It’s time to face the obvious. Something must be done to control public employee unions.
Unions should be honored for their historic role in improving intolerable conditions for laborers. At least that’s what we’re told. But it’s clear that doesn’t apply to public-sector unions. Government never subjected its workers to 12-hour days of back-breaking labor while ignoring worker safety and welfare. Instead, government employment was considered a sinecure for those willing to accept somewhat lower income in return for job security and less demanding workloads.
Prior to the 1960s, there were only minimal public unions because Americans regarded them as a bad idea. President Franklin Roosevelt in 1937 confirmed the widely held view that collective bargaining “cannot be transplanted into government service.” Even George Meany, the longtime leader of the AFL-CIO, warned “it is impossible to bargain collectively with the government.”
Here’s why. In the private sector, employers are naturally motivated to avoid excessive compensation and inefficient work rules. Their interests are balanced by those of union officials, who are elected to bring home the most pay for the least work possible for their members.
No such balance exists in the public sector. Instead, union leaders are dealing with public officials who were either elected with their support or at least are acutely aware of their political clout. Then-Gov. Jon Corzine of New Jersey in 2006, the “management” leader in labor talks, told a cheering crowd of union workers “we will fight for a fair contract.” As Victor Gotbaum, a former New York union leader once accurately pointed out, “we have the ability to elect our own boss”.
Decades of negotiations with both labor and management being on essentially the same side have produced predictable results. Not only do government workers have enhanced security and protection from accountability, but their compensation levels have gone through the roof. It has finally dawned on most Americans that when benefits are counted, our servants in government earn more — often up to 40 or 50 percent more — than we do for the same work. They typically have defined-benefit pension plans, considered unaffordable in the private sector, with minimal employee contributions. Their gold-plated health insurance plans come in handy during their early retirements.
But as governments everywhere sink into dangerous levels of deficits and debt, politicians of all stripes are beginning to realize we can no longer afford to fund this politically favored class. In the world of unions, where the cause of the “working man” is sacred and concessions are considered intolerable, this is considered an “assault on unions,” as President Obama opined.
Unions demonized Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker as the “Midwest Mussolini” and brandished signs demanding that he “Stop the Hate,” in response to his relatively mild reform proposals. In fact, so morally superior are their efforts to continue the public spending on themselves that they felt justified in faking sick leave while effectively repudiating free elections by shutting down legislatures in Indiana and Wisconsin. Even the notion of self-government must bow to their demands.
Yet to the extent that government workers are paid more than their worth in the open market — and they are — they’re just another welfare group supported by taxpayer largesse. Like protesters in Greece and around the world, there’s ultimately not much anybody can do to assuage their disappointment in government’s inability to maintain them permanently in the style to which they have become accustomed. The rest of us are just tapped out.
Ideally, we could admit we made a wrong turn and once again ban public unions. Since they’re now by far the most powerful interest group in any state, that may not be possible.
But Gov. Walker’s suggestion to submit compensation raises to a public vote makes sense, since taxpayers are the actual “management” entity whose interests are at stake. At a bare minimum, we should stop the practice of government collecting union dues, including the portion going to political activities, out of workers’ paychecks without their permission. It’s nuts to ensure that this particular interest group, dedicated to higher taxes and spending, is perpetually and automatically funded.
That’s not hate and it’s not union-busting. It’s simple self-preservation for the folks paying the bills.
• East Valley resident Tom Patterson (pattersontomc@cox.net) is a retired physician and former state senator
Poorman posted at 11:31 am on Sat, Mar 5, 2011.
These days unions have no place anywhere,many years ago they were of some use,they got us higher prices on all sorts of things.thru higher labor costs etc. and benifits.Thats probably a good reason lots of folks buy foregin made products,plain and simple they are cheaper.
Dale Whiting posted at 11:50 am on Sat, Mar 5, 2011.
Yes, Tom and Yes Poorman,
Let's throw the baby out with the bath water.
