Carolina Journal Radio No. 875: John Locke Foundation joins court fight to protect workers’ rights

The John Locke Foundation and a dozen other public policy groups in other states have joined together to support a nationally significant court case designed to protect workers’ rights. The case involves a professor at a northeastern public university campus. He challenges a law requiring him to be linked to a labor union he opposes. Jon Guze, John Locke Foundation director of legal studies, discusses the case’s significance. He explains why JLF is taking part in the case. Social justice is playing an increasingly disturbing role in American higher education. That National Association of Scholars documents that role in a recent report. Association President Peter Wood discusses the report and its significance for the future of colleges and universities. When state lawmakers returned to Raleigh in January, some hoped they would tweak state tax laws ahead of the current tax filing season. You’ll hear why members of the N.C. House supported the change. It was designed to help taxpayers take advantage of recent changes in the federal tax code involving medical expenses. While our system of government allows us to elect the people who write and approve local government budgets, few people outside government actually play a significant role in that budget process. But so-called participatory budgeting, or PB, allows a larger number of community residents to make budget decisions. Whitney Afonso, professor of public administration and government at UNC-Chapel Hill, explains PB. She discusses the N.C. governments that have decided to add elements of PB to their budget-writing processes. A piece of federal legislation dubbed the PRO Act could threaten the “gig economy” in North Carolina and other states. Jon Sanders, John Locke Foundation director of regulatory studies, shares his concerns about the PRO Act and its potential negative impact.