[quote=EconProf]Pension promises made by politicians in past years will continue to squeeze out needed government expenditures at all levels. This again shows the folly of having public sector unions at all. In the private sector a fair contest exists between unions and their workers bargaining against a management that seeks the best deal for the shareholders (and indirectly, the custormers who buy the output). In the public sector, management is replaced by politicians who are heavily dependent upon unions and can easily promise extravagent pay and benefits that must be paid by future, less-informed and less activist taxpayers.[/quote]
Not true. A public union’s #1 adversary would be the private corporations/entities who want to take over all public assets and services. They are also throwing massive amounts of money at the politicians (and winning).
Eliminating unions does nothing to curb the other competitors from getting everything they can get from the govt entities who hire/contract with them. As I’ve said many times before, too many people don’t seem to understand how the relationships between govt employers and unions work. They are not “on the same side of the table.”
The bottom line is that many people are vying for the same money — special interest groups (like developers or even local residents who want special amenities, infrastructure, or programs), private contractors, and unions, to name a few. No one group has more power than the others unless they have more money. If unions are eliminated, it doesn’t reduce demand for public money; the void is filled by others who want a greater share of the pie.
If you want to fix the problem with govt finances, get ALL of the money out of politics and make ALL bribery (with promises of jobs, etc.) a capital offense (literally, along with asset seizures from any person/entity found trying to bribe a politician). If you take away labor’s voice, then you have to take away capital’s voice as well. Corruption happens when there are no checks and balances. If unions go away, the capitalists/corporations will have unilateral power over our entire economy and society. That is a dangerous path, and too few actually understand where this is all headed.
