Employment

Ten Washington state employees who were forced from their jobs for refusing to pay union dues are back at work. In June the state employees settled their class-action lawsuit against the Washington Federation of State Employees (WFSE).

(Chicago, Illinois - July 27, 2006) On July 26, 2006 the Chicago City Council passed an ordinance requiring retailers with 90,000 square feet of space and more than $1 billion in revenue to pay a "living wage" in excess of the state's current minimum

Question: What does Tiger Woods have in common with union officials? Answer: They both play a lot of golf. The only difference is that union officials get to play on their members' dime. A lot of dimes, actually. Organized labor spent $1.

A big part of the problem with prevailing wage laws is that prevailing wages don't prevail. The federal government and many state governments use a voluntary survey to determine the wage that prevails in construction.

The Chicago City Council is considering requiring "big box" retailers to pay wages far above the federal minimum wage, as well as a guaranteed level of fringe benefits in addition to wages.

With the immigration debate raging across the nation, unions are mobilizing to exploit the immigrants' cause for political gain.

Republican lawmakers in Illinois are making group appearances around the state to discuss what they say may be the worst state government pension system in the country.

Pat Woodward, 64, of Olympia, Washington, was recently fired from her job as a financial analyst for the Washington state Department of Licensing. The reason? She refused to give a percentage of her paycheck to a union.

Despite strong opposition from unions and lukewarm support from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R), California State Assemblyman Keith Richman (R-Northridge) hasn't given up on reforming the state's public employee pension systems.

Table 2. State and Local Government Employment in 2004 as a Share of Total Employment in State  TotalEducationSafetyWelfareServicesOther All states11.3%6.1%1.7%1.5%1.3%0.8% Alaska16.6%8.3%1.8%1.6%2.7%2.2% D.C.16.2%4.5%3.3%2.3%4.6%1.

After functioning for years as obscure, back-office operations of state and local government, retirement systems for employees of state and local governments have become the focus of increasing attention from both the media and policymakers.

"No, layoffs are not something we would ever consider," said former Connecticut House of Representatives Speaker Moira Lyons (D-Stamford) in November 2002, in response to a reporter's question about laying off state employees in order to close the

The percentage of American workers who belong to a labor union continues to slide, according to an annual report released in January by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In 2005, 12.

By almost any measure, the Illinois government pension system is the nation's worst, plagued by debt and scandal.

This past winter, the New York news media fixed its attention on public employee pensions when New York City transit workers went on strike and crippled the city's economy for three days in December.

State governments must address the structural problems and incentives inherent in political management if government pension systems are to be returned to sound financial footing.

Mundelein, Illinois resident Bill Zettler has spent 35 years designing computer software, analyzing statistics, and giving himself mathematical challenges. Until a few years ago he considered himself a political liberal.

Ron Ryan is founder and chairman of Ryan ALM, Inc., an asset/liability management company in New York City that is nationally known for its pension fund consulting.

Illinois state Sen. Bill Brady (R-Bloomington), who served on the Governor's Pension Commission in 2004, has introduced legislation to create a voluntary 401(k) retirement fund, known as a defined contribution plan, for state employees.

While private-sector pension terminations and freezes are grabbing headlines, the situation is every bit as grave for government pension systems.

Barely a week after New York's 34,000 transit workers illegally walked off the job for three days near the Christmas and Hanukkah holidays, the union received a contract offer many people saw as a victory for the union.

Cheryl Conn, a nationally credentialed specialist, worked for the Department of Labor and Industries in Washington state and had long been active in her local union as a shop steward and delegate.

For 50 years, public-sector unions, health care lobbyists, and social services advocacy groups have doggedly been amassing power in state capitols and city halls, using their influence to inflate pay and benefits for their workers and to boost government

Public employee unions have so successfully used their political muscle that whereas public-sector compensation once lagged behind the private sector, now the reverse is true.