Just know that most improvements in education come from teachers, not administrators, trying to do a better job. Where in AZ we listen to our teachers somewhat in our School Board meetings, elsewhere the practice is to listen to them during collective bargaining. Is one better than the other? I'm not sure.
samkat posted at 12:05 pm on Sat, Mar 5, 2011.
Heck Tom: Doctors do not deserve to be allowed to gouge the health care system and patients either but it is a fact of life. Conservatives have misguided views of the world and should accept the fact that taxes and "right size" government is a necessity. The liberals need to accept the fact that the taxpayer is not without limitations on what they can and should pay to support able bodied welfare cheats. This is not to say the truly disabled should not be taken care of.
In short Tom, the world is not flat as the right wing conservatives view it.
Dale: I somewhat agree with you. Teachers are expected to achieve higher levels of education to teach our children in the public school system whereas the idiots running our state legislature allow, and in fact encourage lower standards for their precious church indoctrinated private charter schools paid for with taxpayer money and without consent of the taxpayers in general.
PS:
samkat posted at 12:07 pm on Sat, Mar 5, 2011.
PS: If we paid competent teachers what they are worth and weeded out the incompetent ones, we would have a much better public school system.
Leon Ceniceros posted at 4:13 pm on Sat, Mar 5, 2011.
Let me get this straight.
Tax-payers pay the wages, health benefits (200% better than the ones that the tax-payer themselves have...if they even have one), retirement paychecks (again...200%, 300% maybe even 400% better than what the tax-payers have...if they even have one).....and now these....PUBLIC (not private..but Public) Services Unions want the right to go on STRIKE.....and deny the "ESSENTIAL" PUBLIC SERVICES....that the tax-payers who are their employers....need for Basic Living (...Police Law Enforcement, Fire-fighting, Sewers, Electricity, Water and the EDUCATION OF THE TAX-PAYERS' CHILDREN.
Tax-payers..............WAKE UP....we are the ...BOSSES...of these Public Service employees............NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND.
TIME TO QUIT LETTING THE ...INMATES....RUN THE ASYLUM..........NO UNIONS FOR ...................PUBLIC SERVICE EMPLOYEES.......IF YOU WANT A UNION...GO OUT IN THE .............PRIVATE WORKFORCE.
Rich posted at 6:22 pm on Sat, Mar 5, 2011.
Just know that most improvements in education come from teachers, not administrators, trying to do a better job. Actually advances in education come from thinkers, theorists and philosophers, not teachers. For example Steiner's Waldorf system outperforms other systems and Roman Catholic schools out perform public schools in terms of college graduates.
Where in AZ we listen to our teachers somewhat in our School Board meetings, elsewhere the practice is to listen to them during collective bargaining. Is one better than the other? I'm not sure. Listening to them at all is the problem. Teaching school is what happens to people who get a college degree and can't get hired in the private sector because they are not good enough. We have math teachers who can't do arithmetic without a calculator, Drama teachers who think Shylock is the 'Merchant of Venice' and literature teachers who aren't sure who F. Scott Fitzgerald was. A test that gives the wrong answers a pass, because the people who wrote it don't understand the field they are writing questions in, that the kids have to pass to graduate. Incompetence isn't the route to take to better education.
Dale Whiting posted at 9:17 pm on Sat, Mar 5, 2011.
And we get those poorly trained and poorly qualified teachers because we 1) do not pay them enough 2) do not support those who are good so they give up and leave 3) force those who are good in one area to transition into other areas. Those thinkers, theorists and philosophers who are not teachers are responsible for no longer teaching math in discrete subjects, teaching a little algebra this year, more next year, teaching a little bit of trig this year and a little bit more next year, on the philosophy that it is better to teach a little bit to everyone than none to some.
Listen to the teachers. They are closest to where the rubber meets the road!
Poorman posted at 3:36 pm on Sun, Mar 6, 2011.
