Reforms would reduce corruption and restore workers’ rights

Originally published in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

In Harrisburg, lawmakers are building momentum for a series of reforms that will empower public sector workers and defend taxpayers. The House Labor and Industry Committee approved four bills last month that public school teacher Cheri Gensel says will provide “greater accountability” for government union executives, ensuring they “focus on what their members need.”

Gensel, a teacher in the North Pocono School District, was dumbfounded when her government union, the Pennsylvania State Education Association, sent her letters advising her to register as a Democrat to help Tom Wolf win the 2014 gubernatorial primary.

“I chose to be a teacher,” she testified this past November, “not a political puppet” of a union agenda that overrides members’ needs and rights. Another public school teacher filed a complaint with the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board at the time over the same union politicking.

Read more at Pittsburgh Tribune-Review