Federal Update - April 14, 2008
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to you by your voice at the national level,
the Association of American
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Alabama Education Association v. Chao
The U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Arguments on Idaho’s Payroll Deduction Ban
Lawsuit in Iowa Claims the State has Failed to Properly Educate Students
New Poll Shows Americans Support Their Right to a Secret Ballot
New Hearing on the Home-Schooling Case in California
Virtual Schools in Wisconsin Receive Aid
Alabama Education Association v. Chao
As a result of a recent United States District Court for the District of Columbia ruling, union members will soon have a better understanding of how their union dues are being spent. On March 27 the district court on appeal ruled in favor of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) in the case, Alabama Education Association v. Chao. The case was brought against DOL by 39 state level affiliates of the NEA and the AFT in response to a new rule established by DOL regarding the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA). Under this act unions are required to disclose their finances including their assets, liabilities, receipts, and disbursements. The new rule modified DOL’s interpretation of the definition of “labor organization” in the LMRDA to include public-sector intermediate bodies of labor organizations if the parent organization is subject to LMRDA. Prior to the new rule, state affiliates were not subject to the LMRDA.
To read the district court’s opinion, please go to https://ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_public_doc?2003cv0253-54.
The U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Arguments on Idaho’s Payroll Deduction Ban
This fall the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments regarding Idaho’s payroll deduction ban for union Political Action Committees (PACs). The question at hand is whether or not the state has the power to ban payroll deductions for political activity at the local level. Parties in the case, Ysursa v. Pocatello Education Association, challenging the state’s ban on payroll deductions include the Pocatello Education Association, the Idaho Education Association, Professional Firefighters of Idaho Inc., Service Employees International Union Local 687, and the Idaho State AFL-CIO.
“We applaud the Supreme Court’s decision to revisit the activist ruling by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Just like state governments, local governments should not act as bagmen for union political funds. “Stripping union officials of their payroll deduction privileges is a good public policy. In fact, the State of Idaho should have gone much further than it did by banning outright the use of public facilities to collect any union funds whatsoever,” stated Stefan Gleason, National Right to Work Vice President.
For more information on the case please read the article, “Idaho at the Center of Supreme Court Case,” at http://www.idahostatesman.com/business/story/338837.html.
Also, please read the follow press release on the case from National Right to Work Foundation at http://www.nrtw.org/Pocatello.
The Wall Street Journal recently ran an opinion piece outlining what some believe the country can expect if Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama becomes president in November and is beholden to Big Labor. “Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama visited the House of Labor this week, and Labor can’t wait to invite one back. Which one? Who cares,” was the beginning of the piece.
The AFL-CIO, like the NEA, has yet to endorse a presidential candidate. However, this election cycle will not go by without Big Labor’s hand in the mix. In the piece it states that Gerald McEntee, the head of the State County and Municipal Employees, has stated that Big Labor is hoping for the “trifecta” − the Oval Office, the House and a filibuster-proof Senate.
In an effort to help elect pro-union candidates, the AFL-CIO has a political budget of $53 million, its affiliated and internal unions will contribute $200 million, the NEA has promised to spend $40-50 million dollars, and the Service Employees International Union has allocated $200 million for political purposes and has promised to pay 2,000 union members the equivalent of their salaries to work on Democratic campaigns. Political spending by Big Labor may top $1 billion in 2008.
The Bush administration has brought about a record number of prosecutions and indictments when investigating union corruption. Since 2001, the Office of Labor Management Standards (OLMS), a division of the U. S. Department of Labor, has obtained almost 900 indictments, assisted in the prosecution of almost 850 individuals and obtained court orders of restitution of almost $103 million in union members’ dues. Big Labor is ready to have a more friendly administration.
Unions have seen drastic declines in their membership in the last few years with private-sector membership at 7.4 percent. The United Auto Workers now has less than 500,000 workers, which brings them back to World War II membership numbers. As a result of declines in membership Big Labor is anxious to have a president and Congress supportive of union backed issues such as the Employee Free Choice Act, which bans secret ballot elections in union organizing campaigns.
“This is their shot. Unions are confident that the House will be Democratic and pliant. By holding off on big endorsements, they’ve forced both Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama to pander to their demands, creating some of the most pro-union presidential candidates in recent history,” stated the Wall Street Journal piece.
To read the Wall Street Journal opinion piece titled, “The Union Agenda,” please go to http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120726663082588243.html?mod=opinion_columns_featured_lsc.
For more information regarding the Department of Labor’s criminal enforcement data please go to http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/03-14-2008/0004774223&EDATE=.
Lawsuit in Iowa Claims the State Has Failed to Properly Educate Students
In a lawsuit not seen in the country before, three Iowa families have filed a lawsuit against Gov. Chet Culver and Judy Jeffrey, the Iowa Department of Education director stating that education provided by Iowa public schools is inadequate; therefore, leaving Iowa students unprepared for college or the workplace.
