Sen. John Thrasher, former state GOP chairman, looks like he has filed a bill (SB830) to starve unions like the Florida Education Association, SEIU, AFL-CIO, firefighters, police unions or AFSCME by banning the Democratic-leaning organizations from using salary deductions for political purposes. The legislation also says any "public employer may not deduct or collect" union dues, etc. Lastly, it says that any public employee who didn't specifically authorize the use of his money could be entitled to a partial refund.The Florida Times Union reported last January:
The University of North Florida's College of Education and Human Services held a groundbreaking ceremony recently for a new two-story addition that will house four university units, including the Disability Resource Center, Military and Veterans Resource Center, On Campus Transition Program and the Institute for Values, Community and Leadership.
The new 16,000-gross-square-foot building will cost about $5.6 million and is located at the southwest corner of the College of Education and Human Services Building, according to a news release.
"The university is especially grateful to [state] Sen. John Thrasher for his leadership in securing the funding from the state to construct this facility that will house four of our programs," UNF President John Delaney said in the release.
Although taking union cards from government employees is not a bad thing, what really needs to be done is end government envolvement in these sectors. The sponsors of these bills are fighting to advance establishmnet Republican power in a cage match against the power of Democrats, over who gets to divvy up the plunder.
Keep in mind that while the sponsor of this bill, Senator Thrasher, wants to take make it more difficult for the Florida Education Association union to operate, it does not mean he is against government involvement in education.
Last January, the Florida Times Union reported:
The University of North Florida's College of Education and Human Services held a groundbreaking ceremony recently for a new two-story addition that will house four university units, including the Disability Resource Center, Military and Veterans Resource Center, On Campus Transition Program and the Institute for Values, Community and Leadership.
The new 16,000-gross-square-foot building will cost about $5.6 million and is located at the southwest corner of the College of Education and Human Services Building, according to a news release.
"The university is especially grateful to [state] Sen. John Thrasher for his leadership in securing the funding from the state to construct this facility that will house four of our programs," UNF President John Delaney said in the release.
I'm amazed at how well the left is organized. I have a hard left leaning friend that works for a major film studio and the message that the 'oligarchs' are out to get the unions is all over his facebook posts. His first post was pretty smart. He posted the definition of oligarch. It doesn't speak well for the unions he's defending, but it was smart.
ReplyDeleteLooking at Glen-Beck right and the hard left, one sees rival twins pointing at different "oligarchs" the exact locus of evil.
ReplyDeleteWhat needs to actually happen is that conflict of interest needs to be enforced:
ReplyDeleteIf you take money from someone or any of you or your family members benefit at all to a vote that you make or a bill that you sponsor or otherwise help, you should be subject to criminal charges with jail time and fines and forfeiture of pay.
By doing this, we would solve the free speech requirements, the freedom of association requirements, the freedom of contract requirements that all of the libertarians are having trouble with reconciling against their desire to see unions go down.
That is, there would be no reason for companies to lobby any more because they couldn't buy legislation and votes.
That is our elected representatives could not benefit from their vote because there would be no money to be made in it.
This is the solution that doesn't violate freedom, but also ends the fraud.
The unions will then fail because they simply will not have government in their pocket and the balance of negotiations will return.
The same will be true of corporations.
I have a good friend who is a FF and he is very worried. He'll be the first person to tell you that taxpayers are getting royally screwed, but he still expects his payoff.
ReplyDeleteBefore Scott got into office, he was looking at going into the drop (a scam they run for all gov. workers in Florida) in two years which would then allow him to retire with 90% of the average of his best 5 years of pay (including OT+sick time+vacation). To help guys like him out, management loads those nearing retirement with as much OT as they want. There is also a sick time swap, but he does not participate in that (at least that is what he says). Like most fire fighters he has a second job doing fire inspections for a fire safety company that is part time (another gov't made scam, as only state licensed fire fighters can do the cert).
His total comp + OT is around $175k per year. Assuming nothing changes, if he goes into the drop for 5 years (the maximum), he will get a check for more then $700,000 that can be rolled over into a tax free account (ie IRA). He will then get a retirement check of about $11,000/month for the rest of his life. Included in his check will also be a mandatory 3% annual COLA increase each year. On top of this he will get full health care as well. Oh, and one more thing I forgot to mention, my friend will be 49 on his day of retirement.
Keep in mind that my friend is the norm and not the exception. Few would care about this if it were not for the fact that our home values keep falling and they keep raising our taxes and usage fees. People are just now starting to wake up and realize that they've been sold down the river by their corrupt and weak kneed pols that have rolled have allowed the taxpayer to be exploited by the public sector unions.
One more then, the FTU is probably the crappiest union in the state for their members. Our local rag recently uncovered that the county is paying some experienced school bus drivers (SEIU) more then tenured teachers. I think if I were a teacher I would scrap the teacher union and get the PBA, IFF, SEIU, AFL-CIO to represent me.