The public sector employees who felt compelled to pay union fees or dues to unions they did not belong to are probably celebrating the recent Supreme Court ruling that claimed it was a violation of the First Amendment on free speech (see Elliott Epstein’s Rearview Mirror article “Supreme Court’s Janus decision upsets union balance, in […]
Donald LaBranche
Posted inLetters, sj-web
Governor's proposed fee unreasonable
In 2014, I decided to buy a hybrid car instead of a traditional gasoline-only car. Although it was more expensive than a regular gasoline-only car (and I was taking the risk of having to buy very expensive batteries whenever the original ones would die off), I figured the car would put less carbon in the […]
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Posted inLetters
D. LaBranche: A form of bullying
Isn’t it a form of bullying when a governor refuses to sign some financial orders at the Attorney General’s Office in order to try to force the attorney general to act and think as he does (“LePage refuses to fund prosecutors …” Sun Journal, Jan. 15)? Or to force a community college president to resign […]
Posted inLetters
D. LaBranche: The real outlaws
This is in response to the letter from Steve Swan (Sept. 23), “Outlaw public sector unions.” Swan suggested that public sector employees should not be allowed to unionize because, unlike the private sector employees, they do not negotiate with their employers to balance the interest of both parties and to reach common goals. Unfortunately, the […]
Posted inLetters
D. LaBranche: A proven representative
Four years ago, Paul LePage became governor as Mainers split votes between the two other candidates (Eliot Cutler and Libby Mitchell). A similar situation is arising in the November gubernatorial election. In facing Mike Michaud, independent Cutler is competing with a person who not only has shown great care for the veterans who risked their […]
Posted inLetters
D. LaBranche: Slavery by another name
School bus drivers in Auburn will no longer be working for the Auburn School Department but for a private company, hired by the School Department, that will not provide health insurance and other benefits to the bus drivers that the School Department used to provide (March 24). That is an indirect way of taking away […]