The hand that feeds you

Even with a reliably pro-labor and progressive county board of supervisors, some county workers have gone on strike.

The development recalls why Franklin Roosevelt opposed public sector unions, even in the heyday of the New Deal.

Edward Ring of the California Policy Center provides his perspective:

"Public sector unions should be illegal. They have very little in common with private sector unions, which, properly regulated, play a vital role in society. The differences between public sector and private sector unions are significant. For example:

1 – Private sector unions cannot be unreasonable in the demands they bring to negotiations with management, because if they ask for too much, they will bankrupt the company. Public sector unions, on the other hand, know that government agencies can simply raise taxes to fund their demands.

2 – Private sector unions negotiate with management that is either elected by shareholders or represents private owners of the company. Public sector unions negotiate with politicians who are often elected using campaign contributions that came from those unions. Politicians know that if they reject union demands, the unions will fight their reelection and replace them with a politician who will do what they want.

3 – Private sector unions are not generally pushing a political agenda that goes beyond their pay and benefits, their work conditions, and the practices specific to their industry. Public sector unions are unified in their drive for higher taxes, and more tax revenues allocated to pay and benefits for public employees. Increasingly, equally significant, and unlike private sector unions, public sector unions share an ideological agenda that favors bigger government.

The inherent political agenda of public sector unions is more pay and benefits for public employees, work rules that result in more government employees than might actually be necessary to efficiently perform government services, and more government programs and agencies in order to hire still more government employees who become union members paying union dues...

"The consequences in union-controlled California are obvious: high taxes, punitive regulations, financially stressed cities and counties, failing schools, and crumbling, inadequate infrastructure, to name a few.

These facts lead to a logical and completely nonpartisan conclusion – public sector unions should be illegal. And if they’re not illegal, than at the least, they should be exposed. Politicians of all parties should be willing to stand up to these unions, to refuse to accept their campaign contributions, and to explain to the public that public sector unions are NOT the same as private sector unions."

Read the whole thing here.