Labor
Although writing from Michigan, Kyle Olson has it right when it comes to his perspective on education happenings in Central Falls: Central Falls students deserve a high-quality education. But instead, families are told to be patient as administrators and the teachers union hold meetings and create 45-page reform plans. And now the federal government gives…
Iain Murray and Vincent Vernuccio remind us that public sector unionization is not an age-old practice: Public-sector unionism is a relatively recent phenomenon in the United States. In 1959, Wisconsin became the first state to allow its public employees to unionize, and other states then followed suit. In 1962, Pres. John F. Kennedy issued an…
As periodically happens, Mark Patinkin has dipped into politics to voice the thoughts of many a conservative… or many a reasonable Rhode Islander: Just as troubling is the size of these pensions. By year 10 of retirement, off that $89,273 base salary, [Providence Deputy Assistant Fire Chief Dan] Crowley will draw a $66,796 pension now…
… not because their catastrophically timed labor action caused death, injury and serious inconvenience to hundreds of thousands but because they have succeeded in the impossible: casting the micro-megalomaniac mayor of that city in a favorable light by exculpating him. The New York Post reports. Selfish Sanitation Department bosses from the snow-slammed outer boroughs ordered…
One hears in this op-ed by David Mabe the thinking behind centralization’s inevitable failure over time: Even in these times of high unemployment, forecasts of labor shortages are becoming more prevalent. New England has long boasted a highly educated population relative to other parts of the country, but the retirement of Baby Boomers and net…
Another RI Blogger has caught an interesting bit of the education debate: Ok, I can understand why the assistant executive director of the teachers’ union would be upset, for one [Teaching for America teachers] are not dues-paying NEA members. If additional teachers are needed, of course he will want more full time, dues-paying teachers employed.…
It may not add up to a silver lining, but hopefully folks are beginning to see why Anchor Rising contributors have been very suspicious of calls to regionalize or centralize government and its services: [League of Cities and Towns Executive Director Dan Beardsley] also spoke of new limits on municipal contracts to ban: automatic renewals…
This’ll be a useful test case for Governor-elect Chafee: On the snowy steps of the high school, Frank Flynn, president of the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers, said he had called Chafee Tuesday morning and asked him to convene a group of teachers, school and district administrators, union leaders and state education officials to “move…
Although the majority of the teachers probably just wanted to keep their jobs, observers with a cynical (I would say “realistic”) opinion of labor unions likely foresaw the Central Falls teacher absences issue back when Superintendent Fran Gallo unfired the high school faculty back in May. There is no way union organizers want the transformation…
I’m at the Tiverton School Committee meeting, and three of our General Assembly representatives are reporting on goings on at the State House: Rep. Jay Edwards, Sen. Walter Felag, and Senator Louis DiPalma. Some highlights of interest to Anchor Rising readers: During pension discussion Superintendent Bill Rearick mentioned that the savings on teacher pensions last…