The state’s vote to abolish its high-school exit exam keeps us from knowing how well they’re educating students — which is just how teachers’ unions like it.

Those who work in public administration and defence operate in the most heavily unionised sector of the labour market.

Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2023.

FinMin officials say issue raised by the Trade Unions is politically motivated

National Bureau of Economic Research

More than 1 lakh bank employees likely to be affected by DFS instruction to banks, says AIBEA General Secretary Venkatachalam

Leaders of Unison, Unite, the GMB and Usdaw join TUC in calling for radical overhaul of health and safety in the workplace
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Britain’s biggest trades unions have warned Boris Johnson that they will not recommend a return to work for their three million members until the government and employers agree a nationwide health and safety revolution as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a letter to the Observer, leaders of the “big four” – Unison, Unite, the GMB and Usdaw – together with the Trades Union Congress, say many of their members have already lost their lives “transporting people and goods, protecting the public and caring for the vulnerable”.

Leaders of unions such as Unite, Unison and the General have written an open letter to Boris Johnson demanding the government puts policies in place to make workplaces safe.

Leaders of unions such as Unite, Unison and the General have written an open letter to Boris Johnson demanding the government puts policies in place to make workplaces safe.

Archives, Room Use Only - HD6515.T325 U47 1953

Archives, Room Use Only - TF627.B48 1996

Opposing any increase in working hours for labourers in Karnataka, the Joint Committee of Trade Unions (JCTU), an umbrella organisation of nine trade

Nine trade unions under the umbrella of Joint Committee of Trade Unions (JCTU) have said it would oppose any proposal to increase the working hours an

Los Angeles Unified school board candidates, from left, Andrew Thomas, Ref Rodriguez and Bennett Kayser take a group photo after a debate at Eagle Rock High School on Feb. 5, 2015. ; Credit: Cheryl A. Guerrero for KPCC

Los Angeles Unified school board candidate Ref Rodriguez collected $21,000 in campaign donations from employees of his charter school network, Partnerships to Uplift Communities, in his bid to unseat incumbent Bennett Kayser in East Los Angeles’ District 5.

Most striking, a handful of his workers – a janitor, maintenance worker, tutor — are donating at or near the contribution limit, $1,100.

The contributions are a measure of supporters' high hopes to unseat Kayser in favor of Rodriguez, a candidate friendly to charter schools.

Rodriguez, an charter school administrator at Partnerships to Uplift Communities, received most of his financial support from the California Charter School Association Advocates, which received donations from such wealthy donors as former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and philanthropist Eli Broad.

Kayser, a former teacher elected as a board member in 2011, collected his largest donations from labor unions, particularly the United Teachers Los Angeles. 

Most of the money working toward Kayser and Rodriguez's reelection are not funneled into their individual campaigns, but to independent expenditure committees which are not subject to the $1,100 contribution limit.

In her first foray into political giving, Luz Maria Lopez, an office worker, donated $1,000 donation to the Rodriguez campaign, twice the amount of Partnerships to Uplift Communities' CEO, Jacqueline Elliot.

“I really believe in Ref. My kids go to PUC schools,” said Lopez, who has been employed by PUC since it opened 15 years ago.  

The employee contributions weren't coerced and will not be reimbursed, Rodriguez said. Many of them can be traced back to a holiday break fundraiser at Rodriguez’s sister’s home in La Puente.

“I know for many of them this is a tremendous sacrifice,” he said. “It’s just been sort of an outpouring of folks belief in me and what we are trying to do for the city.”

Charter school groups major funders

Direct campaign donations from individual contributors, such as Rodriguez’ employees, make up 18 percent of the money spent in the LAUSD’s District 5 school board race. 

The biggest donor is charter school advocacy groups, such as the California Charter School Association Advocates.

Donations have also come from self-described education reform groups that support charter school expansion and firing teachers deemed ineffective, among other issues.

All told, the advocacy groups contributed more than $700,000 to activities in support of Rodriguez and working against Kayser.

On the other side, UTLA funneled $330,000 of members’ contributions to activities supporting Kayser and working against Rodriguez.

While UTLA has turned up its political spending in the board race to stay competitive, it is routinely outspent, said Oraiu Amoni, the union’s political director.

