The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "collective bargaining" ...
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Supreme Court Spat
This story, produced by the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism and Wisconsin Public Radio, was first to report on a June 13 altercation in which Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser placed his hands on the neck of fellow Justice Ann Walsh Bradley in a dispute in her office in front of other members of the court. The article reported that the argument concerned the timing of the court's release of a decision upholding Republican Gov. Scott Walker's controversial bill to curb the collective bargaining rights of the state's public employees, and that the Capitol Police Department and the Wisconsin Judicial Commission were informed of the incident. The story also revealed that the Capitol police chief had come in to speak to the court's seven members about it. Although the initial story relied on anonymous sources, all of the facts were subsequently confirmed by on-the-record interviews, and later by police reports.
Tags: Wisconsin Supreme Court; police
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Walker Emails
The story investigates whether Wisconsin's newly inaugurated Gov. Scott Walker was telling the truth when he said that most of the emails he'd received were in support of his plan to strip the collective bargaining rights from public workers.
Tags: bargaining rights; public workers; politicians; Wisconsin
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Life and Death
This analysis of Ohio's capital punishment system looked at 1900 crimes that were potentially capital crimes. It found that offenders who killed whites were twice as likely to be sentenced to death as those who killed blacks; that more than half of capital cases ended with plea bargains; and that the possibility of a death sentence varied depending on where the crime was committed. It also discovered numerous errors in the state's collection of death penalty data.
Tags: death penalty; capital punishment; law enforcement; crime; murder; criminal justice system; plea bargains; capital crimes; Ohio
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No Show County Job
The authors investigated a public employee who, because of his position as president of the union was not required to report to his job as a corrections officer. For over ten years this man was paid for a job he never performed. This is permitted under a collective bargaining agreement that dates back to the 1970's.
Tags: Public office; unions; Erie county; FOIA; full union release; county bankruptcy
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Temps Demand a New Deal
The Nation reports that "the explosion of temping and the shifting of employment relationships away from traditional jobs poses what may be organized labor's greatest challenge and opportunity since World War II: organizing the swelling ranks of temps, day laborers, contract and leased workers whose perpetual job insecurity forms the porous foundation of today's supposedly stellar economy."
Tags: unions; collective bargaining; temporary employment; independent contractors; second-class workers; National Alliance for Fair Employment
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Labor Law
ABA Journal examines the unions' clout in today's business world. The story looks the political and corporate climate for labor organizing in the past decades. It finds that in recent years employers have simply started firing "employees instrumental in the organizing effort." The author points out that employees are working more and more for less benefits. "Unions appear stronger than ever, after having helped win a multitude of protective statutes for workers, but it may be a pyrrhic victory," the Journal reports.
Tags: unions; benefits; worker safety; employment; pension; retirement; lawyers; collective bargaining; Dunlop Commission; strikes
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Jobs that go bump
Governing exposes chaos and inefficiency in the work of government agencies, resulting from bumping - "the process whereby a more senior public employee whose position is cut can use his tenure to claim another job held by a less senior person." The story reveals that often after several senior positions have been cut, dozens and even hundreds of workers might have to change places, ending up "in a similar job, a job they haven't done for years, or a job they have never done in their lives." The reporter looks at better working alternatives to bumping, which have been used by some local governments throughout the country.
Tags: Massachusetts Employment and Training Division; personnel; politics; unions; public employees; collective bargaining; Prince George's County
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Illinois Townships: Bargain or Boondoggle?
"Often overshadowed and overlooked, Illinois' 1,433 township governments last year collected almost half a billion dollars from taxpayers although many did not need the money and hundreds wound up spending as much on bureaucracy as on services. In September, for example, Benton Township paid $7,500 for two employees to pass out $500 in welfare to five needy people in Franklin County... Illinois clings to the tradition of its townships governments while neglecteing serious questions about their usefulness, such as: Are townships efficient grassroots government or outdated vestiges wasting millions to do jobs that overlap services already offered on wider scales by county, munincipal and state governments?"
Tags: taxes; electied officials; elctions; fraud; surplus; commissioner; hometown; consolidation; township officials; CAR