Archive for category Unions
Public Employee Unions Strangle Governments and Numb Public Employees
Posted by Tom in Economics, Employment, Justice, State Finances, Unions on January 7, 2012
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!
Union Bosses Against Union Members
Posted by Tom in Foreign Policy, Tariffs, Trade, Unions on June 12, 2011
Federal pools of money for whatever, medicare, education, or worker retraining promote waste, abuse, fraud and political favoritism. Case in point currently is three already negotiated free-trade agreements with Korea, Panama, and Columbia that are being held up by President Obama because he is conditioning their ratification on Congressional expansion of Trade Adjustment Assistance program, a “worker retraining” program or pool of federal money often funneled through the unions. Republicans in Congress have been unwilling to create another federal pool of money for abuse by union bosses.
So the situation is that export industry expansions and the US jobs that they create will be held up or denied because President Obama wants to appease the union bosses who elect him. Note, the jobs that are sacrificed are not the bosses jobs but the members jobs. Note also the money flows through the union bosses with vigorish and political favoritism as the toll.
So, in the midst of 9+% unemployment, our president sacrifices job creation for political expediency. Shameful!
And, it’s a thin edge at best for only 7% of the private sector workforce is unionized. But the real free-market private sector workforce is hurt in the process. High unemployment will continue as long as this president and his ilk are in power.
Public Unions vs. the Public
Posted by Tom in Bankruptcy, Economics, Employment, State Finances, Unions on April 6, 2011
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 NOT AND HAVE NO CHECKS OR BALANCES.
This fact is lost on the ignorant public because the issue is framed in terms of “union rights.” Whatever that means it has no applicability to public unions. Private unions work for companies that compete in the marketplace. If their demands are too exorbitant in terms of wages and benefits, 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 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 or walkout or slowdown creates a situation where there are no substitute government services. No competition.
Furthermore, the public unions are structured so that mandatory dues are taken from the pay of each government worker. A portion of those dues pay the union bosses and another portion go to political slush funds to be used to elect political candidates favorable to union causes. In essence the union bosses direct money to the elections of…..who? The very people who employ them and “negotiate” their wages and benefits.
So, a public union 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 employer boss who was elected with the help of the union boss!
This incestuous relationship is driving our states, counties and cities to the brink of bankruptcy. It is dis-economic to its core. It perpetrates a fraud upon the unsuspecting public. Finally, it increases the theft against our children and grandchildren and is wrong.
The only unrepresented parties are the taxpayers!
Obstruction of Government
Posted by Tom in Budgets, Employment, Politics, State Finances, Unions on March 25, 2011
Stephen Hayes and john McCormack chronicle the Democrats obstruction of government in their Weekly Standard article, On Wisconsin! They detail the fight, the several attempts at compromise, the bifurcation of the public employee bill, into a budgetary section and non-budgetary section, the independent legislative counsel’s blessing on that bifurcation and the ultimate passage of the bill restricting collective bargaining.
The fact that screams for attention is that the November election put the Republicans in control of both houses of the legislature and the governor’s mansion. The Republicans ran on platforms that the Democrats and public unions were bankrupting the state. The voters understood the danger of the unholy alliance between Democratic politicians and public union leaders: taxpayer money from the public trough went thru the union employee paychecks to the union bosses then back to elect the Democrat politicians. Incest at its best. No checks, no balances, no taxpayer input, unfettered theft! Well, the taxpayers did get their input at the ballot box in November and input they did.
In an historically Democratic state, a birthplace of so called “progressivism,” the voters kicked out the majority Democrats and installed a Republican government. But all the elected, Democrat and Republican, took an oath of office to uphold the constitution under which they were elected and sworn into office. At times it may be ugly but in the state democracies joined together in this republic under our constitution, the majority, fairly elected, is the government. Period!
It is obvious that those sacred oaths were only so many words to the defaulting Democrats. They were meaningless when put to the test. The elected minority, rather than honor their duties, deserted their offices, left the state, took a powder, went on the lamb. Dereliction of duty? Yes. Obstruction of government? Surely!
So after several attempts to cajole the recalcitrant Democrats to return, the legislature passed the ordinance freeing the state taxpayers, the voters from the most heinous aspects of the public employee union lock on the state treasury. The national brouhaha sponsored by President Obama and the national unions were only so much puff. The voters in Wisconsin and elsewhere realize that public unions have no place in a democracy, no competitive checks and balances to keep them and their political bosses honest. They have stolen way too much so far and amassed way too many unfunded liabilities yet to come.
The taxpayers are hurting and its time to stop this incestuous alliance. On Wisconsin!
Leadership In Short Supply Nowadays…But Not With These Two
Posted by Tom in Congress, Liberalism, National Character, Nationalized Health Care, Social Security, State Finances, Unions, Welfare on March 1, 2011
Here are two Reno men who tell it like it is and have the guts to solve the problem, Ty Cobb and Frank Partlow. Their articles follow.