“We never are going to be able to match [reformers] dollar for dollar,” Amoni said. “So our biggest thing is making sure our members are educated, are engaged, are aware — and vote.”

So far, campaigns and committees have spent more than $2 million on the 13 Los Angeles Unified school board candidates, according to filings with the L.A. City Ethics Commission. The contributions have paid for mailing of glossy ads, phone banks, billboards, robocalls and commercials on Spanish-language radio. 

Total contributions are expected to increase in the few days remaining before the primary and swell again in any May runoff. 

Even in major races, aggressive campaigns fueled by growing contributions from special interest groups make it difficult for candidates not affiliated with interest groups to stay competitive.

Limitless independent expenditures are "playing a major role in smaller and local elections,” said Ryan Brinkerhoff, campaign manager for Andrew Thomas, the unaffiliated candidate in the District 5 race.

Thomas, a professor at Walden University, donated $51,000 to his campaign, making him his own biggest contributor. He’s also attracted sizable local support: about 70 percent of his campaign donations come from residents who live in District 5.

Thomas has received no contributions from political action committees or advocacy groups.

Can he win?

“I think so, but it’s getting harder and harder,” Brinkerhoff said. “The results of this election are going to be very telling.”

Outside contributors, local concerns

When public schools were created in the United States, local communities were given control over their governance. Outside money “undermines the relationship between community members and their local public institutions,” according to John Rogers, an education professor at UCLA. 

“It undermines their sense that they own those institutions, and those institutions are theirs to be shaped,” he said.

Without the funds from Broad, Bloomberg and other large donors, Rodriguez’s employees’ contributions would have made up more than 30 percent of his campaign support. Instead, it’s 4 percent.

Kayser has also received support from outside the district, including donations from the American Federation of Teachers and the California Teachers Association.

"The voters have an interest in open and transparent elections in which outside dollars don't have too large an influence," Rogers said. 

To read more about the school board election and City Council races, visit the KPCC 2015 voter guide.

Clarification: This article has been updated to make clear that the California Charter Schools Association does not support or advocate for teacher firing policies. Support for incumbent Kayser from outside the district has also been noted.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

“Union members and non-union members have a strong interest in seeing our economy grow," said Rusty Hicks, the new head of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, which represents over 300 unions.; Credit: Ben Bergman/KPCC

Labor unions have led the fight to raise the minimum wage in several American cities, including Los Angeles, where the City Council is considering two proposals right now that would give raises to hundreds of thousands of workers (to $13.25 an hour by 2017 and $15.25 an hour by 2019).

But few of the unions' members have benefited directly from the initiatives. So why do unions care about a $15 wage for non-union workers? 

It’s part of a long-term strategy to protect the interests of their members, labor leaders say. They also see an opportunity to raise the profile of unions after years of falling membership.

"We can’t be the movement that’s just about us," said David Rolf, an international vice-president of SEIU, who led the first successful $15 minimum wage campaign in SeaTac, the town in Washington that is home to the region's similarly named airport. 

“We have to be the movement that’s about justice for all," Rolf added. "The labor movement that people flocked to by the tens of millions in the 1930s wasn’t known for fighting for 500-page contracts. They were known for fighting for the eight-hour day, fighting to end child labor.”

The idea that workers should earn $15 dollars an hour first came to the public’s attention during a series of fast food strikes that started in New York City in late 2012. Those workers didn’t just walk off the job by themselves. They were part of a campaign organized by unions, led by SEIU, which is made up mostly of public sector and health care workers.

$10 million fast-food strikes

The Service Employees International Union spent $10 million dollars on the fast food strikes, according to The New York Times. But none of those restaurants have unionized, and because it’s been so hard to form private sector union these days, they probably never will, said labor historian Nelson Lichtenstein.

“In effect what you have now is the SEIU – its hospital membership or its members working at the Department of Motor Vehicles – helping to raise the wages of fast food workers, but not their own wages,” Lichtenstein said.

That's because unionized workers earn far more than the current or proposed new minimum wages, in L.A. an average of more than $27 an hour, according to UCLA's Center for Research on Employment and Labor. 

The spread of the $15 minimum wage from SeaTac to Seattle to San Francisco — and now possibly Los Angeles — is a huge victory for labor unions, but it’s unlikely most of the people getting raises will ever be part of organized labor.

Still, the rank and file seem to support their unions' efforts.

