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Home Archives for Collective Bargaining

6/23/2009 By Ben 1 Comment

Democrats Trying to Spare Unions from Massive National Health Care Tax

Say what? The Washington Examiner reports that Democrats are proposing to exempt unionized workers from the massive tax hike needed to fund government health care:With cost estimates already as high as $1.6 trillion, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., has proposed paying for the bill in part by taxing health care benefits for workers who earn more than $100,000, or $200,000 for married couples, according to those familiar with the discussions. Baucus is also weighing a tax based on the value of health care benefits that exceed a yet-to-be determined cap. A tax on benefits that exceed the cap by a mere $3,000 could amount to $750 in taxes annually for a worker who earns as little as $34,000, say experts. But those … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Fiscal Policy, General, Health Care, Labor, liberty, National Politics, PPC Tagged With: Barack Obama, Big Labor, Cato Institute, Collective Bargaining, Congress, Constitutional, Democrats, Health Care, John Fund, Jon Henke, legislation, Max Baucus, Montana, Obama, Obamacare, oblivion, Patient Power, payback, political diary, reform, senator, statists, tax, taxpayers, The Next Right, Unions, Wall Street Journal, Washington Examiner, We Stand Firm

6/4/2009 By Ben 1 Comment

Kudos to Bill Ritter for SB 180 Veto: Good Public Policy Beats Out Politics

It's not often I laud Colorado Governor Bill Ritter, but he is to be commended today for choosing good public policy over political pressures by vetoing Senate Bill 180 -- the firefighter collective bargaining legislation. While Ritter's official statement put the matter more diplomatically than I have, he didn't buy the phony argument about firefighter safety:Third, the debate on this bill raised important issues about firefighter safety, but there are better ways to address these issues than mandatory collective bargaining in certain communities. We must address firefighter safety at the state level. Doing so ensures that all areas of Colorado can benefit. Under this bill, however, the safety issues would only be addressed in the … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, Fiscal Policy, General, Labor, PPC Tagged With: announcement, argument, Big Labor, Bill Ritter, choosing, Collective Bargaining, Colorado, Colorado Municipal League, commended, decision, Democrats, diplomatically, escalate, fire chiefs, firefighters, gain, good, Governor, how long, incumbent, intra-party, jurisdictions, laud, legislation, LIAR, mandatory, official, often, open fire, phony, political pressures, politically, public policy, question, safety, Senate Bill 180, sparing, standard, state level, statement, statewide, today, veto, warfare, wrath

5/28/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

Western Slope Pressure Heightens Bill Ritter’s Bad Policy SB 180 Dilemma

As the Grand Junction Sentinel reports today, the day of reckoning draws closer for Colorado Governor Bill Ritter to decide on the bad policy that is SB 180 -- a costly favor to Big Labor. The Sentinel today also editorializes strongly against SB 180 -- using many of the same arguments I've brought forward before, and even one I haven't really emphasized:Strikes would be prohibited under the legislation, but there are no sanctions listed in the bill for those who violate the provision. Now it would seem that Bill Ritter has an opportunity to start mending fences with folks on the Western Slope, where his popularity is low and heckling is a common greeting for him, by vetoing SB 180. He could listen to Grand Junction mayor Bruce Hill, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, Fiscal Policy, General, Labor, PPC Tagged With: arguments, bad policy, Big Labor, Bill Ritter, Bruce Hill, campaign contributions, candidate, coerce, Collective Bargaining, Colorado, Colorado Professional Firefighters, common, community, costly, day of reckoning, debate, deja vu, editorializes, emphasized, excuse, favor, fences, folks, good policy, Governor, Grand Junction, Grand Junction Sentinel, greeting, HB 1072, HB 1170, heckling, inflaming, lockout, low, make up, mayor, measure, mending, observed, opportunity, political favors, political retribution, popularity, promised, reports, rhetorical question, same, sanctions, SB 180, sign, state government, strikes, strongly, supporters, tidbit, union agency fees, union hall, union leaders, veto, Western Slope, workers

