Labor
Yesterday, I related an anecdote in which I used my vehicle as a means of forcing traffic etiquette. The part of the tale on which National Education Association of Rhode Island Assistant Executive Director Patrick Crowley honed in was that I’d used my work van to get to a political event: You are allowed to…
So, firefighters from three cities have joined the state carpenters’ union in picketing the construction site of a new firehouse in Johnston — perhaps erroneously: Two hours after the lines went up, Mayor Joseph M. Polisena said that when the town awarded its contractor to the low bidder, Iron Construction, two months ago, it clearly…
The rhetoric about public-sector workers’ doggedly, thanklessly doing the hard work that the community requires, recently promoted around here by Phil, comes to mind especially with the item that I’ve italicized in the following: EAST PROVIDENCE — The city’s teachers have voted to withdraw from volunteer activities in the district’s schools. The roughly 500 educators…
Would it be an awkward moment to mention this? State and local government workers are enjoying major gains in compensation, pushing the value of their average wages and benefits far ahead of private workers, a USA TODAY analysis of federal data shows. The gap is widening every year, rising by an average $1.02 an hour…
After a long day, the state employee union leaders got their wish when Supreme Court Justice Maureen McKenna Goldberg overturned Superior Court Judge Michael Silverstein’s decision and granted a stay of the implementation of Governor Carcieri’s plan to have 12 shut-down days in an attempt to save money. The result: 1,000 state workers will now…
ProJo reports: The city’s teachers have voted to withdraw from volunteer activities in the city’s schools. The roughly 500 educators won’t help with afternoon activities except for those that are accompanied with paid stipends, nor will they chaperone dances, buy supplies for their classrooms or participate in committees for curriculum development, accreditation or school improvement.…
It’s disappointing to see retired teacher and principal John Savage (R – East Providence) release an op-ed in favor of binding arbitration on House Minority Office letterhead. The piece (provided in full in the extended entry) amounts to union spin issued in the name of the Republican Party. The substantive core of Savage’s argument is…
The union organizations probably have to go through these motions, if only to perform a tribal dance proving their value to members, but I wonder whether such news doesn’t serve to remind taxpayers why they’re increasingly annoyed with the existence of an alternate employment reality in the public sector: With the largest state employees union…
The Providence Teacher’s union isn’t happy with new hiring rules put in affect this summer, according to this WRNI report from Elisabeth Harrison (h/t). The nut of it is, of course, the removal of seniority as the major factor in determining who gets hired. As Harrison reports: An order from the State Department of Education…required…
I’ll be the first to acknowledge the prominence of self interest in the development and ascendance of local taxpayer groups. Members take up political arms, as it were, for a variety of reasons, and often those reasons are decidedly materialistic in nature. Therewith comes the sliver of truth to Phil’s cartoonish characterization of the simmering…