Unions

Whistling past the graveyard

Please, Rhode Islanders, start paying attention to the evidence.

By Justin Katz | October 26, 2022 |

If you’re thigh deep in the muck of Rhode Island politics, as I am, you may find something about the local society inexplicable.  The game is so locked up, in Rhode Island, that it isn’t clear whether anything can shake the stranglehold of insiders and special interests.  Consider two recent stories. On the National Education…

Lower panels of A Tale of Two Cities cover

Politics this Week with John DePetro: Election as a Tale of Two RIs

By Justin Katz | October 25, 2022 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz explore the central divide of Rhode Island politics.

A junk car in a yard

Politics this Week with John DePetro: McKee’s Redneck Rhode Island

By Justin Katz | October 17, 2022 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz keep up with the accelerating political season.

Workers clear 9/5/22 flood waters

Politics This Week with John DePetro: Clearing the State’s Drains

By Justin Katz | September 7, 2022 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz discuss the many ways government is failing in Rhode Island and beyond.

A water drop and ripples

It is a good reminder on Labor Day, though.

By Justin Katz | September 5, 2022 |

Today the most prominent themes among the flotsam on RI Twitter are hagiographic tweets about labor unions and reports about failing infrastructure in the Providence area with respect to water management.  Folks, thank the unions for the flooding, because the expense they’ve imposed on infrastructure in Rhode Island is largely to blame.  Ignoring this reality…

A locked luggage box

Politics This Week with John DePetro: Political Honesty in Hiding

By Justin Katz | August 8, 2022 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz call out the ways RI politicians are hiding from reality.

A behind the back cash bribe

Politics This Week with John DePetro: A Boughten Government

By Justin Katz | August 2, 2022 |

John DePetro and Justin Katz comment as the Rhode Island campaign season heats up.

A shadowy man on the phone

State government theft from workers shows we need trust in ourselves, not new laws.

By Justin Katz | May 6, 2022 |

With a bit of spectacularly bad timing for Rhode Island insiders (who may very well win anyway), an employee of the state Department of Labor and Training has been charged with stealing funds from exactly an area that labor unions are trying to make more flush: An employee of the Rhode Island Department of Labor…

Patrick Crowley and Richard August on State of the State

State of the State: Pending Legislation from a Labor Union Perspective

By Richard August | April 24, 2022 |

Richard August and union organizer Patrick Crowley discuss legislation and unions’ power as a special interest.

A dark classroom

Teachers aren’t fleeing Providence schools.

By Justin Katz | April 15, 2022 |

The Annenberg Center on the Study of Educators at Brown University took a look at employee retention in the Providence school district and concluded that there has not been an “exodus of teachers”: Using data up and including the start of the 2021-22 school year, we show that, while retention did fall in Providence more…