5/13/2009 By Ben 7 Comments

Breaking: Jeffco Teachers Union Calls for Impasse over Pay Dispute

Developing story... Last night the board of the Jefferson County Education Association (JCEA)( (Colorado's largest local teachers union and an affiliate of the Colorado Education Association) voted to declare an impasse in negotiations over renewing the collective bargaining contract with Jeffco Public Schools for the 2009-10 school year. This morning JCEA notified the school district of its decision. According to the school district, the core of the dispute revolves around a proposed compensation agreement to address relative funding shortages during the current economic downturn. Under this plan, teachers would continue to receive their automatic steps and levels for acquiring seniority and credit hours. The plan rejected by JCEA … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Education, Fiscal Policy, General, Labor, My Life, PPC Tagged With: 2007, 2009-10, 2009-2010, acquiring, action, additional, agreement, analysis, arbitrators, automatic, backgrounder, bill, board, bonus, budget projections, carefully, Collective Bargaining, Colorado, Colorado Education Association, compensation, Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, contention, contract, controversial, core, credit hours, current, decision, declare, developing, dig deeper, dispute, district officials, doubtless, economic downturn, emerge, eminently, expenditures, extra, fair, financial status, footing, funding, grievance, hard times, harmful, healthy, higher pay, impasse, increase, Independence Institute, interested parties, iVoices, JCEA, Jeffco Public Schools, Jefferson County Education Association, job protection, Jon Caldara, listen, mediation, negotiations, no work no pay, notified, occur, offer, official timetable, paid days, permanent, podcast, point, probationary period, probationary teachers, process, proposed, qualified, rejected, relative, report, reserve fund, reserved, seniority, shortages, sides, specify, stance, state funds, stay tuned, steps and levels, story, strike, substantive, taxpayers, teachers, teachers union, tenure, terms, threats, unfold, union leaders, used

4/14/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

Legislation to Unionize Colorado State Government: Coming 2010 Battle?

Via the Right to Work blog comes news that the new Republican Governor of Arizona Jan Brewer has repealed her predecessor's executive order granting union powers to state workers. This scenario (and others like it before - witness Missouri and Indiana as examples) is precisely why the Colorado WINS labor coalition will not rest satisfied with Bill Ritter's November 2007 executive order that introduced collective bargaining to our state government. Odds are strong that the political winds will favor Big Labor pushing a broad piece of government employee collective bargaining legislation in 2010. The question is whether the Democrats in charge at the State Capitol by then will have backed off the cliff's edge, and from governing away their … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, General, Labor, PPC Tagged With: 2010, Arizona, Big Labor, Bill Ritter, broad, cliff's edge, Collective Bargaining, Colorado WINS, Democrats, Executive Order, governing, government employees, Governor, Indiana, Jan Brewer, labor coalition, legislation, majority, Missouri, political winds, precisely, predecessor, question, Republican, right-to-work, satisfied, scenario, State Capitol, state government, state workers, union powers

4/9/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

Dress Down: Bill Ritter’s Big Idea

Let it never be said that Governor Bill Ritter is not a man of big ideas:In a recent letter to state employees in the state publication Stateline, Ritter talks about the hard economic times and thanks employees for their hard work. He then applauds a stress-reducing move by the Department for Health Care Policy and Financing to extend “‘dress down Fridays’ to every day of the week.” Senator Ted Harvey wondered whether it might be an April Fools Day joke. I'm wondering if it was an idea hatched as the result of his executive order authorizing collective bargaining -- er, employee partnerships. Whatever it is, somehow methinks this wasn't the dressing down being cited by our governor. Five days a week of that would make most … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, Fiscal Policy, General, Labor, PPC, Random and Miscellaneous Tagged With: April Fools Day, authorizing, big ideas, Bill Ritter, Collective Bargaining, Department for Health Care Policy and Financing, dress down Fridays, employee partnerships, Executive Order, Governor, hard economic times, hatched, idea, joke, letter, man, publication, result, senator, state employees, Stateline, stress-reducing, Ted Harvey

3/26/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

More Reasons to Make Sure Senate Bill 180 Doesn’t Simply Stall, But Dies

It's encouraging news that the Colorado state senate keeps putting off a vote on Senate Bill 180. The Democrats would seem not to have confidence in the votes to override local control, impose collective bargaining, raise the cost of government services, and threaten the rights of our state's police officers and firefighters. If you need more reason to understand why SB 180 is a bad idea, and why you should keep the pressure on and tell your state senator to vote against it, you should listen to this new iVoices podcast I recorded with Stan Greer from the National Institute of Labor Relations Research: What might seem on the surface like a nice thing to do for our public safety employees is really bad public policy when you take a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, Fiscal Policy, General, Labor, liberty, PPC Tagged With: amok, bad idea, bad public policy, closer look, Collective Bargaining, Colorado, confidence, cost, Democrats, Democrats Gone Wild, employees, encouraging news, firefighters, government services, impose, iVoices, legislative session, local control, National Institute of Labor Relations Research, override, podcast, police officers, pressure, public safety, Reason, rights, Senate Bill 180, special labor interests, Stan Greer, State Capitol, state senate, threaten, understand, vote

