Close
X
Freedom Foundation

Get in touch

Freedom Foundation
Opt Out Today
  • Blogs
  • Staff
  • Donate
  • Join Us
  • Profiting from a Pandemic
  • Why We Fight
  • Cigars
  • SCOTUS Appeals
Freedom Foundation
Opt Out Today
Freedom Foundation

Contact Info

Union vs Citizens’ Priorities for Early Learning

Jami-6-25-2014.jpg Education
  • Jami Lund
  • June 25, 2014

Union policy goals seldom match citizens’ priorities, and this fall Seattle will see the difference. Union officials will need to campaign against more early-learning services in order to secure union cash flow and higher wages for employees.

The city of Seattle has a policy initiative to expand early-learning services. This proposal will require $15 million in a new property tax levy each year to expand services to some portion of the 3,300 to 4,500 three and four year olds.

Unions are private, special-interest organizations that collect money from employees to advance employee interests. Those interests include higher wages, lower service levels and reduced accountability. 

Union officials also have an even stronger interest in collecting money.

Service Employees International Union Local 925 and the American Federation of Teachers – Washington have introduced an initiative to accomplish both objectives in Seattle. Initiative 107 requires childcare workers to be paid $15 per hour and requires the city to hire SEIU 925 to facilitate communication with and control of childcare workers.

The two unions behind it have already reported spending $414,731 on this ballot initiative.

On June 23, the Seattle City Council acknowledged the city plan and the union plan cannot both go into effect. Voters in November will be allowed to choose one proposal or neither of the proposals — but not both.

Seattle voters will have to decide if city spending should be for expanding services to families, or for the unions’ priorities.

I hope this choice forces Seattle voters to realize that union priorities are regularly at odds with the interests of citizens.

I’m curious to see what kind of advertising campaign the union officials will use to attempt to blur such a clear distinction.

Recent Blogs

Telling the truth even to those who don’t want to hear it
February 3, 2023
DeSantis supports teachers, not their union masters
February 2, 2023
Opt-out windows just another way unions flout Janus ruling
February 2, 2023
Union Politics, Dollars Upended the Ohio State House
January 26, 2023
Freedom Foundation Reaction to Washington State Supreme Court Hearing on Capital Gains Tax
January 26, 2023

Press Articles

  • Jul 06 — RedState — Janus at 4: Landmark Labor Ruling Helped but Still Needs to be Enforced More Aggressively

    Read The Article

  • Jun 28 — Ineptocracy Chronicles — Teacher Unions Fund Left Wing Politics

    Read The Article

  • Jun 25 — The Hill — States Should Protect Caregivers' Medicaid Funds from Union Skims

    Read The Article

  • Jun 15 — Legal Newsline — Freedom Foundation: 'Education Union Spent More Money on Political Activities than Worker Representation'

    Read The Article

  • Jun 09 — Southern California Record — LA Superior Court Court Reporter Accuses Union of Forging Her Signature on Membership Card

    Read The Article

  • General Inquiries

    Info@FreedomFoundation.com

    Media Inquiries

    avarner@freedomfoundation.com

    Follow Us

             

    Contact Locations

    Washington:

    360-956-3482
    P.O. Box 552 Olympia,
    WA 98507

    Pennsylvania:

    484-747-6072
    P.O. Box 1069 Kennett Square,
    PA 19348

    California:

    949-954-8914
    1442 E Lincoln Ave #440 Orange,
    CA 92865

    Oregon:

    503-951-6208
    P.O. Box 18146 Salem,
    OR 97305

    Ohio:

    380-207-3901
    P.O. Box 14210 Cincinnati,
    OH 45250

    © 2021 Freedom Foundation. All Rights Reserved.
    Registered 501(c)(3). EIN: 94-3136961