It should come as no surprise that principled Democrats are realizing that public sector unions, through relentless demands for ever higher compensation and benefits for public employees, are crowding out the social programs and infrastructure projects that Democrats love. And it is no coincidence that in the cities and counties across America where Democrats still...
California’s “Fantasy Land” budget finally comes to light of day. Jerry Brown said “We’ve been living in fantasy land. I’m shocked. The mess is much worse than I thought.” In turn, educators and unions were shocked by Jerry Brown’s and state treasurer Bill Lockyer’s statements “cuts are coming”. Brown promised more cuts but no tax...
Tim Pawlenty is the latest governor to take on unions, public sector unions in particular, as evidenced by his Wall Street Journal commentary of December 13th entitled “Government Unions vs. Taxpayers.” While it is important to note that Republicans are only somewhat immune to the agenda of public sector unions, the fact that Republicans took...
Labor luminaries such as George Meany and FDR agreed on the dangers of a unionized government. More recently, prominent Democrats such as California’s former assembly speaker Willie Brown, or current San Francisco supervisor Jeff Adachi, have found themselves criticizing or confronting public sector unions. The reason is clear – private sector unions must be reasonable...
The mixture of unions and politics, is this debilitating disease destroying our government? Newscasters and political talk show hosts continue to rail at the symptoms of an administration run amok and America’s inevitable path to oblivion. They rant about the deficits, the expensive programs, sleazy politics, idealism, the road to socialism, and what we must...
A few days ago I noted Hamtramck, Michigan Seeks Bankruptcy. That Hamtramck is clearly bankrupt, unable to bay bills, saddled with unions salaries, pension promises that cannot be met, as well as other problems it desperately needs to get rid of without burdening taxpayers even more, is of no concern to the current governor of...
In Monterey County, Maryland, the Washington Post reports the county government spends 80% of their budget on personnel costs – a not unusual percentage. In their November 27th editorial entitled “Taming Montgomery’s Unions,” they further report that in the past 10 years salaries for Montgomery County employees have gone up 50% and health and pension...
It is not the best of times for unionized workers in America. However, while some workers have become resigned to new post-recession economic realities, others seem to be living in a dream world of rigid and righteous entitlement. And not surprisingly, it seems to break down by sector — private and public. A case in...
One might argue that if public sector workers are paid over-market wages and benefits, then lowering their wages and benefits to levels comparable with private sector taxpayers might take away the need to push for higher taxes. Less visible but equally relevant to taxpayers are the compensation packages provided to public utility workers. These public...
On August 4th an interesting analysis of public sector compensation was posted on the blog Inflection Point Diary entitled “How to Figure Out How Much Money a Local Government Manager Makes.” In this decidedly conservative analysis, the conclusion was that “real annual compensation at least 33 percent higher than the ‘salary’ the city would have...