With the exception of Big Labor and its Democratic Party allies in Congress, the majority of Americans, including union workers and people who supported Barack Obama, support the right to a secret ballot in the workplace.

Coalition for a Democratic Workplace: Big Labor Ignores Worker Rights ... Again

Pennsylvania continues to lead the nation in teacher strikes despite having some of the highest paid teachers in the country, according to The Wall Street Journal.

"No less than 42% of all teacher walkouts nationwide occur in the Keystone State, leaving kids sidelined and parents scrambling to juggle work and family, potentially on as little as 48 hours notice required by state law," the newspaper notes in an editorial published today.

A measure to restrict teacher strikes already passed in 37 states has been blocked repeatedly by Gov. Ed Rendell and Democratic state legislators.

The newspaper wonders if the $500,000 in campaign contributions Rendell received from the state's largest teachers' union has something to do with Rendell's reluctance to curb strikes.

From the WSJ editorial:

For too many teachers, the motto seems to be: When in doubt, walk out. The burden of enduring a strike then falls on families in which both parents need to work. The disruption is used as negotiating leverage by the unions, which know that parents will besiege school districts with calls begging them to settle. This amounts to a form of legal extortion. If Pennsylvania's teachers want to educate kids about justice and equity, they can start by ending a strategy that uses students as pawns to extract more taxpayer dollars.

Read the full editorial at the newspaper's Web site.

Coalition for a Democratic Workplace Calls on Labor Secretary Nominee Hilda Solis to Protect Worker Privacy and Secret Ballot Elections

Where is the public outcry over the growing pension scandal involving the retirement funds of state workers in Pennsylvania?

That's what the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review wants to know.

From an editorial pointing out that taxpayers will end up getting stuck with the bill for reckless investments:

Despite warning flags -- heck, these folks had foghorns blasting in their ears -- the geniuses at the state pension fund six years ago decided to park billions of dollars in a very risky hedge fund. Long story short -- the pension system by next year will be on the hook for $2.5 billion to cover its high-fee bad bets.

How unfortunate for those poor state retirees, right? Nope, not at all. That's because under state law, benefits can't be reduced. Taxpayers, who already fund the pension system, could be tapped for this chapter of multibillion-dollar recklessness.

Read the full editorial at the newspaper's Web site.

Must be nice to be rich and famous. President-elect Barack Obama and his wife have a choice to make about where to send their daughters to school.

Will they choose an exclusive private school or the failed Washington, D.C., school system? What do you think?

Wealthy families like the Obamas have a choice of where to send their kids to school. Most Americans do not.

Funny how Obama catered to the teachers' unions during the campaign and would not support school choice, isn't it?

The Alliance for School Choice has launched a new campaign - Let Parents Choose - to help build support for school choice, something Sen. John McCain backed during the campaign. Perhaps the Obamas would now like to join the effort.

Read more about the School Choice campaign at POLICY BLOG or go directly to http://www.letparentschoose.org/

POLICY BLOG also has a companion site called SchoolChoiceSaves.org that worth a visit.