“I personally support using our organization as a way to advocate for those who don’t have a voice," said Rafael Sanchez III, a teacher's assistant at Bell High School who's a member of SEIU Local 99. 

A challenging time for the labor movement

In the 1950’s, about one in three American workers belonged to a union. Last year, just 11 percent did – or 6 percent of private sector workers – the lowest numbers in nearly a century.

Rolf says the minimum wage campaigns mark a change in tactics for organized labor; Rather than the shop floor, the focus is on the ballot box and city hall.

“Since at least the 1980s, winning unions in the private sector has been a Herculean task," Rolf said. "The political process provides an alternative vehicle.”

And an increasingly successful one. It was voters who approved the first $15 wage, in Washington state in 2013, and another one in San Francisco last year.  

In Los Angeles, the issue is before the city council. Mayor Eric Garcetti opened the bidding, proposing a raise of $13.25 on Labor Day before six council members countered with $15.25.

The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor – lead by Rusty Hicks — is pushing for the higher option.

“Union members and non-union members have an interest in seeing our economy grow," said Hicks. "You can’t continue to have a strong, vibrant economy if in fact folks don’t have money in their pockets.”

Other benefits for unions: A safety net and a higher floor

Some union members see a higher minimum wage as a safety net.

Robert Matsuda is a studio violinist represented by the American Federation of Musicians, part of the AFL-CIO. Even though he’s not working for the minimum wage now, he worries that may not last: He’s getting fewer and fewer gigs as more film and TV scoring is outsourced overseas.

“I might have to take a minimum wage job in the near future, so it might directly affect me,” said Matsuda.

There’s also a more tangible benefit for unions, says Nelson Lichtenstein, the labor historian: A higher minimum wage means a higher wage floor to negotiate with in future contracts.

“It’s one labor market, and if you can raise the wages in those sectors that have been pulling down the general wage level – i.e: fast food and retail – then it makes it easier for unions to create a higher standard and go on and get more stuff,” said Lichtenstein.

On Friday morning, union members will rally in front of Los Angeles City Hall, calling on the council to enact a $15.25 an hour minimum wage as soon as possible.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Through MLB history, plenty of players have returned to the teams where they became stars. Let's take a look back at 10 of the most memorable ones.

New TV ads that started airing on morning shows throughout the Spokane region are aimed at grocery shoppers, but they're not hawking deals on cabbage or Cap'n Crunch.…

The workforce problems at two ITC food plants - one in Pune in the western state of Maharashtra and another in the southern state of Karnataka - show how labour issues weigh on Indian firms after a nationwide coronavirus lockdown forced thousands of workers to go back to their villages.

Jon Talton | No single source can explain the big decline in union membership. Rebuilding organized labor, and worker bargaining power and rights, will be a hard battle.

In Germany, unions are pushing Amazon.com to prevent warehouse workers from congregating like bunches of “grapes” before their shifts. In Italy, where a COVID-19 outbreak hit Amazon’s main logistics depot, unions staged an 11-day strike that ended after the company granted employees an additional five-minute break to practice better personal hygiene. And in what amounts […]

The suit, filed Thursday in Skagit County Superior Court, seeks an injunction requiring state agencies to expedite and toughen their oversight through emergency rulemaking.

Social media went into meltdown after images emerged of a power pole in the middle of a Newcastle street.

A 59-year-old employee of the company that operates the Bootu Creek mine was killed when a wall of soil and dirt collapsed on him on Saturday afternoon, the Singapore-based parent company says.

(United States First Circuit) - Affirmed the dismissal of two putative antitrust class actions alleging that a pharmaceutical company took steps to block the entry of generic versions of its leukemia-treatment drug into the U.S. market. The plaintiffs, including several labor union benefit funds, claimed that the drugmaker engaged in anticompetitive conduct by bringing sham infringement lawsuits against manufacturers trying to enter the market with generic versions of that drug. Dismissing the complaints, the district court held that the plaintiffs had not plausibly alleged their claims, and the First Circuit affirmed.

