Gary Bauer, Campaign for Working Families provides a deft analysis of the problem with public sector union...
The Battle Of Wisconsin Widens
"All government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service. It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations when applied to public-personnel management. The very nature and purposes of government make it impossible for administrative officials to represent fully or to bind the employer in mutual discussions with government-employee organizations. The employer is the whole people…"
As the union-led protests in Wisconsin enter their eighth day, the big labor unions are going national. Today's Wall Street Journalreports that labor officials are planning protests in "dozens of other capitals." Meanwhile, Democrats in the Indiana state legislature launched their own "strike" with many leaving the state in order to prevent a vote on union reform legislation.
I know there are many good people who belong to unions. My father belonged to a union. The town I grew up in was very union oriented. Ronald Reagan was a union leader. But the idea that government employee unions should be treated the same as private sector unions and guaranteed collective bargaining rights is misguided.
Only 24 states currently grant all of their public sector employees collective bargaining rights, while several states have laws banning collective bargaining rights for government employees.
When a union sits down with the management of a private corporation, both sides are seeking to protect their self-interests. The unions want higher wages and better benefits. The company is seeking to contain costs while increasing productivity and profits. If the company doesn't give in, it faces a strike. It if gives too much, it risks profitability and a backlash from shareholders.
But when public sector union bosses sit down with governments, they aren't facing the taxpayers, who would likely drive a hard bargain. Instead, they are facing politicians, many of whom are either supported by the public sector unions or worried about the next election. This is why even the "patron saint" of the left and the labor unions -- Franklin Delano Roosevelt -- adamantly opposed giving collective bargaining rights to government employees. Here is what he said in 1937:
For decades, public sector unions have used the dues money of their employees to elect left-wing politicians who routinely vote for bigger government and higher taxes to pay for it. Today's Wall Street Journal reports that last year alone, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees "tapped emergency accounts and took out loans as it poured more than $90 million into Democratic campaign efforts… Overall, unions put around $400 million into the 2008 campaign to help elect Mr. Obama and other Democrats."
And what is the return Wisconsin taxpayers are getting for all the additional spending? Not much, according to the latest data from the Department of Education. The voters are catching on. The latest Rasmussen poll finds that likely voters are siding with Gov. Scott Walker by a ten-point margin over the unions as he tries to rein in government spending.
By the way, these protests have once again demonstrated the left-wing impulse for incivility, as you can see here. Meanwhile, the Associated Press reported over the weekend that the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine is investigating fake sick notes handed out by some of its doctors at the union protests.
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