3/20/2009 By Ben Leave a Comment

Bad Legislation Parade’s SB 180 Would Harm Taxpayers, Employee Rights

Today brings a chance to review another member of the bad legislation parade down at the Colorado State Capitol. Senate Bill 180 (PDF) would override the local will of voters and impose collective bargaining on all local police and fire departments. After making it through the Democrat-controlled State, Military, and Veteran Affairs Committee, the bill is on the slate to be heard by the full senate any day now. From the Denver Daily News:Concerns are being raised that collective bargaining leads to overtaxing government budgets through increased payroll costs, which ends up hitting taxpayers hard. The last time the issue raised so many conservative eyebrows was in 2007 when Gov. Bill Ritter issued an executive order authorizing state … [Read more...]

Filed Under: clean government, Colorado Politics, Fiscal Policy, General, Labor, PPC Tagged With: automatic, bad legislation parade, bargaining, Bill Ritter, budgets, coercion, Collective Bargaining, Colorado, committee, communities, compensation, concerns, conservative eyebrows, costly, Democrat, Democrat-controlled, Denver Daily News, equipment, fire departments, fire fighters, full senate, gem, hard truth, higher salaries, impose, law enforcement, local will, Lois Tochtrop, member, negotiating, override, overtaxing, paid, payroll costs, police departments, police officers, policy, political activities, political power, procure, public servants, public services, Pueblo, review, SAFE, safety equipment, Senate Bill 180, services, slate, State Capitol, support, taxpayer premium, taxpayers, Thornton, tools, uniform, union dues, union fee, union officials, union representation, Unions, voters

2/27/2009 By Ben 4 Comments

Ask Colorado LOSES Why the Union Card-Check Bill is Such a Bad Idea

Do you still need more reason to understand why union bosses are so keen on taking away the secret ballot from workplace elections? On the Colorado LOSES website, state employee Dave Ohmart gives an account of his experience trying to attend the Colorado WINS union's rally / lobbying event at the State Capitol on Wednesday:Ryan Webber, a union organizer, immediately came to me and asked, “You’re not going to say anything, are you Dave? I’ll have to toss you out of here if you do.” Another security-type person came over and stood behind me. Ryan then asked, “You’re not going to write more lies about me, are you Dave?” (Don’t think I ever have!) I assured him I was not there to make a scene. Governor Ritter spoke … [Read more...]

Filed Under: General Tagged With: Bill Ritter, card-check, coerce, Collective Bargaining, Colorado, Colorado Loses, Colorado taxpayers, Colorado WINS, contact, Dave Ohmart, dissent, e-mail accounts, economic condition, Employee Free Choice Act, employees, Examiner, experience, Governor, intense pressure, lobbying event, monthly access, no bargain, party line, pushy, questions, rally, Republicans, Ryan Webber, secret ballot, signs, State Capitol, state employee, state senate, toe, union bosses, union organizers, union pressure, vandalized, Washington state, website, Wednesday, workplace elections

9/23/2008 By Ben 1 Comment

The Need for Journalistic Remediation on Colorado Amendment 49

Channel 7 reports that Gov. Bill Ritter has turned down an offer from Jon Caldara to withdraw Amendment 49 from the Colorado ballot in exchange for Ritter revoking his executive order that unionized state government:Jon Caldara, head of the Independence Institute, a conservative think tank, said he also wants Ritter's word to oppose any effort to pass a paycheck deduction into law. Not exactly, at least if you read the letter Caldara sent to Ritter yesterday:...These same opponents have been champions of your Executive Order D 028 07, which drastically reshaped labor relations by introducing collective bargaining to state government. I therefore propose withdrawing Amendment 49 from the statewide ballot, contingent upon your repeal of … [Read more...]

Filed Under: blogging, clean government, Colorado Politics, General, Labor Tagged With: Amendment 47, Amendment 49, Bill Owens, Bill Ritter, blogger, Bridget Johnson, Channel 7, clarification, Collective Bargaining, Colorado ballot, confusing, correction, Denver Post, egregious, error, Ethical Standards, Executive Order, headline, headline writer, inaccurate, Independence Institute, initiative, Jon Caldara, letter, misleading, monopoly representation, MSM, offer, paycheck deduction, paycheck protection, reporter, right-to-work, Rocky Mountain News, state government, think tank, unionization, unwanted union representation, wages, withdraw, working conditions

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About Me

Ben DeGrow
Grateful and growing Christian, devoted husband and father of 3, public policy analyst, returned to Michigan by way of Colorado, conservative writer, lifelong learner, Detroit Tigers fan.

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