsylvania Public Union Salaries, Outpace Private Sector's and Members' Wages

Forced-Dues Drive Pennsylvania Public Union Salaries, Outpace Private Sector's and Members' Wages

Forced-dues continue to fill the coffers of unions, as well as, union presidents'  and politicians' pockets according to this recent study by the Commonwealth Foundation: Government Unions and Forced Dues Almost half of government workers in Pennsylvania are union members, compared to 9.3 percent in the private sector. Pennsylvania is a forced union state, meaning that workers can be forced to join a union or pay a [so-called] "fair share fee" just to keep their job.  Most government units in Pennsylvania are "agency shops," with a specified union to which workers must pay a fee. When state and local governments automatically deduct dues and fair share fees from government workers' paychecks—as is the practice in Pennsylvania—employees have little or no say in how their money is used. Union Bosses Union bosses collect hefty salaries derived from member dues and fair share fees. In most cases, the salaries are several times the average union member's annual pay. While acknowledging that budgets were tight, AFSCME Council 13 President David Fillman got a 6 percent raise in 2010, making his salary higher than Gov. Tom Corbett's. Dues and fees often go towards expensive conferences, outings and junkets.  For example, in 2009-10 the Pennsylvania State Education Association—the state's largest public sector union—spent: More than $250,000 on a board of directors retreat in Gettysburg. More than $89,000 for a "political institution meeting" at the Radisson Penn Harris in Camp Hill, Pa. $20,000 for advertising in the Pittsburgh Steelers Yearbook. Almost $5,900 at Kimberton Golf Club and more than $5,100 at Concord Country Club in Chadd's Ford. Political Activity and Lobbying
Public Servants' Right to Work in Jeopardy

Public Servants' Right to Work in Jeopardy

The experience of state after state shows that public-sector compulsory unionism as well as private-sector compulsory unionism devours job- and income-creating opportunities for taxpaying businesses and employees. Credit: Michael Ramirez/Investors Business Daily  Union Bosses Aim to Kill Recent Buckeye State Reform Next Month (Source: October 2011 NRTWC Newsletter) Over the past decade, the citizens of forced-unionism Ohio have been afflicted with one of the worst-performing state economies in the country. Across the U.S. as a whole, despite the severe recent recession, private employers' inflation-adjusted outlays for employee compensation (including wages, salaries, bonuses and benefits) did increase from 2000 to 2010, by an average of 4.3%. And many states fared much better than that. In the 22 states with Right to Work laws on the books protecting both private- and public-sector employees from being fired for refusal to pay dues or fees to an unwanted union, real private-sector employee compensation grew by an aggregate 11.3%. Private employees in 20 of the 22 Right to Work states experienced 2000-2010 compensation growth greater than the national average. Unfortunately, in the 28 states without Right to Work laws on the books, private-sector outlays for employee compensation rose only by a combined 0.7%, after adjusting for inflation. Thirteen of the 14 states with the lowest compensation growth lack a Right to Work law. Ohio was one of just five states with negative real private-sector compensation growth over the last decade. In 2010, Ohio's business expenditures for private employee compensation were 6.6% less than they had been in 2000. Region, Job Mix Can't Account For Buckeye State's Shrinking Private Employee Compensation When confronted with such data, apologists for the forced-unionism policies that prevailed across the board in Ohio for decades until this year try to explain them away by blaming the Buckeye State's location in the U.S. Midwest or its historically high manufacturing density for its abysmal economic record. But such excuses won't wash.
Public Servants' Right to Work in Jeopardy

Public Servants' Right to Work in Jeopardy

The experience of state after state shows that public-sector compulsory unionism as well as private-sector compulsory unionism devours job- and income-creating opportunities for taxpaying businesses and employees. Credit: Michael Ramirez/Investors Business Daily  Union Bosses Aim to Kill Recent Buckeye State Reform Next Month (Source: October 2011 NRTWC Newsletter) Over the past decade, the citizens of forced-unionism Ohio have been afflicted with one of the worst-performing state economies in the country. Across the U.S. as a whole, despite the severe recent recession, private employers' inflation-adjusted outlays for employee compensation (including wages, salaries, bonuses and benefits) did increase from 2000 to 2010, by an average of 4.3%. And many states fared much better than that. In the 22 states with Right to Work laws on the books protecting both private- and public-sector employees from being fired for refusal to pay dues or fees to an unwanted union, real private-sector employee compensation grew by an aggregate 11.3%. Private employees in 20 of the 22 Right to Work states experienced 2000-2010 compensation growth greater than the national average. Unfortunately, in the 28 states without Right to Work laws on the books, private-sector outlays for employee compensation rose only by a combined 0.7%, after adjusting for inflation. Thirteen of the 14 states with the lowest compensation growth lack a Right to Work law. Ohio was one of just five states with negative real private-sector compensation growth over the last decade. In 2010, Ohio's business expenditures for private employee compensation were 6.6% less than they had been in 2000. Region, Job Mix Can't Account For Buckeye State's Shrinking Private Employee Compensation When confronted with such data, apologists for the forced-unionism policies that prevailed across the board in Ohio for decades until this year try to explain them away by blaming the Buckeye State's location in the U.S. Midwest or its historically high manufacturing density for its abysmal economic record. But such excuses won't wash.
Wisconsin Governor in Big Labor Gun Sights

