Tag: Unions
Class Warfare and the Gates Foundation
Aug 16, 2011, by Joseph DiSalvo Politics Comments (32)
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is offering significant grants to schools willing to risk innovating.
“It’s hard to improve public education—that’s clear,” Warren Buffet says. “If you’re picking stocks, you wouldn’t pick this one.” Even Bill and Melinda Gates must question whether their $5 billion multi-year investment in public school reform has been worth it.
Pension Tension
Jun 13, 2011, by Pierluigi Oliverio Politics Comments (53)
Last week, the Council emerged out of closed session directing staff to communicate and negotiate with the unions regarding the possibility of a ballot measure and pension reform. The goal is to combine these two topics and create/work within a timeframe if possible.
‘Emergency’ Declaration Moves Forward
May 25, 2011, by The Fly Politics Comments (37)
After Mayor Chuck Reed and most of the San Jose City Council took a two-hour tongue lashing Tuesday from city employees, retirees, union representatives and even staffers of several state legislators, the council voted 8-3 to push forward with Reed’s declaration of “fiscal and public safety emergency.” That word—”emergency”—allows the city to significantly toughen its stance in pension negotiations with public employees.
Emergency and Response
May 19, 2011, by The Fly Politics Comments (17)
When politicians have bad news to deliver, news they don’t really want anyone to hear, they’ll often deliver it at a Friday afternoon press conference—nobody watches the TV news on Friday night and nobody reads the paper on Saturday. But Mayor Chuck Reed’s announcement last Friday that San Jose is in a “fiscal and public safety emergency” was like a big squirt of gasoline on the smoldering heap of embers that is the city’s relationship with its public-employee unions. And the resulting flare-up did not go unnoticed.
Uncle Sam’s Pension Plan
Apr 21, 2011, by Norman Kline Politics Comments (38)
The federal government resolved its public employee pension problems in 1986 with a plan based on Social Security and the 401(k).
When you start talking about public employee pensions, the level of discourse becomes highly acute. But, it is not a left vs. right or Democrat vs. Republican issue. Some of the most powerful public unions in the state (fire, police, prison guards) are hardly centers of liberal ideology. But rarely do people discuss the real problem—the elephant in the room.
Let the Education Conversation Begin
Apr 19, 2011, by Joseph DiSalvo Politics Comments (82)
Respondents to this weekly column sometimes refer to my writings and beliefs as socialistic due to my general support of teacher unions, targeted use of additional money, and progressive education precepts. Is Rush Limbaugh a socialist? Have we all succumbed to the opinion of Jonathan Mahler in his recent New York Times article, “The Deadlocked Debate Over Education Reform,” that “false dichotomies have replaced fruitful conversations?” I truly hope not.
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