PolitiFact.com
Statements about Unions
Joseph Andriole

Joseph Andriole

Mostly True

Low pay offset by overtime, other compensation

The Central Falls fire department is "one of the lowest, if not the lowest, paid fire departments in the state and entire region."

Stephen Lisauskas

Stephen Lisauskas

False

Cites national average that isn't

Thirty-seven percent of Central Falls’ retired police officers and firefighters are out on disability pensions; in most municipalities, about 5 percent of retirees collect disability pensions.

Alberta Darling

Alberta Darling

Pants on Fire!

There was no vote and the issue predates Pasch’s arrival in office by years

Says state Rep. Sandy Pasch, her recall opponent, "voted to allow public school employees to use taxpayer dollars to pick up the tab for…Viagra."

Sheila Oliver

Sheila Oliver

Half-True

Research is mixed

"Numerous studies have shown that these so-called right-to-work laws do not generate jobs and economic growth."

Chris Christie

Chris Christie

Half-True

Depends on how tenure is defined

"When the union says I want to eliminate tenure, that’s not true."

Steve Loomis

Steve Loomis

Mostly True

Management gets the final word

Says the state’s new collective bargaining law effectively eliminates police unions' ability to negotiate.

Angel Taveras

Angel Taveras

False

In the nation, no. In Rhode Island, yes.

The Providence teacher contract "is one of the longest in the country."

Crossroads GPS

Crossroads GPS

Pants on Fire!

Long explanation for a whole lot of nothing

"Unions don’t have to comply with Obamacare."

AFL-CIO

AFL-CIO

Mostly False

The anti-Walker boycott effort wears a union label

"There are not, nor have there ever been, any boycotts encouraged by our organizations."

Scott Walker

Scott Walker

True

Yep. Under contracts, some government workers are paid by taxpayers to work for their unions

Says Milwaukee County spent over $170,000 in salaries in 2010 for employees to "participate in union activities such as collective bargaining."

Sherrod Brown

Sherrod Brown

True

It's nearly double the overall private-sector rate

"Foreign companies in the United States have a significantly higher unionization rate than other companies overall."

Florida Education Association

Florida Education Association

False

Proposals change method of paying union dues

"Politicians and their corporate lobbyists are trying to take away my right to spend my paycheck how I want."

Florida Chamber of Commerce

Florida Chamber of Commerce

False

Union membership in Florida is voluntary

Says unions "take away" hard-earned money of teachers, firefighters and police officers to play politics.

George Nee

George Nee

Mostly False

There’s support for unions, but is it growing?

"Public sentiment in favor of collective bargaining and in favor of the unions has actually gone up as these governors, I think, have overreached and gone too far and tried to destroy the labor movement."

Calvine Rollins

Calvine Rollins

Mostly False

Claim on union bargaining rights gets muddy in the details.

Georgia public sector employees do not have a say in the conditions of their employment, do not have bargaining rights or a say in their working conditions.

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