Wisconsin Governor in Big Labor Gun Sights

  Union-Boss Bid to Regain Control Over State Senate Falls Short (Source: September 2011 NRTWC Newsletter) Early this year, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) infuriated the union hierarchy, in his own state and nationally, when he introduced legislation (S.B.11) that would abolish forced union dues for teachers and many other public employees and also sharply limit the scope of union monopoly bargaining. In response, teacher union bosses in Madison, Milwaukee, and other cities called teachers out on illegal strikes so they could stage angry protests at the state capitol. Government union militants issued dozens of death threats against Mr. Walker, members of his administration, and their families. Fourteen union-backed state senators, all Democrats, temporarily fled the state to deny the pro-S.B.11 Senate majority a quorum to pass the bill. In raucous demonstrations, union bigwigs and their radical followers actually suggested Mr. Walker's support for public employees' Right to Work made him similar to Mubarak, Mussolini, Stalin, Hitler, or even Satan.

What if the NFL Played by Teachers' Union Rules?

Hall of Famer Quarterback Fran Tarkenton imagines what it would be like if the National Football League (NFL) adopted teacher's unions rules with regard to hiring. It's worth a read: Imagine the National Football League in an alternate reality. Each player's salary is based on how long he's been in the league. It's about tenure, not talent. The same scale is used for every player, no matter whether he's an All-Pro quarterback or the last man on the roster. For every year a player's been in this NFL, he gets a bump in pay. The only difference between Tom Brady and the worst player in the league is a few years of step increases. And if a player makes it through his third season, he can never be cut from the roster until he chooses to retire, except in the most extreme cases of misconduct. Let's face the truth about this alternate reality: The on-field product would steadily decline. Why bother playing harder or better and risk getting hurt? No matter how much money was poured into the league, it wouldn't get better. In fact, in many ways the disincentive to play harder or to try to stand out would be even stronger with more money. Of course, a few wild-eyed reformers might suggest the whole system was broken and needed revamping to reward better results, but the players union would refuse to budge and then demonize the reform advocates: "They hate football. They hate the players. They hate the fans." The only thing that might get done would be building bigger, more expensive stadiums and installing more state-of-the-art technology. But that just wouldn't help. If you haven't figured it out yet, the NFL in this alternate reality is the real -life American public education system. Teachers' salaries have no relation to whether teachers are actually good at their job—excellence isn't rewarded, and neither is extra effort. Pay is almost solely determined by how many years they've been teaching. That's it. After a teacher earns tenure, which is often essentially automatic, firing him or her becomes almost impossible, no matter how bad the performance might be. And if you criticize the system, you're demonized for hating teachers and not believing in our nation's children. Inflation-adjusted spending per student in the United States has nearly tripled since 1970. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, we spend more per student than any nation except Switzerland, with only middling results to show for it. These same misguided beliefs are front and center in President Obama's jobs plan, which includes billions for "public school modernization." The popular definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results. We've been spending billions of dollars on school modernization for decades, and I suspect we could keep on doing it until the end of the world, without much in the way of academic results. The only beneficiaries are the teachers unions.Over the past 20 years, we've been told that a big part of the problem is crumbling schools—that with new buildings and computers in every classroom, everything would improve. But even though spending on facilities and equipment has more than doubled since 1989 (again adjusted for inflation), we're still not seeing results, and officials assume the answer is that we haven't spent enough.

What if the NFL Played by Teachers' Union Rules?

