David R. Osborne
Senior Director of Labor Policy
David R. Osborne is the Senior Director of Labor Policy with the Commonwealth Foundation.
David is an attorney with on-the-ground experience advocating for teachers, firefighters, and other public employees mistreated by union officials. Before joining the Commonwealth Foundation, David was the CEO of Americans for Fair Treatment, a nonprofit organization that supports, educates, and empowers public employees to exercise their First Amendment rights.
He also served as President & General Counsel of the Fairness Center, a nonprofit, public-interest law firm providing free legal representation to those hurt by public sector union officials, and as a Presidential appointee to the Federal Service Impasses Panel, which resolves labor impasses between federal agencies and federal employee unions.
David earned his Juris Doctor (JD) at Florida State University College of Law and holds bachelor’s degrees in political science and radio/television communications from the University of Central Florida.
David has been happily married since 2004 and they are proud parents to four beautiful children.
Public Union Democracy
Unions Shun Democracy
Originally published by the Reading Eagle. The Service Employees International Union (SEIU), one of the country’s largest public sector unions, recently scored a big “win.”…
Media Hit
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Pennsylvania Unions are Spending Your Tax Dollars to Pick Your Politicians
Originally published in The Mercury. What if I told you that your tax dollars fund political campaigns that you probably didn’t vote for? Unwittingly, taxpayers have…
Media Hit
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Full Court Press: Pennsylvania Union Political Spending in 2025
Key Points Political action committees (PACs) affiliated with trade unions and government unions spent $22.4 million in monetary and in-kind political activity in 2025, a year with few legislative elections…
Backgrounder
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How Representative Are Pennsylvania’s Public Sector Unions?
Whether one supports or opposes government unionization, it’s hard to argue with a novel reform embedded within Florida’s newly enacted government union law. The reform, which…
Blog
Read More: How Representative Are Pennsylvania’s Public Sector Unions?Regulation
This One Law is Throttling High-Speed Internet in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania is sitting on $711 million in federal broadband funding. But a bureaucratic misclassification, buried inside a Pennsylvania law, threatens to undermine the whole effort—and now…
Blog
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Florida Just Showed Pennsylvania How It’s Done on Government Union Reform
Florida’s legislature just passed a bill that continues the state’s recent reforms targeting government unions—and Pennsylvania should watch closely. Florida’s Senate Bill (SB) 1296 creates a first-of-its-kind condition for…
Blog
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Workers Say ‘I Like Unions, I Just Don’t Like My Union’
Originally published by Fox News. “I like unions. I just don’t like my union.” Time and time again, I hear this sentiment from employees nationwide. Most will express…
Media Hit
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Why is Pennsylvania’s Largest Teacher Union Hoarding Millions of Dollars?
Originally published by PennLive. If I were a Pennsylvania teacher, I’d be wondering why my union, the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA), keeps raising dues.
Media Hit
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David Osborne Joins The Guy Benson Show on Fox News Radio
Government unions spent over $900 million in political spending in the 2024 election cycle, funded almost entirely by members’ dues. David Osborne, Sr. Director of Labor Policy at the Commonwealth…
Media Hit
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The Battle for Worker Freedom: How Government Unions Fund Politics Across the Country
Key Findings During the 2023–24 election cycle, the four biggest public sector unions—the National Education Association (NEA), American Federation of Teachers (AFT), Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and American Federation…
Report
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Unions Spend Big on Politics—Often at the Expense of Their Members
Originally published by Broad + Liberty. Pennsylvania’s judicial-retention election was the biggest in the commonwealth’s history. This seemingly innocuous off-year election drew at least …
Media Hit
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Sorry, Union Execs—Americans Are Just Not That into You
Americans claim to love labor unions. But this affection is not unlike their love for other people’s kids: more hypothetical than real. A new survey performed by Gallup suggests support…
Blog
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Philly Teacher Union Threatening to Strike is Mostly Performative
Philadelphia’s massive teacher union—the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers (PFT)—has already threatened to disrupt students’ education when the doors open this fall. Just a few months into negotiations over a new…
Blog
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What Happens in Philly Schools’ “Rubber Rooms”?
Originally published by the Philadelphia Citizen. What happens in Philadelphia schools stays in Philadelphia schools—or so it seems based on the District’s lack of transparency. As The…
Media Hit
Read More: What Happens in Philly Schools’ “Rubber Rooms”?Government Accountability
Unions are failing to protect the privacy of members from hackers
Originally published by Penn Live. The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) recently sued the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) over concerns about Elon Musk’s crew gaining…
Media Hit
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Penn State faculty will get more than they bargain for with SEIU
Originally published by Centre Daily Press. Higher education’s future seems bleak. The national decline in enrollment has forced countless colleges and universities to tighten belts…
Media Hit
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Government Unions are Losing Money and Members—but Not Power and Influence
Originally published by Penn Live/Patriot-News. Pennsylvania’s second-largest union is on the brink of collapse. Last year, the Harrisburg-based subsidiary of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees…
Media Hit
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David Osborne joins the Guy Benson Show on Fox News Radio
Curious to learn how Trump’s Labor Secretary pick, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, might impact public sector union policy? David Osborne, Senior Fellow of Labor Policy at Commonwealth Foundation discusses this and more…
Media Hit
Read More: David Osborne joins the Guy Benson Show on Fox News RadioPublic Union Democracy
Shapiro’s Silent Partners
Originally published in the Delaware Valley Journal. There’s plenty to criticize about Gov. Josh Shapiro’s budget address, as many have done. Yet, one of the strangest aspects of the…
Media Hit
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Trump’s Labor Secretary Pick Is a Union Favorite—and a Threat to Right-to-Work Laws
Originally published in Reason. Given the salacious allegations against some of President Donald Trump’s cabinet nominations, it is understandable how secretary of labor nominee Lori Chavez-DeRemer has mostly flown…
Media Hit
Read More: Trump’s Labor Secretary Pick Is a Union Favorite—and a Threat to Right-to-Work LawsPublic Union Democracy
Unions at a Crossroads: Democracy, Transparency, and Bridging Divides
Jake Altman, author of Socialism before Sanders, joins Disunion: The Government Union Report podcast host David R. Osborne to discuss labor unions and their challenges. Altman, a former union leader,…
Podcast
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