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Resources Part I

Va. Code § 40.1-57.2 (effective May 1, 2021). 

Timothy M. McConville, Esq., New Virginia Labor Law Makes Localities an Offer They Can’t Refuse, (Dec. 21, 2020) https://praemialaw.com/blog/f/new-va-labor-law-makes-localities-an-offer-they-cant-refuse (republished in Employment Law Daily, Wolters Kluwer) (explaining issues arising from   Virginia public-sector bargaining statute, to be confronted by localities’ decisionmakers).

Just Say No, Nat’l Right to Work Comm. (explaining why public-sector union bargaining in Virginia will have a negative impact on taxpayers and employees) (document attached in section above).

F. Vincent Vernuccio, Alexandria City Staff Urges Restraint on Government Union Negotiations, Jefferson Pol’y J. (Mar. 9, 2021), https://jeffersonpolicyjournal.com/alexandria-city-staff-urges-restraint-on-government-union-negotiations/ (critiquing Alexandria’s new public-sector collective bargaining proposals which could hinder the city’s ability to respond to emergencies and could cost city taxpayer’s $1 million annually).

Stephen D. Haner, May Day Brings Virginia’s Labor Revolution, Jefferson Pol’y J. (Mar. 31, 2021), https://jeffersonpolicyjournal.com/may-day-brings-virginias-labor-revolution/ (explaining how Virginia’s new public-sector union law is not about helping city employees, but rather is about politics and power). 

Susannah Moore, Alexandria Seeks to Lead the Way in Virginia in Collective Bargaining for Employees, Alexandria Living Magazine (Feb. 18, 2021), https://alexandrialivingmagazine.com/news/alexandria-leading-virginia-in-collective-bargaining-2021-virginia/ (defending Alexandria’s efforts in passing a collective bargaining ordinance for city employees, but recognizing that the Virginia law leaves open issues pertaining to the scope of collective bargaining, the number of recognized bargaining units, and the model system to be used for collective bargaining).

Mark Mix, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ Disdain for the American Worker, Wash. Times (Sept. 1, 2020), https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/sep/1/joe-biden-and-kamala-harris-disdain-for-the-americ/ (highlighting Kamala Harris’ stance against Right to Work laws while also acknowledging that Big Labor undercuts the economic interest of many teachers).

Parents, Children Flee from Monopolistic Unionism, Nat’l Right to Work Comm. (Nov. 23, 2020), https://nrtwc.org/parents-children-flee-from-monopolistic-unionism/ (exploring the correlation between high academic performance and public educators’ Right to Work). 

Bradley D. Marianno et al.Power in a Pandemic: Teachers’ Unions and Their Responses to School Reopening (showing a national trend that school districts with teachers’ unions which negotiate collective bargaining agreements were less likely to move to in-person class instruction in fall 2020, than those districts without collective bargaining agreements).

Lawrence W. Kenny & Johnathan Lott, State Teacher Union Strength and Student Achievement, 35 Econ. of Educ. Rev. 93 (2013) (exploring evidence that students have lower test scores in school districts in which the teachers’ unions have negotiated collective bargaining agreements).  

Bradley D. Marianno, Teachers’ Unions: Scapegoats or Bad-Faith Actors in COVID-19 School Reopening Decisions, Brookings(Mar. 25, 2021), https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2021/03/25/teachers-unions-scapegoats-or-bad-faith-actors-in-covid-19-school-reopening-decisions/ (explaining how powerful teachers’ unions slowed school reopening decisions during the pandemic).

Matthew L. Kelly & Stan Liebowitz, Fixing the Bias in Current State K-12 Education Rankings, Cato Inst.(Nov. 13, 2018), https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/fixing-bias-current-state-k-12-education-rankings (explaining how racial diversity among students affects state’s school rankings). 

Resources Part II

Howard Blume, LAUSD’s Slow, Cautious Reopening Shows the Influence of the Teachers Union but has Critics, L.A. Times (Apr. 3, 2021), https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-04-13/la-teachers-union-influences-reopenings-online-school (considering the negative effects of slow school reopening, motivated and influenced by union concerns, on the quantity and quality of student instruction).

Sawsan Morrar, Natomas Teachers Union Files Unfair Labor Charge After District Announces 5-Day Schedule, Sacramento Bee (Apr. 6, 2021), https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/education/article250442031.html (explaining the teachers’ unions opposition to a reintroduction of a regular school week despite the negative mental and social impact distance learning has had on students).

It’s a Bargain, Ark. Democrat Gazette (Mar. 28, 2021), https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2021/mar/28/its-a-bargain/ (criticizing public employees’ ability to bargain over their salary and benefits when those employees work to elect the individuals who make those decisions, likening this to bargaining with yourself).

John Moritz, House Oks Bill to Bar Collective Bargaining, Ark. Democrat Gazette (Mar. 23, 2021), https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2021/mar/23/house-oks-bill-to-bar-collective-bargaining/?news-politics (considering Arkansas’ bill which bars public-sector unionism of all public employees except employees of cities and counties, police officers, firefighters, and certain transit workers).

Lea Skene, Baton Rouge Billboard Wars: NAACP Wants to End BRPD Union Contract to ‘Make Officers Behave Better, Advocate(Mar. 24, 2021), https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/crime_police/article_e948b8c6-8c39-11eb-9701-db0bae242abc.html (scrutinizing how police union leadership has proven to be more motivated by politics than by employee issues).

Ahmed Jallow, Black and Hispanic Drivers are Disproportionately Targeted for Traffic Stops. Could These Changes in North Carolina Work Nationwide?, The Times News (Mar. 22, 2021), https://www.thetimesnews.com/in-depth/news/2021/03/22/police-reform-fayetteville-burlington-nc-traffic-stops-policing/4622232001/#16165024717922& (exploring the racial impacts of police reform in North Carolina that would decrease traffic enforcement and increase community policing).

Laura Barrón-López, Democrats’ Coming Civil War Over Police Unions, Politico (Oct. 12, 2020), https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/10/14/police-reform-police-unions-qualified-immunity-democratic-party-420122 (examining House Democrats’ contentious relationship with police unions, beginning with their support of a pro-labor bill in early 2020, but ending with their opposition to police union’s ability to negotiate its own disciplinary standards in the wake of demands to end police brutality).

Pro Publica, A Police Union Contract Plus Taxpayers on the Hook to Defend Officers When the City Won’t, Raw Story(Mar. 26, 2021), https://www.rawstory.com/nypd-police-union/ (criticizing how police union leadership control legal defense funds for officers at the expense of taxpayers).

Farah Stockman, The County Where Cops Call the Shots, N.Y. Times (Mar. 26, 2021), https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/26/opinion/police-suffolk-county-unions.html (highlighting how the Suffolk County police union has used its monetary power to influence local elections, year after year).

Greer, Stan, Taxpayers Pay High Price for Union Bosses’ Monopoly Control of Public Sector Employees, Inst. for Lab. Relations Research, Inc., May 11, 2021,  https://nilrr.org/taxpayers-pay-high-price-for-union-bosses-monopoly-control-of-public-sector-employees/.