Hall of Famer Quarterback Fran Tarkenton imagines what it would be like if the National Football League (NFL) adopted teacher's unions rules with regard to hiring. It's worth a read: Imagine the National Football League in an alternate reality. Each player's salary is based on how long he's been in the league. It's about tenure, not talent. The same scale is used for every player, no matter whether he's an All-Pro quarterback or the last man on the roster. For every year a player's been in this NFL, he gets a bump in pay. The only difference between Tom Brady and the worst player in the league is a few years of step increases. And if a player makes it through his third season, he can never be cut from the roster until he chooses to retire, except in the most extreme cases of misconduct. Let's face the truth about this alternate reality: The on-field product would steadily decline. Why bother playing harder or better and risk getting hurt? No matter how much money was poured into the league, it wouldn't get better. In fact, in many ways the disincentive to play harder or to try to stand out would be even stronger with more money. Of course, a few wild-eyed reformers might suggest the whole system was broken and needed revamping to reward better results, but the players union would refuse to budge and then demonize the reform advocates: "They hate football. They hate the players. They hate the fans." The only thing that might get done would be building bigger, more expensive stadiums and installing more state-of-the-art technology. But that just wouldn't help. If you haven't figured it out yet, the NFL in this alternate reality is the real -life American public education system. Teachers' salaries have no relation to whether teachers are actually good at their job—excellence isn't rewarded, and neither is extra effort. Pay is almost solely determined by how many years they've been teaching. That's it. After a teacher earns tenure, which is often essentially automatic, firing him or her becomes almost impossible, no matter how bad the performance might be. And if you criticize the system, you're demonized for hating teachers and not believing in our nation's children. Inflation-adjusted spending per student in the United States has nearly tripled since 1970. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, we spend more per student than any nation except Switzerland, with only middling results to show for it. These same misguided beliefs are front and center in President Obama's jobs plan, which includes billions for "public school modernization." The popular definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results. We've been spending billions of dollars on school modernization for decades, and I suspect we could keep on doing it until the end of the world, without much in the way of academic results. The only beneficiaries are the teachers unions.Over the past 20 years, we've been told that a big part of the problem is crumbling schools—that with new buildings and computers in every classroom, everything would improve. But even though spending on facilities and equipment has more than doubled since 1989 (again adjusted for inflation), we're still not seeing results, and officials assume the answer is that we haven't spent enough.
Right to Work Debated in State Capitals

Right to Work Debated in State Capitals

    But National Forced-Dues Repeal Measure Still Being Held Back (Source: September 2011 NRTWC Newsletter) Not long ago, Big Labor was crowing about having thwarted citizen efforts to pass new Right to Work laws in Indiana and New Hampshire this year. But it's now clear that the boasts of the union bosses were premature. Legislative support for abolishing compulsory union membership, dues and fees has been and remains strong in both the Hoosier and Granite States. Union lobbyists have therefore had to rely heavily on Gov. Mitch Daniels (R-Ind.) and union-label Gov. John Lynch (D-N.H.) to prevent enactment of America's 23rd and 24th state Right to Work laws. But now Mr. Daniels, under increasing heat from thousands and thousands of freedom-loving Hoosiers, including many who have supported him in the past, is signaling that he may reconsider his opposition to legislative votes on Right to Work measures in Indianapolis next year. Meanwhile, Mr. Lynch's late-spring veto of H.B.474, which would prohibit the firing of New Hampshire employees for refusal to pay dues or fees to an unwanted union, may now potentially be overridden because of a sustained Right to Work lobbying campaign. States Can't Afford to Ignore Fact That Compulsory Unionism Hinders Economic Growth "In the two years since the severe 2008-9 national recession officially ended, most state economies have recovered only feebly, if at all," commented National Right to Work Committee President Mark Mix. "That's why many Indianans and New Hampshirites, along with the citizens of a number of other states that have yet to enact Right to Work laws, are now emphatically telling their elected officials that they can't afford to ignore the fact that compulsory unionism hinders economic growth. "Trends in employee compensation, that is, wages, salaries, bonuses and benefits, illustrate well the Right to Work growth advantage. "From 2000 to 2010, the inflation-adjusted outlays of private-sector businesses for employee compensation increased by an average of 11.8% in Right to Work states. That increase is nine times as great as forced-unionism states' combined 1.3% rise over the same period. "Twenty of the 22 Right to Work states experienced a real compensation increase greater than the national average of 4.9%. And 14 of the 15 states with the lowest real compensation growth lack a Right to Work law." Mr. Mix added that faster growth constitutes only a part of Right to Work states' edge. Adjusting for regional differences in living costs with the help of indices created by the non-partisan Missouri Economic Research and Information Center (MERIC), in 2010 the average compensation per private-sector employee in Right to Work states was $56,830. That's roughly $1100 more than the average for forced-unionism states. Cost of Living-Adjusted Compensation Higher In Right to Work States