Labor unions

Kansas teachers union compliance instructions released
12
Jun
By Bob Weeks

Kansas teachers union compliance instructions released

If you're running for office in Kansas and want the support of the teachers union, here are questions you'll need to answer their way. Kansas National Education Association (KNEA), our state's teachers union has a questionnaire for candidates running for elective office. It's really not a series of questions; instead it is a list of things the union wants. Candidates seeking union backing are expected to comply. Following are a sample of questions with some commentary. The full questionnaire may be viewed here. Question: "Do you support requiring that bonuses and/or incentive pay including any form of 'merit pay' be…
Read More
04
Jul
By Guest Author

Teachers unions vs. students

From PragerU: There is a dilemma in American education. On the one hand, teachers are essential to student achievement. On the other, teachers unions promote self-interests of their members which are antithetical to the interests of students. So, how do we fix this problem? In five minutes, Terry Moe, Professor of Political Science at Stanford University, delineates this quandary and offers solutions. View below, or click here to view at YouTube.
Read More
Wichita teachers union president on video
28
Jun
By Bob Weeks

Wichita teachers union president on video

The president of United Teachers of Wichita has been caught on video expressing thoughts that can't be comforting to Wichita parents with children in the state's largest school district. Project Veritas reports on the candid thoughts of Steve Wentz in the story Teachers Union President Admits To Abusing Children. Based on past Wichita School District investigations, Wentz likely faces a lengthy stretch of paid administrative leave while the district decides what to do. Not long ago the district paid its school safety services supervisor for 15 months while he was charged with aggravated criminal sodomy, aggravated indecent liberties with a…
Read More
They really are government schools
13
Jun
By Bob Weeks

They really are government schools

What's wrong with the term "government schools?" A recent op-ed in the Wichita Eagle read: "Some have begun to call public schools 'government schools,' a calculated pejorative scorning both education and anything related to government."[1. Merritt, Davis. Can traditional conservatism save Kansas schools? Wichita Eagle, May 17, 2016. Available at www.kansas.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/article77969617.html.] This is not the only time people have objected to the term "government schools." Public schools bristle at use of the term. In a 2008 email from Wichita School Interim Superintendent Martin Libhart to Wichita school employees, he took issue with those who, using his words, "openly refer to…
Read More
Sales tax revenue and the Kansas highway fund
21
Mar
By Bob Weeks

Sales tax revenue and the Kansas highway fund

The effect of a proposed bill to end transfer of Kansas sales tax revenue to the highway fund is distorted by promoters of taxation and spending. The bill is SB 463. The bill's fiscal note tells how this bill, if passed, would affect the highway fund: "Beginning in FY 2018, the percentage of state sales tax and compensating use tax distributed to the [State Highway Fund] would be eliminated." The fiscal note goes on to estimate that the highway fund would receive $553.4 million less sales tax revenue than it would otherwise in fiscal year 2018. (This bill proposed changes…
Read More
In Kansas, teachers unions should stand for retention
08
Mar
By Bob Weeks

In Kansas, teachers unions should stand for retention

A bill requiring teachers unions to stand for retention elections each year would be good for teachers, students, and taxpayers. The bill is SB 469, titled "Recertification of professional employees' organizations under the professional negotiations act." It would require that the Kansas Department of Labor hold an election each year in each school district regarding whether the current representation should continue. These elections, in effect, would be referendums on the teachers union, by the teachers. (Update: The bill has been revised to call for elections every third year.) That's a good thing. The teachers union monopoly ought to stand for…
Read More
Machinists Union has been bad for Wichita
24
Feb
By Bob Weeks

Machinists Union has been bad for Wichita

The Machinists Union hasn't been very good for Wichita. Besides destroying the jobs of some 2,100 Boeing workers in Wichita when the company fled to somewhere with lower labor costs, it seems that the local Machinists Union in Wichita may be stealing from its members. KAKE Television quotes union members using the word "embezzlement," with one saying the unions is "three and a half million dollars in arrears." (Machinists Union members hear investigation findings, February 22, 2016) The union members still with jobs may have thought they were the lucky ones. That is the economic effect of labor unions, after…
Read More
12
Oct
By Bob Weeks

Wichita teacher contract: For union members only?

In a pitch to increase membership, United Teachers of Wichita promotes an exclusive benefit: "Only UTW members receive a copy of the Teachers Employment Agreement (contract)." I don't know why the Wichita teachers union would promote the contract as an exclusive benefit. It is a public document. You may read it here.
Read More