Yep,thats why our students rank so high in the ratings,god we can't throw out the incompentent and poor teachers, we won't have hardly any left.
samkat posted at 9:31 pm on Sun, Mar 6, 2011.
Dale: Rich's way of thinking is why our education system is in such a sad state of affairs. He obviously does not realize the kids we send into the work force are a product of the education they received. We need the cream of the crop teaching our kids and they need to be paid accordingly. Weed out the bad ones and let them work with Rich so he can get a taste of what he espouses. :-)
Dale Whiting posted at 10:44 am on Mon, Mar 7, 2011.
samkat,
Rich has a point, not an especially good one. But there is truth in his perhaps over generalizations, too.
Rich posted at 2:43 pm on Mon, Mar 7, 2011.
Had the taste, a couple times.Who did you elect? A man who in two terms lead Arizona schools to the bottom, so you rewarded him with the post of Attorney General and elected another career politico with an agenda to gut your schools. No good teachers are going to work under those conditions no matter how much money you throw at it. The good ones will go elsewhere. You can't get the cream of the crop, they won't work here and if you think about it, you can't really blame them. Clean up the system first, then better teachers will want to work here and won't ask for more money to do so. The first sign that your teachers aren't up to par is when it's the 'kid's' fault, or his parent's fault. For a good teacher those things are welcome challenges, makes it worthwhile to come to work. Babysitters can't do the job because there are too many who speak Spanish, too many are lazy, too many parents don't care, and they want more money to do it. Cream of the crop? They won't come near here.
Dale Whiting posted at 2:54 pm on Mon, Mar 7, 2011.
Bravo Rich.
Hit the nail squarely on its head!
On the general issue of unions and the more to the point issue of state worker and teacher unions, today's latest pols from Wisconsin bear out precisely my earlier prediction. Those Democrat Senators who left the state have a net favorable rating. Governor Walker's unfavorables far exceed his favorables. And the majority of Wisconsinites poled want Walker to compromise. Finally, President Obama's favorables exceed the favorables of all others. Thanks to Scott Walker, Wisconsin was just put back into President Obama's camp.
Rich posted at 3:44 pm on Mon, Mar 7, 2011.
You're getting way in front of me. I've known more good teachers who quit because of unions than any other reason, Unions are just another layer of political parasites. All you really need for a good school is good teachers and a janitor. For everyone hired after that, whether it is to be a boss, wipe the windows or represent the teachers, the kids suffer. Adding a union to the layers of bureaucracy, with this board and that, administrators and mucky-mucks isn't helpful.
wdgnas posted at 6:06 am on Tue, Mar 8, 2011.
why can't the argument for paying the banksters be used for paying school teachers. you know the one that states we have to pay them this much if we want to attract and keep good talent...
listenertoo posted at 9:03 pm on Mon, Mar 14, 2011.
BTW, did anyone remember that Arizona is a right-to-work state and there are no teacher's union. There is an teacher's association which only gets to bargain with a school board at the school board's pleasure. The teacher's association doesn't have any rights.
Talk to your good teacher friends about getting rid of the bad teachers and they would like nothing better. There has always been a system in place to get rid of the bad teachers but lazy principals either did not do the paperwork to track the bad teachers or simply told the bad teachers to transfer so they were someone else's problems. It isn't the the good teachers who protect the bad teachers, it's the principals.
My own children had some wonderful teachers and some terrible teachers, just as I did when I was growing up. Who knows what makes a teacher good? It isn't an association or a union for that matter, either. The teachers that made me work were the ones who had high standards for the students, but we also had our own parents who made us tow the line. It is a very differnt world than it was a generation ago and few teachers get the respect they deserve.
trigama posted at 6:02 pm on Thu, Mar 24, 2011.
FYI Watch the movie: Waiting for "Superman". 2010 Documentary of teachers unions and the damage they are causing nationally. its kind of slow at first but watch the whole thing.