A Union-Approved Candidate
Here at Labor Pains, we often talk about the political clout of unions, how they funnel millions upon millions of dollars into elections, the vast majority of which goes to Democratic candidates. But it’s not often that a union makes a power play this blatant: A government studies teacher at Washington Irving High School in [more...]

Posted Tue, 31 Aug 2010 .

What They Are Really Thinking
The recent kerfuffle over the Los Angeles Times releasing scads of data on LA’s teachers has provided some interesting insights into how defenders of teachers unions think. The head of the LA teachers union, for example, said he was “outraged” that the Times would publish data revealing which teachers were effective and which teachers weren’t [more...]

Posted Mon, 30 Aug 2010 .

The Flawed Case for Doing Away With Private Ballots

Union Myths from Union Mouths
Union officials rely on statistics generated by friendly and well-funded researchers, often at academic institutions, to claim that there is widespread oppression of workers’ rights.
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Commonly Misused Statistics
The only hard analysis of National Labor Relations Board data found that only 2 percent of elections involve employees being wrongfully terminated.
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Common Misunderstandings
Union officials continue to promote the idea that, even if a card check bill were signed into law, employees could still have a private vote if they wanted one. This is at best misleading. Simple logic suggests that union officials would have no reason to call for a vote if they are able to achieve the simple majority of signatures in a bargaining unit.
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