Labor
Scott Adams really captured something with this edition of his Dilbert comic strip: Our progressive readers will no doubt declare this to be the reason that unions and government are necessary parties in the employment exchange. From my perspective, it’s the reason that government ought to make it easier for all of us Dilberts to…
The following was sent this afternoon to members of the National Education Association of Rhode Island. I am not sure what was reported in the paper this morning since reporters were posting stories as they were briefed, but some of those turned out to be premature. The House Finance Committee did vote out the supplemental…
It was hard not to give some credit to the union-run New England Laborers/Cranston Public Schools Construction Career Academy when it gave some of its money back to the town to maintain sports programs. Of course, one wondered why it would have extra money — charter schools aren’t fully private schools — but the sentiment…
This is curious: A state advisory board on Monday opted not to vote on a potentially controversial plan to overhaul the state’s unemployment law. Thus, the matter will be left to legislators and Governor Carcieri to decide without benefit of the board’s recommendation. … The reversal came after [Chairman William] McGowan acknowledged having heard from…
My ambivalence about legalizing marijuana carries into this legal development, but I post it mainly as an interesting civic conundrum: Tens of thousands of Californians are obtaining medical marijuana recommendations from physicians so they can use pot without fear of arrest. But they still can lose their jobs. California’s Proposition 215, passed by voters in…
I’ve already been arguing, at the town level on up, that the economic downturn needn’t tax the future, through debt, nor decrease programs that local folks want. Glenn Reynolds offers a bit of evidence that I’m right: What if government workers earned the average of what private workers earn? States and localities would save $339…
Even if Rhode Island doesn’t win federal largess for its education improvement plan, as Marc is suggesting we will not, we still have every reason that we’ve always had to hold our heads high, such as this one that Julia Steiny mentioned last Sunday: After the 1960s, many states went back to their labor laws…
Rhode Island should not, under any circumstances, increasingly burden the state’s employers with the costs of its unemployed, but clearly, something must be done to adjust for our long-term burden of unemployment. This conversation is therefore very necessary: The state Department of Labor and Training on Wednesday proposed sweeping changes to Rhode Island’s unemployment-insurance system…
Further to Justin’s post, in the matter of the Chapter 9 bankruptcy by the City of Prichard, Alabama, a judge ruled ten days ago that public employee retirees do not have any greater standing than other creditors. A bankruptcy court judge denied a motion Tuesday that would force Prichard to pay its pensioners, saying they…
As you can see, I’m catching up on the items in my “to blog” pile. Here’s a pension-related exercise in predictive mathematics (paragraphs copied out of order): For more than a decade, the state has anticipated annual returns of 8.25 percent for its giant fund — currently valued at almost $7 billion — needed to…
