Are government labor unions the poison pill of free societies?

Question

Even liberal democrat Pres. Roosevelt understood the danger of government unions. In an August 16th, 1937 letter to Luther Steward, president of the National Federation of Public Employees, he wrote:
“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.”

FDR foresaw the damage government unions are inflicting on Americans today:

8/13/10 USA Today: At a time when workers' pay and benefits have stagnated, federal employees' average compensation has grown to more than double what private sector workers earn, a USA TODAY analysis finds. Federal workers have been awarded bigger average pay and benefit increases than private employees for nine years in a row. The compensation gap between federal and private workers has doubled in the past decade. Federal civil servants earned average pay and benefits of $123,049 in 2009 while private workers made $61,051 in total compensation, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The data are the latest available.

8/15/12 USA Today/Gannet:
-More than 21,000 retired federal workers receive lifetime government pensions of $100,000 or more per year
-Government pensions are vastly more generous than those in the private sector," says economist Veronique de Rugy of the market-oriented Mercatus Center
-The average federal pension pays $32,824 annually. The average state and local government pension pays $24,373, Census data show. The average military pension is $22,492. ExxonMobilExxon Corporation, which has one of the best remaining private pensions, pays an average of $18,250 per retiree
-All federal retirees receive health benefits.
-Pension payments cost $70 billion last year, plus $13 billion for retiree health care. Taxpayers face a $2 trillion unfunded liability — the amount needed to cover future benefits — for these programs, according to the government's audited financial statement.

And what happens if we taxpayers don't satisfy the greed of these, ahem, "Americans"?

5/1/12 New York Times:
-In Spain, trade unions estimated that more than one million people had protested in 80 cities
-Spain has slipped into a recession for the second time in three years, joining 11 other European countries officially in recession
-Labor unions have warned of mounting unrest if the center-right government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy pushes ahead with austerity measures to meet its budget-deficit targets while 5.6 million people — almost a quarter of Spain’s work force — are unemployed
-The German Federation of Trade Unions said more than 400,000 members had turned out for protests and marches over austerity measures

5/1/12 huffingtonpost.com: In Madrid, tens of thousands headed in the rain to the main square waving signs opposing cuts, while thousands turned out in Lisbon. In Athens around 5,000 workers, pensioners and students marched with banners reading "Revolt now" and "Tax the rich".

If this is the future you want, vote democrat.

Answer 1

One of the reasons so many cities are broke is Police and Fire unions and their pensions. There's no question that people who risk their lives should be paid well, but that actually applies to many few public service workers. Municipal unions hold their cities hostage for ever-increasing salaries, benefits and pensions by innuendo: "Give us what we want or there will be consequences."



Once, when the union representing the Fire Dept in a major US city was in difficult negotiations with the recalcitrant mayor, I heard a fireman say "Her house better not catch on fire, because the truck will have four flat tires before it gets there." I know he was joking, but the threat of blackmail is real.

Answer 2

No. - Unless you consider free enterprise to be poison - because that is all collective bargaining is - the free enterprise of those with a resource (workers and their labor) negotiating the best deal with those seeking the resource - employers. It is beyond astounding that anyone would think that rule of law should be used to strip the power from any person or organization to negotiate a price for their services.



Now, that does not mean that every deal made is a good one. If civic leaders gave away the municipal treasury to public employee unions, your remedy is to boot those leaders out at the next election and have the new leadership negotiate a new contract when the current one expires. But you don't have the option - legally or morally of using rule of law to enrich one side or another by outlawing free enterprise negotiation or price for services.

Answer 3

In terms of domestic policy, they express support for the “middle class,” while doing everything in their power to turn America into a two-class society: the very rich… whose wealth they only wish to plunder… and the very poor, who, in return for an endless array of government handouts, will be expected to do nothing more than to pull the Democrat lever on Election Day.



http://nonstopsigns.com/web/

Answer 4

Wait, so you are saying that government unions secure their members safe retirements?



Oh no.... All these Americans who aren't poor in their old age. What are we going to do about it?



So, you're saying that if you want a safe retirement, vote Democrat?



Make sure you make bumper stickers for that...