(United States First Circuit) - Affirmed the dismissal of two putative antitrust class actions alleging that a pharmaceutical company took steps to block the entry of generic versions of its leukemia-treatment drug into the U.S. market. The plaintiffs, including several labor union benefit funds, claimed that the drugmaker engaged in anticompetitive conduct by bringing sham infringement lawsuits against manufacturers trying to enter the market with generic versions of that drug. Dismissing the complaints, the district court held that the plaintiffs had not plausibly alleged their claims, and the First Circuit affirmed.

(United States First Circuit) - Affirmed the dismissal of two putative antitrust class actions alleging that a pharmaceutical company took steps to block the entry of generic versions of its leukemia-treatment drug into the U.S. market. The plaintiffs, including several labor union benefit funds, claimed that the drugmaker engaged in anticompetitive conduct by bringing sham infringement lawsuits against manufacturers trying to enter the market with generic versions of that drug. Dismissing the complaints, the district court held that the plaintiffs had not plausibly alleged their claims, and the First Circuit affirmed.

Connecticut General Assembly Majority Leader Joe Aresimowicz speaking at the 2014 CEUI Convention. Joe Aresimowicz, in speaking to a governmental employee union group in 2014, assured governmental union employees that he would be looking out for them: "You guys have one of your own that sits in the caucus room of the General Assembly. You cannot replicate that." "I will never allow an anti-collective bargaining bill to be called to the House floor. I'm the majority leader. I can make that guarantee." "Please, stand together, stand as brothers and sisters, and be a family. And make sure we are looking out for our own." Continue reading →

For years, state officials have declined to fully fund the Foundation Aid Formula designed to dole out money to New York school districts based on need.

UFT head Michael Mulgrew pointed out that many city private and charter schools have already shut their doors plus multiple other states.

A decade of precarity for young workers has changed perceptions and expectations around the labour movement. Can digital offer a set of tools to boost engagement?

Kazuki Okamura.

Source: Brazilian Journal of Probability and Statistics, Volume 33, Number 3, 586--637.

Abstract:
We consider a random object that is associated with both random walks and random media, specifically, the superposition of a configuration of subcritical Bernoulli percolation on an infinite connected graph and the trace of the simple random walk on the same graph. We investigate asymptotics for the number of vertices of the enlargement of the trace of the walk until a fixed time, when the time tends to infinity. This process is more highly self-interacting than the range of random walk, which yields difficulties. We show a law of large numbers on vertex-transitive transient graphs. We compare the process on a vertex-transitive graph with the process on a finitely modified graph of the original vertex-transitive graph and show their behaviors are similar. We show that the process fluctuates almost surely on a certain non-vertex-transitive graph. On the two-dimensional integer lattice, by investigating the size of the boundary of the trace, we give an estimate for variances of the process implying a law of large numbers. We give an example of a graph with unbounded degrees on which the process behaves in a singular manner. As by-products, some results for the range and the boundary, which will be of independent interest, are obtained.

Blaming teachers unions for all the ills afflicting public schools does not stand up to scrutiny.

To the Editor: Education Week Teacher blogger Nancy Flanagan recently wrote about how some states require a higher score on state certification tests for teacher-licensing exams—which makes it "unreasonably difficult" to get into teaching—while others eliminate licensing requirements to fill classr.

In the face of well-funded opposition to organized labor, teachers will not be silenced, writes NEA President Lily Eskelsen García.

Within days of the Supreme Court’s decision to abolish union fees for nonmembers, conservative groups—including ones with ties to Ed. Secretary Betsy DeVos—launched email, social media, and billboard campaigns to try to convince teachers not to join their unions.

As teacher take the lead in protests over pay, unions face an uncertain future, writes Berkeley sociologist Bruce Fuller.

"This lawsuit will enable teachers like me to recover the agency fees that we were wrongly forced to pay against our will," said one of the plaintiffs.

In the wake of the 'Janus' Supreme Court case, teachers' unions are facing more than a dozen legal challenges backed by right-leaning groups that could further dampen their membership numbers and finances.

Whether Janus will be a death blow or a turning point for unions depends on what they do now, writes Paul Reville.

With the Janus case looming before the Supreme Court, teachers' unions are knocking on doors to try to boost membership and mitigate financial loss.

The Mackinac Center for Public Policy is partnering with think tanks and advocacy groups across the country in a campaign encouraging public employees to consider dropping their union memberships.

With the first charter school strike in the books—and teachers coming out victorious—experts say both unions and charter schools may need to rethink how they’ve long operated.