The lawsuit states, “The quiet, ugly truth is that Iowa’s educational system is but a shadow of its glorious past, and our leaders are whistling by its graveyard.”
To improve education in the public schools in Iowa the lawsuit wants the state to implement a statewide curriculum to be used in all public schools and institute a new pay scale for teachers that is not based simply on years in the profession but performance in the classroom.
Similar lawsuits have taken ten years to resolve and courts have often ruled broadly.
“I really respect Marvin Pomecrantz [a Des Moines businessman financing the lawsuit],” Governor Culver said. “I think it’s unfortunate he has decided to try to resolve this in a courtroom. I’ve been trying to address it through the legislative process. I still believe that’s the best place to try to resolve any differences that we have in terms of public policy.”
For more information about the lawsuit, please read the article titled, “Lawsuit: State is Failing to Educate Students,” at http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080404/NEWS02/804040395/1004.
New Poll Shows Americans Support Their Right to a Secret Ballot
Last year the controversial Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) was introduced in Congress and passed in the House. This bill would have eliminated secret ballot elections in elections regarding whether or not a workplace would be unionized. Instead of secret ballot elections a method known as “card check” would be used. Under “card check” union leaders would pass out cards for employees to sign indicating their desire to be unionized. With this method employees become subject to the possibility of union harassment and corruption.
While this bill did pass the House in March 2007 with a vote 241-185, a new poll by American Solutions for Winning the Future shows that the majority of Americans are in support of using a secret ballot. Seventy-seven percent of Republicans, 82 percent of Democrats and 79 percent of Independents answered “agree” when given the following statement: Every worker should continue to have the right to a federally supervised secret ballot election when deciding whether to organize a union.
“Already this campaign season, labor unions have given roughly $29 million to candidates to support their attacks on secret ballots,” said Brian Johnson, director of policy for the Alliance for Worker Freedom. “Despite public outcry against card check, as the data reveals, the left plans on paying back their union buddies and hope to do so by taking away the workers’ right to a protected private ballot.”
For more information about the poll, please go to http://www.americansolutions.com/General/?Page=ca1e5e83-21dc-4c98-9357-9f6cbfd09835.
To read the Alliance for Worker Freedom’s response to the poll, please go to http://www.workerfreedom.com/images/File/080403pr-OpposeCardCheck.pdf.
New Hearing on the Home-Schooling Case in California
Home-schoolers in California received good news at the beginning of April when it was announced that the California Court of Appeals will rehear the controversial home-schooling case. In an earlier court decision the court ruled that parents could not home-school their children unless one of the parents was a credentialed tutor and further that parents had no constitutional right to home-school their children. As of the appeal, the prior ruling is null and void unless the appeals court reaffirms it.
The ruling was followed by outcries from home-school families in California and across the country as well as Governor Schwarzenegger and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell who has stated, “The California Department of Education policy will not change in any way as a result of this ruling. Parents will still have the right to home school in this state.”
The original ruling against home-schooling in California was a result of a juvenile court case dealing with abuse and neglect. The family that the court case concerns has a 20 year history in court regarding the treatment of their children. The children involved in the abuse case were home-schooled despite requests by their court-appointed attorneys to be allowed to be enrolled in a public or private school in the interest of their well being. When the juvenile court refused to prohibit the parents from home-schooling their children the attorneys brought the case to the California Court of Appeals that ruled that all California parents do not have a right to home-school their children.
“From our perspective, the CLC had no interest in changing or impacting the law regarding children who are home-schooled by loving, caring parents who are assumed to want to and are capable of protecting their children and providing for their children's best interests,” stated Leslie Heimov, executive director of the Children's Law Center of Los Angeles. In cases, however, where children do not have loving parents Ms. Heimov stated “it is paramount” that these children be protected. “That's what this case was about.”
For more information about the case, please read the article titled, “Home Schooling Case will be Reheard,” at http://www.lassennews.com/News_Story.edi?sid=4699&mode=thread&order=0.
Also, please read the article from the Washington Times titled “Home-School Ruling Centers on Protection,” at http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080403/NATION/596415611/1001.
Virtual Schools in Wisconsin Receive Aid
Virtual schools in Wisconsin were in jeopardy of being shut down as a result of a lawsuit brought by the Wisconsin Education Association Council, a state affiliate of the NEA, claiming that one school, the Wisconsin Virtual Academy, violated teacher licensing laws and open charter school laws and as a result did not qualify for state aid. Gov. Jim Doyle (D-WI), however, signed a bill on April 7 that will guarantee that all virtual schools receive state funds. Enrollment, however, for virtual schools is capped at 5,250. Enrollment in virtual schools now is about 3,500.
Rose Fernandez, president of the Wisconsin Coalition of Virtual School Families, was pleased that the new law will keep the schools open but vowed to fight to remove the cap. “This was grassroots democracy at its finest; a blow to powerful special interests; and, most important, a win for Wisconsin’s children,” she said.
For more information on the Wisconsin virtual schools, please go to http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=736613.