[quote=briansd1]
I’m ambivalent about the situation in Wisconsin.
Yes, something needs to be done for the sake of fiscal discipline. And the state workers in Wisconsin made concessions.
But it is necessary to undo decades of labor gains and drag everybody back to the labor conditions of the past?
I do however agree with the position that the State is there to serve the people, not to perpetuate the privileges of a class of public employees who live in their own good old boys’ club.[/quote]
Brian: “drag everybody back to the labor conditions of the past”? Uh, okay. So, like back in the days when teachers got black lung disease? Or, when the DMV used child labor? Like that?
Dude, c’mon. I know I give you grief, but even you have to admit that your counterargument is thin. Friggin’ anorexic, in fact.
Unlike private unions, public unions aren’t “bargaining” or “negotiating” with anyone. The politicians who vote for these sweet deals are sitting on the SAME SIDE of the table as the unions. This is vote buying, pure and simple. Wisconsin is not some bellwether state, blazing a new trail and seeking to bust unions. Only half the states have a collective-bargaining agreement in place, and there is plenty of data to support the fact that the states that don’t, like Virginia or Indiana, are in fact able to deliver effective services and at a lower cost.
Public sector unions are not there for any other reason than to amass power, peddle influence and deliver voting blocs for “friendly” politicians. To suggest that we’re going to somehow go back to the robber baron days of yore is idiotic. These are PUBLIC sector unions, not PRIVATE sector unions.
