“Collective bargaining” on The Daily Caller

WASHINGTON (AP) — In the early days of the Obama administration, organized labor had grand visions of pushing through a sweeping agenda that would help boost sagging membership and help revive union strength. (more)

In the traditionally far-left Massachusetts statehouse, House Democrats passed legislation this week that strips municipal public sector workers of their right to collectively bargain on health insurance plans. The bill has yet to make it to the state Senate or Gov. Deval Patrick, but national labor leaders like AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, National Education Association (NEA) President  and Service Employees International Union (SEIU) President Mary Kay Henry don’t seem eager to get involved. Notorious left-wing advocate and filmmaker Michael Moore hasn’t showed up either, nor has self-proclaimed civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson. (more)

Massachusetts House lawmakers voted overwhelmingly last night to strip police officers, teachers, and other municipal employees of most of their rights to bargain over health care, saying the change would save millions of dollars for financially strapped cities and towns. (more)

Based on recent headlines, this would appear to be a glorious year for education reform. After years of wheel-spinning debates, governors in states such as Florida, Connecticut, Indiana and Ohio are blazing fast tracks trying to turn around troubled school districts. (more)

Is Walker Making the Sale? Heather Higgins, a supporter of  Gov. Scott Walker’s anti-union reforms, thinks his side–and the reforms–are in trouble, with the possibility that they could ”not only lose, but lose badly” in upcoming judicial and recall elections. She’s got some of her own polling data to back this up (which echoes other data trumpeted by the left). …Why the underwater polls?  Higgins initially suggests that Walker’s personality is the problem. But would people think the governor was “dictatorial” and “radical” if they agreed with his reform? The bigger problem, as Higgins later notes, is that the case for defanging public employee unions is not an easy case to make in a blue state, where it indeed seems a radical step to take: (more)

Disgruntled “progressives” in Wisconsin want to continue their demonstrations and sit-ins around the state capitol? In Charles Bronson-like style they proclaim “this ain’t over!” Further, they say their voices are not being heard, because the legislature did not vote the way they wanted it to on union benefit cost-sharing and collective bargaining. (more)

On Friday, a Wisconsin judge issued a temporary restraining order to block Governor Walker’s recently passed collective bargaining bill. It is important to consider the merits of the bill and look at the protections that it provides to residents. (more)

Madison – After police carried demonstrators out of the state Assembly Thursday, Republicans entered the chamber and approved Gov. Scott Walker’s bill repealing most collective bargaining by public employee unions. (more)

Madison — A hastily scheduled conference committee stripped out collective bargaining from Gov. Scott Walker’s budget-repair bill and sent it immediately to the Senate, which advanced the measure 18-1 Wednesday night with no debate. (more)

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has offered to keep certain collective bargaining rights in place for state workers in a proposed compromise aimed at ending a nearly three-week standoff with absent Senate Democrats, according to e-mails released Tuesday by his office. (more)

The media loves polls and considers their results to be sacred. If a poll shows that the people support a bill, that bill must be just and right. And, conversely, if it shows that the people oppose a bill, then, by definition, that bill must be bad and illegitimate. (more)

Today Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, in a news conference, ratcheted up pressure on the 14 absent Senate Democrats to return to Madison. Walker singled out Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller as the “barrier” to their return, noting “a handful” of the other Democrats have signaled they wish to return soon. (more)

The 2009 law that requires Wisconsin teachers to teach labor union and collective bargaining history to the state’s kids is seen by union bosses in the state as a means to promote their cause, frame labor’s message in a favorable light and increase membership. (more)

The 14 Wisconsin state Senate Democrats who left the state two weeks ago will now face fines of $100 for each day they miss, if they miss two or more days. (more)

HILLSBOROUGH, N.J. (AP) — Gov. Chris Christie, long at odds with unions over his budget-cutting ways, said that he’s ready to start negotiating with state worker unions — and that he “loves” collective bargaining. (more)

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The bargaining rights of public workers in Ohio would be dramatically reduced and strikes would be banned under a bill narrowly passed by the state Senate on Wednesday. (more)

It’s not every day the AFL-CIO encourages workers to dismantle their labor union and abandon collective bargaining, but in the case of the NFL Players Association’s battle with team owners, Big Labor is cheering it on. (more)

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin school districts are warning teachers that their contracts might not be renewed as Gov. Scott Walker’s plan to cut nearly all public employees’ collective bargaining rights remains in limbo. (more)

I unintentionally was misleading in using a quote from President Franklin D. Roosevelt in support of collective bargaining in yesterday’s blog. The quote from FDR stood up for the fundamental principle that Americans have a fundamental right under our Constitution to freely associate, organize and to designate an individual to negotiate on their behalf. He said that was the distinction between our system of government and despotism — and that was my reason for choosing his quote. But the perils of Internet research are borne out here, especially when done quickly. In fact, as many readers of my blog have pointed out, FDR was against, in principle, the concept of government employee unions and their right to collective bargaining. He said “the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service.” Then he added that “I want to emphasize my conviction that militant tactics have no place” in the public sector. “A strike of public employees manifests nothing less than an intent on their part to prevent or obstruct the operations of Government.” (more)

Most people don’t think “government unions” when they hear the words “special interests.” As the battle royal in the Wisconsin statehouse shows, though, they should. (more)