Pursuing the Dream Foundation, Inc.’s Post

The Napa County Board of Supervisors today approved a three-year contract agreement with Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1021, the county’s largest union representing over half county government’s workforce. This agreement, designed to increase pay and benefits for SEIU members over three years, will support the county’s employee retention and recruitment efforts, address inflationary pressures, and uphold the county’s responsibility to manage public funds prudently. Key elements of the agreement include: -An 11 percent cost-of-living pay increase over three years (4 percent in 2024, 3.5 percent in 2025 and 3.5 percent in 2026) -Annual increases in county deferred compensation match to employee 401A accounts -An increase in bilingual pay -Observance of Indigenous People’s Day (the second Monday of October) -Winter Recess (all non-essential operations will close December 26-31) Read more: https://lnkd.in/gzvevUwx

The Comprehensive Employment and training Act was a federal law enacted by Congress signed into law by Richard Nixon in 1973 to train workers and provide them with jobs in public service. It was repealed and recreated by the Job Training Partnership Act enacted in 1982 by the Reagan administration, which was repealed in 1998 by the workforce Investment Act by the Clinton Administration. The government since mid-twentieth century has accounted for about one third of all job creation. So when a candidate makes the claim of a deep state, let’s put some numbers to how deep: As of today there are 23,421,000 federal public service employees. That does not include teachers, police, fire fighters, healthcare workers, and local politicians who also consume tax revenue. There are 140,000,000 individuals in the population between the ages of 21 and 64. This would mean that 1 out of every 5.6 of these people are public service employees. How deep is it comrades! It’s so deep that it makes no difference who runs for leadership in our country. 

The Federal Trade Commission has voted to ban these agreements nationwide. Did you know that non-compete agreements affect 1 in 5 Americans, dictating how freely they can switch roles? Beyond allowing Americans the chance to work where and when they want, this decision could potentially boost wages by $488 billion in the next 10 years and promote fair competition. Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan shares that noncompete agreements stop workers from switching jobs, even when they could earn more money or have better working conditions. This is a step in the right direction towards ensuring economic liberty and promoting freedom. https://lnkd.in/gKRG633m

WHY TEACHERS IN GUYANA NEED TO BE PAID WELL AND DESERVE THE ADMIRATION AND RESPECT OF THE NATION AND ITS LEADERS My personal story is in response to a comment by a LinkedIn subscriber named Mo Harun who commented: "It was salary and living conditions made me took flight to overseas. The government must provide the right financial incentives for all teachers instead of more bureaucracy." My short story: Fresh out of high school, I decided to take up teaching and I chose a most economically depressed area up the Berbice River (my mother and father were aghast; thought I was a certified lunatic). The stipend -- that was the preferred word at the time -- was no more than a munificent $20/mth -- and the money didn't matter so much to me as the excitement to teach. I was truly nuts. A crazy romantic. But I was in for a shock in no time at all from the economic plight of my students (I can still see their faces as I write). I felt so sorry for the 6th standard pupils that most of that $20/mth went to help some of them buy exercise books, textbooks, and what not, regularly. Teaching young minds -- I was young too -- don't forget! It was mostly a labour of love. There was no way I could have saved a dull penny -- called jill in those days -- after transportation cost. My mother eventually talked me out of my madness. Sadly, I gave up the job for a well paying job in town (the salary was more like 6x the $20/mth). I saved up enough for a permanent departure from Guyana. The rest is history. Main takeaway: teaching is a calling and most do more than just teaching Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic. It's universal. Teachers have to do the work of social workers and psychologists; and teachers should be paid well. They nurture brains and brains run an economy. The fancy word for that is human capital (HC). No HC, no economy with all the megawatts of electricity, PCs and shovels in excess supply. Save the children; save the teachers! This is my plea to any government of Guyana, any Ministry of Education that calls itself ministry of education. Ponder on the meanings of "ministry" and "education" and the possessive "of" for a while. Think of it.

Great coverage in the Boston Herald on the Fiscal Alliance Foundation’s challenge to the SEIU’s ballot question. If the goal is to make Massachusetts more expensive and send a message to businesses looking to invest in Massachusetts that they are not welcome here, this ballot question achieves this goal. As we have seen with the income surtax, union boss-backed ballot questions further chip away at Massachusetts’s economic competitiveness and make living here more expensive. At a time when our state faces an uncertain economic future, making Massachusetts even more hostile to economic competitiveness is the last thing the state needs right now. People need more flexibility in how they do work, not less. This potential ballot question would make life a lot harder for riders and drivers alike. https://lnkd.in/ehyKKyXz

“FTC Noncompete Rule Survives—For Now”—Learn more in this Labor & Employment Practice Area alert authored by Robert P. Heary, Labor & Employment Practice Area chair, and Sierra Leitten, summer associate. Click here to read the alert: https://lnkd.in/eyAMFX29 #LaborandEmployment #LE #FTC #NoncompeteRule

https://lnkd.in/gd3isev6 A great article on Diane Schust and the COE's efforts to develop transparency in their work at the Capitol and equity in TRIO staff's salaries setting via grants (and then the implementation via the programs who provide the programs.)

I am not sure what Mr. O'Brien's thinking? I will site three active participants of Project 2025 and what they think of Unions in general: 🤔 GOVERNMENT UNIONS SHOULD NOT EXIST. Public service should focus on serving the public good and those that enter it should be in the business of serving. Government jobs were never meant to hold the public – its families, children, and society hostage./ from Institue of Education Reform website. Labor unions claim to represent workers, but the corrupt leadership of these fading organizations has been totally captured by The Democrat Party and a cringe radical agenda.   On the management side, powerful corporate cronies find willing supplicants pushing their agenda in media and in the halls of political power. But what about workers? Who is the advocate for the salt-of-the-earth citizens who make our society function, especially the blue-collar workers who work with their hands as well as with their minds? / from The League of American Workers website. The mission is to eliminate coercive union power and compulsory unionism abuses through strategic litigation, public information, and education programs. from The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation website. Vote blue in November 2024 to protect our workers. ☮ https://lnkd.in/eVrxH7d8

Head to our resource page for a complete snapshot of the FTC's noncompete ban and gain practical insight from our labor and employment team. 💡 Follow along for timely updates: https://bit.ly/3UEeSqz. #FTCnoncompeteban #employmentlaw #noncompetes #resources

Six workforce-development bills arguably are the most important pro-business bills coming out of the 2024 legislative session. Here's why groups like The Colorado Chamber of Commerce and Colorado Succeeds see them as so key to increasing the talent pipeline in this state: https://lnkd.in/gXK3r573