Another addition to the long list of Obama broken promises.

Bush's union transparency rules retracted under Obama - Washington Times

Here's a perfect example of why secret ballots are essential when workers are asked to join a union.

Chester County prison guards overwhelmingly (155-35) rejected a move to join the Teamsters.

Imagine the pressure to join unions if the workers could not vote by secret ballot.

That's what the Card Check scheme pushed by Barack Obama and Congressional Democrats is all about - forced unionization.

Prison guards vote against unionization - The Daily Local News

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State employee pension systems are facing severe shortfalls, and these growing liabilities threaten to drive many states deeper into the red, according to "State Pension Funds Fall Off a Cliff," a new 50 state study co-authored by Dr. Barry Poulson of the University of Colorado and Dr. Arthur P. Hall of the University of Kansas.

The report, published by the American Legislative Exchange Council, the nation's largest individual membership association of state legislators, shows that as of 2006, states have accumulated nearly $360 billion in unfunded pension obligations.

The problem has gotten much over the past three years as politicians on both sides of the aisle have stuck their head in the sand instead of dealing with the ticking time bomb.

Pennsylvania is among the states that has swept the pension issue under the rug, especially over the past seven years under Gov. Ed Rendell. The ALEC report says Pennsylvania had $14.4 billion in unfunded pension liabilities on top of $8.8 billion in state debt. And keep in mind that these are 2006 figures.

Follow the link below for more information and a link to download the full report.

Pension Crisis Threatens Financial Health of States

The Workforce Fairness Institute has launched an online petition demanding Sen. Arlen Specter explain his position on the Employee Free Choice Act, aka Card Check.

The group refers to EFCA as Employee FORCED Choice Act.

Pennsylvanians deserve an honest and clear answer on where Senator Specter stands on the elimination of the secret ballot and mandatory, binding arbitration! Sign the online petition at the group's Web site, http://www.workforcefairness.com/SpecterExplain

Also check out this editorial in The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review nothing that Specter changes his position on Card Check every other day.

The president of SEIU Local 668, the Pennsylvania Social Services Union, has a few choice words for Gov. Ed Rendell, who earlier this week gave state workers an ultimatum: Find ways to reduce costs or face furloughs and/or layoffs.

Kathy Jellison said in a statement that the governor is "negotiating though the press" and "not being honest with taxpayers."

Jellison said the union has "repeatedly given (Rendell) suggestions on ways to cut the budget, and he has ignored all of our ideas. Instead, he wants to focus on the most extreme option - laying off workers."

State workers are upset with Rendell because he has awarded more than $1 billion in outside contracts since he became governor in 2003. "Many of those contracts cover work that had been done by state employees," Jellison says.

"The first thing the governor can do to stop wasteful spending in the state budget," Jellison said, "is to cut out some of the private contracts he has given to outside companies to do work that our members can do better and at a lower cost."

While Rendell is threatening to implement a system of "rolling furloughs" to reduce personnel costs, the union wants the state to offer early retirement options to workers.

The ball is in Rendell's court.

Read Jellison's full statement at the link below:

SEIU Local 668 Says Governor's Threats Hurt Citizens of Pennsylvania

With the state facing a projected $2.3 billion budget deficit in its General Fund budget, Gov. Ed Rendell is looking to save money by putting the squeeze on state workers.

The Harrisburg Patriot-News reports Rendell is giving the unions representing state workers until the end of March to come up with concessions or face furloughs or layoffs.

From a story by reporter Charles Thompson:

"We've agreed to give the unions a couple of more weeks to look at the options and get back to us," Rendell said during a Capitol press conference. "But by the end of March, if we don't have an agreement ... I'm going to have to act."

Rendell said again that he is leaning toward a system of "rolling furloughs," in which certain, nonessential aspects of state government would close for a day at a time, causing cuts in hours for thousands of state workers.

"If there's a way that I can do this and minimize the number of layoffs, I will take that way," Rendell said. "I think it's better for everyone to lose X percentage of their wages than for 2,000 people to be thrown onto unemployment."

Union leaders have vowed not to take wage concessions back to their rank-and-file, making the case that they have accepted wage freezes and sacrificed in other ways during past contract negotiations with Rendell.

Read the full story, "Rendell gives unions ultimatum," at the newspaper's Web site.

That didn't take long. Hours after Gov. Ed Rendell introduced his 2009-10 budget calling for significant cuts in state workers, the unions representing those workers launched a counter-attack.

"This union will whine, scream and holler for justice," David Fillman, executive director of AFSCME Council 13, said in a statement.

"Pennsylvania's state workers have been victims of a 'silent furlough' for 20 years," Fillman said. "State workers have sacrificed with lower pay increases and contributions to health care costs -- that's why Pennsylvania was one of the few states with a surplus last year."

Rendell has said up to 2,600 union jobs might have to be eliminated as the state budget deficit is expected to reach $2.3 billion.

Three unions, representing 119,000 government workers, are vowing to fight Rendell's proposed cuts every step of the way.

Read more at the link below:

Pennsylvania's Public Sector Unions Join Together to Oppose Service Cuts in Rendell Budget Proposal

Matthew J. Brouillette, a former high school history teacher, coach and school board member, knows something about the public education system.

As president and CEO of the Commonwealth Foundation, Brouillette spends much of his professional time researching the impact the state's largest teachers' union has on Pennsylvania schools.

Writing recently in The Mercury, Brouillette says there's no disputing the fact that the political agenda pursued by the Pennsylvania State Education Association has caused a great deal of harm to teachers, children and taxpayers.

"I know first-hand the challenges inside and out of the classroom," Brouillette writes in a guest column. "Until we address the systemic problems associated with who controls public education and how we deliver it, simply spending more money will fail to improve our schools."

From Brouillette's column:

Even Albert Shanker, the late American Federation of Teachers labor union president, recognized the need for systemic change when he candidly said: "It's time to admit that public education operates like a planned economy, a bureaucratic system in which everybody's role is spelled out in advance and there are few incentives for innovation and productivity. It's no surprise that our school system doesn't improve: It more resembles the communist economy than our own market economy."

In spite of the inherent problems noted by Shanker, most public schools are able to teach our children to read, write, and figure. But when comparing the academic performance of our students to those in other countries, it's clear our current system is failing both our children and our nation.

Brouillette offers several solutions to improving our schools and invites the teachers' union to become part of the solution.

Read the full op-ed at the newspaper's Web site.

Mention the words "hiring freeze" or "layoffs" to union members and they develop a heightened sense of fiscal responsibility.

Faced with the prospect of losing public sector jobs if the state's fiscal crisis deepens, the union representing 20,000 Pennsylvania human services employees has come up with suggestions to save taxpayers millions of dollars.

The union is upset that Gov. Ed Rendell won't sit down and listen to its ideas. Instead Rendell has imposed a hiring freeze on most state jobs.

The quickest way to save money, argues SEIU Local 668, is to end private contracts.

"It is time for this administration to open the books and disclose the huge amounts of taxpayer money being wasted on private contractors," said union president Kathy Jellison. "Our members can do this work more efficiently -- and at a lower cost to the taxpayers. There is no justification for these private contracts, when our members can do a better job and have more experience at providing the same services. We believe this is why vital human services have not been fully funded in Pennsylvania."

I'm confused. Isn't the state turning to private contractors to save money?

It sounds like the union workers are turning on the hand that has fed them for the past six years.

Read the union's full press release at the link below:

State Human Services Union Identifies Ways to Save Millions of Tax Dollars