We’re here today to explore how to ensure all children are taught by effective teachers. Study after study has shown that effective, knowledgeable teachers are among the most important factors when it comes to improving student academic achievement. High-quality teachers are more important than state-of-the-art facilities or factors such as the student-to-teacher ratio. Unfortunately, the question... Read more »
Even if Democrats eventually decide to jettison the unpopular card check component that sets aside the secret ballot for workers, the Employee Free Choice Act is still dangerous. That’s what a group of Hoosier business executives wrote in a Sunday essay for The Star Press in Muncie, Ind.: “Some have talked about removing the secret ballot provision of S560, but the other provisions are equally dam... Read more »
Has the House Democrat health care legislation become so toxic that members of the President’s own party are now denying its very existence? Apparently so. “During remarks this morning at the Finance Committee markup, there were references to the ‘House bill.’ Baucus quickly corrected the record. “‘There is no House Bill at this point,’ Baucus said. ‘There are committees looking at bills, I only s... Read more »
President Obama is on an important mission this week – and its success depends on the secret ballot. The irony is worthy of a gold medal: After all, the Employee Free Choice Act, which Obama supports, sets aside the secret ballot for workers. The Washington Post gives the play by play here: “President Obama has decided to travel to Copenhagen to support the Chicago bid team seeking the 2016 Summer... Read more »
The U.S. Government Accountability Office has concluded that concern among states about prevailing wage requirements has delayed implementation of a $5 billion weatherization program enacted through Democrats’ economic stimulus package. According to the GAO report, issued last week, “many of the states we reviewed reported that Davis-Bacon Act requirements—which have been applied to DOE’s Weatheri... Read more »
You can add South Dakota to the growing list of states that are taking a stand against the Employee Free Choice Act. Two state lawmakers said Thursday they will introduce a joint resolution preserving the secret ballot in South Dakota when the Legislature meets in January. If adopted, it will appear on the Mount Rushmore State’s 2010 ballot. The Argus Leader has the details here: “State Senate Maj... Read more »
The Employee Free Choice Act is probably not winning many supporters in Long Beach, Calif. – especially from tourists and business travelers who like a full night’s sleep. For more than two weeks, activists have been regularly protesting the local Hilton in an effort to organize the hotel’s workers through the public sign-up process known as card check – the centerpiece of EFCA. Lately, they have ... Read more »
Rep. John Kline (R-MN), the top Republican on the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee, today joined colleagues in pressing for a vote on a proposal that would give Members of Congress and the American people at least 72 hours to review legislation before it could receive a vote on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. “The American people are tired of seeing bills cobbled together i... Read more »
A worker’s privacy. An employer’s freedom. The future of a wobbly U.S. economy. These are just a few of the issues at stake in the debate over the Employee Free Choice Act, but there’s one that particularly concerns the act’s biggest supporters: power. As Bloomberg News columnist Albert R. Hunt recently wrote in The New York Times, the future of Big Labor’s storied clout in Washington also rides o... Read more »
Rep. John Kline (R-MN), the top Republican on the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee, is calling for a congressional oversight hearing into allegations that officials with the National Endowment for the Arts, the Corporation for National and Community Service, and the White House inappropriately used federal resources to promote a political and legislative agenda. Kline made his request in a... Read more »
