Supreme Court’s conservative justices cast doubt on labor union fees

The Supreme Court is poised to dent the political power of labor after conservative justices cast doubt Monday on public sector unions’ ability to collect fees even from workers who disagree with the union’s political or other demands. At stake are millions of labor dollars in “agency fees” that unions collect from teachers, police and other… Read the rest of this entry »

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Government for the “servants” by the “servants”

Happy Labor Day.

Today we can celebrate that “government of the people, for the people and by the people” has perished from this State.

It has been replaced by government of, for and by the government workers’ unions, bureaucrats protected by civil “service” laws and contracts, and the politicians, protected by gerrymandering and incumbency, who have abdicated the most fundamental functions of government to said unions and bureaucrats. The so called public “servants.”

There have been eight people killed violently in Newark, either by shooting or stabbing, in the last seven days.

If this was a partisan political post, I’d be slamming Newark Mayor Cory Booker for the rise in crime in his city over the last over the last three years.

But that would be disingenuous.  Violent crime in Newark declined from 2006, when Booker was elected mayor through November of 2010 when he laid off the 167 city police officers that had been hired since he became mayor.

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Unions To Dems: Shut Up About Port Authority Toll Hikes

By Art Gallagher

Politickernj is reporting that New Jersey’s construction unions are leaning on Democratic lawmakers not to criticise Governor Christie over the proposed 50% toll and fare hikes by the Port Authority of NY/NJ. Yet.

The labor unions want New Jersey commuters to fund the $33 billion in NY and NJ infrastructure projects, including the rebuilding of the World Trade Center, that the toll hikes will support.

Trenton Democrats and U.S. Senators Robert Menendez and Frank Lautenberg had initially come out strongly against the toll hikes.   Governors Christie and Cuomo claimed they were caught off guard by the toll hike proposal and would review it.  Most observers expect Christie and Cuomo to approve lower toll increases than the Port Authority has proposed.

Trenton Democrats are now holding their powder on criticising the proposed hikes, figuring that Christie will look good politically if he responds to the criticism by scaling back the increases.  Instead they will attack Republicans after the final hikes are approved.

Christie has blamed the need for toll hikes on years of mismanagement  in the Port Authority and has claimed that the people he has appointed are improving the operations and finances of the mega agency.  Cuomo said that the proposed toll hikes don’t work for him.

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Newark Police Union Leader Chooses Layoffs Over Negotiation, Puts A City At Risk

Newark Fraternal Order of Police President Derrick Hatcher cut off negotiations with Mayor Cory Booker on Monday, forcing 167 police layoffs, according to a reports in the Star Ledger and Bloomberg.com.

Hatcher did not allow his rank and file to vote of the Mayor’s proposals.

Bloomberg quoted union Vice President Walter Melvin blaming the spike in violence in Newark over the Thanksgiving weekend on the impending layoffs:

“The criminal element out there realized this and believed it had already happened,” he said in a telephone interview following Booker’s announcement. “It’s a fallacy to think public safety is not going to be an issue here. Any thinking, logical person can see that.”

That’s right. The police union knowingly chose no sacrifice for its senior members over the jobs of its junior members and over public safety.

This is a perfect example why union membership is inappropriate for government workers.  The union leadership now has more impact on public safety in Newark than the Mayor and the police department leadership does.

Booker is closing a $89 million budget deficit. $9.5 million of the deficit will come from the police layoff.  400 civilian employees are also being laid off in Newark.

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