Reno Nevada cannot afford to staff five of its fire stations because of crippling union compensation, bloated benefits, top heavy command structure and make-work work rules. This is only one example of how public employee unions are strangling the communities that they are hired to serve. This is one small example that is replicated throughout each community and state in the nation. Unfunded union benefits alone–a time bomb waiting to explode–are Three Trillion Dollars nationwide.
The sad truth is that there is no justification for public employee unions in the first place. The system that tolerates them is dark and unjust existing only for (i) the benefit of the politicians dependent on union contributions and support to get themselves elected, (ii) the union bosses that get power and wealth from their members, and (iii) the few deadwood employees who would fail in any competitive environment and are dependent on union seniority to remain on the public payroll. Excellence is not even mentioned, mediocrity is the norm.
Also true, the good, dedicated, high-preforming public workers are held back by the same unions that claim to represent them. Performance bonuses that could otherwise be available to reward excellence in performance are nonexistent. Seniority governs, holding back the top performers. This disincentive enforces mediocrity, the stuff of a declining society. Likewise the union members really have no voice. The cliques supporting the union bosses pressure conformity. If work slowdowns are called for, work slowdowns are socially enforced. Then, there is the lack of political choice in where political contributions generated from the pockets of public employees from their union dues go. In essence, they are paying for incompetent political leadership but have no choice in the matter. Finally, there is the false promise of retirement benefits which, because of the incompetent political leadership, will not be available to them on retirement. In short, the public employee union members are used for short term gain by others.
There is a critical difference between private sector unions and public sector unions, PRIVATE SECTOR UNIONS ARE SUBJECT TO THE LAWS OF THE MARKETPLACE. PUBLIC UNIONS ARE A MONOPOLY WITHOUT MARKET COMPETITION.
This fact is lost on the voting public. Private unions work for companies that compete in the marketplace. If their demands are too exorbitant in terms of wages, benefits or work rules, their employer will lose business to it competition. If the employer loses enough business, the employees lose their jobs. So a competitive market forces parties to be reasonable and respond to market conditions; in short, to excel in their jobs.
In the public union case, the government by definition is a monopoly free from competition. There is no market in which it must compete. Governments are by definition inefficient necessities in society. If their workers are allowed to unionize and collectively bargain for wages and benefits, there is no check or balance on their ability to extort increases, security, tenure, etc. A strike, walkout or slowdown creates a situation where there are no substitute government services. No competition.
A public union labor negotiation, is really no negotiation at all. The ritual of collective bargaining in the public union case is just a union boss talking to the incompetent politician who was elected with the help of the union dues. This incestuous relationship is driving our states, counties and cities to the brink of bankruptcy. It is dis-economic at its core.
Public employee unions perpetrate a fraud not only on the unsuspecting public but on the public employees themselves. We all lose with this unjust, uneconomic system.
Time for a change!