Seattle's $15 minimum wage: Buyer's remorse before the sale
Even as it was being announced and celebrated by some members of his income inequality committee, the political leaders acknowledged the Seattle mayor’s $15 minimum wage proposal would undergo tweaking before it was adopted by the city council. Remember Councilmember Nick Licata’s comments about legislators liking to get their “fingerprints” on such things. There’s been […]
24th of April 2014
Teachers' union objects to tying test scores to teacher evaluation; Washington becomes first state to lose education waiver
As expected, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan in a letter to Superintendent of Public Instruction Randy Dorn today declined to renew the state’s education waiver. Dorn pulls no punches in his press release. “Washington state has been doing great work under our waiver agreement,” Dorn said. “We have developed our own system that more […]
16th of April 2014
More on union-backed class size reduction initiative – costly and unfunded
In my column today, I write about I-1351, the class size reduction initiative endorsed and promoted by the Washington Education Association. We first wrote about it here. I note that the initiative bears some resemblance to Initiative 728, passed by the voters in 2000 as an unfunded mandate. Like I-728, I-1351 doesn’t raise taxes. It […]
19th of February 2014
Rhode Island pension settlement seen as setback for reformers, raises questions that resonate here
The state of Rhode Island has reached an agreement with public employee unions that had filed six lawsuits challenging pension reforms adopted by the state. The Providence Journal points out that the deal comes with costs: Details were still emerging on the Friday afternoon of Valentine’s Day, but it appears the proposed deal would increase […]
From SeaTac to Chattanooga, tracing the links between the minimum wage and union organizing in the South
Small elections have big consequences. We know that in Washington. Consider the SeaTac Prop. 1 vote for a $15 minimum wage (and a host of other labor-protection measures) and the Boeing Machinists vote that secured the Boeing 777X work here. A similarly consequential vote took place at the Volkswagon plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, last week. […]