[quote=livinincali][quote=CA renter]
I would also point out that the unions have already given on pay and benefits over the past few years. Governor Brown’s pension reforms largely address the issues I’ve stated above. They have reduced benefit formulas, increased retirement ages, increased employee pension contributions (by a lot..and this was the #1 most workable solution to the pension problem), etc. At what point do we stop bashing unions — who did not cause the economic crisis — and address all the other changes that need to happen in order to correct the problems? The unions did not cause the crisis, and they should not be the only ones to shoulder the burden.[/quote]
Public sector unions will probably be bashed until they’re gone. They screwed up big time in the pr war back in 2009-2011 by being hard line. It’s going to take years before they earn back the public’s trust. The best move for the public unions would be to stay out of the spotlight as much as possible. The it’s not fair, woe is me attitude just reinforces people’s negative view of public sector unions.[/quote]
This is the part that ticks me off most about the whole anti-union/pro-privatization movement. The unions WERE making concessions throughout this entire period. Many unions even offered to make concessions without being asked, simply because they understood the difficult situation that their employers were in. The media just didn’t report on it because it didn’t fit the agenda of those who want to abolish unions.
This is the same thing as having news outlets go on tirades about the distant outliers, like a single police chief or prison psychiatrist making an absurd amount of money (usually due to incredible amounts of overtime…OR fraud, in which case they are being investigated), while not saying anything about the many union concessions over the years, or explaining how hard Gov. Brown’s reforms are going to hit public employees. The news bias has been very, very one-sided.
BTW, I’ve never heard a “woe is me,” or “it’s not fair” argument coming from the union side. What they have been saying is that they have unfairly used as scapegoats for the economic crisis that was caused by WALL STREET. This totally manufactured crisis has been used by billionaires and big business to push their privatization agenda because the unions are the only obstacle left for them to take out and they knew that this crisis would affect the finances of government entities. They’ve managed to pit Joe Sixpack against the unions (worker against worker) in an effort to divert attention away from themselves and the mess that they created.