TIME TO REDUCE BENEFITS FOR ALL OF US
The United States and the State of Nevada together are facing budget deficits that threaten the financial viability of the country and the state. The national debt is reaching unprecedented levels– this year alone it will reach a record $1.6 trillion, due to the weak economy, higher spending, and renewed tax cuts.
At the national level, combined expenditures on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are projected to account for 45% of federal spending, up from 27% in 1975. That entitlement spending could triple by 2035. When defense spending, interest on the debt, and federal pensions are added in, this accounts for 86% of federal spending. Interest on the debt currently costs $200 billion annually, but if nothing is done, in just five years the interest on this debt will triple to around $640 billion.
Nevada does not have the luxury of printing money to cover budget deficits, and must have a budget that is balanced. The Governor is set to accomplish that by severe spending cuts and not raising taxes. His opponents in the Legislature have squawked loudly, but have yet to offer an alternative plan. The target of the Governor’s cuts are personnel, since that is where the lion’s share of expenditures go, with a focus on reigning in overly-generous pensions, benefits and salaries, a problem that is even greater at the local government level.
Government employees must be prepared to accept reductions in retirement pensions and pay much more for health benefits. That goes not only for local and state employees, but those who work for or are retired from the federal government, including military retirees. The Defense budget is not sustainable and will have to be reduced in the future, especially to offset soaring retirement and health benefit costs.
Those of us who have reached 65 and are now receiving Social Security and Medicare must also be prepared to accept changes—means testing of Social Security perhaps, more paid in doctor visits and prescriptions. Yes, I know, we who have paid money into the system for decades in good faith have reason to protest while those who have been less thrifty in planning their retirements will not be penalized. It is what it is—not fair, not fair at all, but it must be done.
And those of us who served in the military can make the point that our service was much more demanding and difficult. I, for one, had two tours in Viet-Nam in my 26 years—living in the swamps, fighting off the VC and cobras alike, separated from our families for a year at a time (I only saw my first-born one week the first year of her life!). We moved 17 times our first 13 years of marriage, I worked 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in my 6 years in the White House. No overtime, no sick leave, no padding my retirement with phony “call backs” or special health programs (oh, I do go to the VA, but to participate in an Agent Orange tracking program for those of us exposed to the dangerous defoliant).
Still, the nation cannot afford the entitlement programs that I and many others are eligible for. The state, and especially local governments, is on the verge of a financial crisis and personnel costs, particularly benefits and retirement, must be roped in. It is happening in Wisconsin, New Jersey, Indiana and other states where budgets can only be balanced by reigning in benefits for government employees. GOV Sandoval says it must also happen here, and he is right, but at all levels of government.
It ain’t nice, it isn’t pretty, but it must be done.
-Tyrus W. Cobb
Former Special Assistant to the President, Republished from Nevada Appeal
By Frank Partlow
I can barely spell it, but I am a Septuagenarian. At 72, I receive a federal pension for 34 years of Army service, Social Security, Medicare, Tricare and VA benefits. I believe I am “entitled” to all of that. Septuagenarians disagree on many issues, but not on their “entitlements.”
These entitlements are unsustainable. My federal paymaster is $14.5 trillion in debt and borrowing $1.5 trillion more each year. 72 million entitled “Boomers” are right behind. Social Security is a “Ponzi Scheme” which makes Bernie Madoff blush. I receive as benefits what three current workers pay in. What happens when there are two workers paying in? More federal debt.
The only way to fix the deficit and balance the federal budget is to reduce current and future entitlements, which account for 62% of budget outlays and grow each year. Septuagenarians and Boomers not only cringe at this idea, they vow to unseat any politician foolish enough to suggest it. The problem with that approach is that while they may live long enough to collect, their children and grandchildren will not, even while facing crushing new taxes.
A better way is for each generation to take a hit—mine by some sort of means test for Social Security payments. The Boomers could delay their retirement to say, age 70. Those still paying Social Security taxes could pay in a higher percentage of their salary. We are the only country in the world without age limits on medical procedures, an enormous drain on our Medicare and Medicaid, as health care costs grow by nine percent per year. The potential list of reductions is virtually as endless as the nature of “entitlements” themselves.
When Social Security began, the oldest US generation was the poorest. In part by taking mortgage interest rate deductions on their income taxes for thirty or more years, Septuagenarians are now the richest. Can that continue?
Our parents were called the “Greatest Generation” for getting the US through the Great Depression and World War ll. One can argue about that title, but they did get themselves out of their own jams. My generation won’t even come close to doing that. Septuagenarians must understand that our world, its mores, beliefs, facts and fictions are irrelevant.
We septuagenarians are very opinionated. We caused the problems we now face. Yet, we expect the 50 year olds now in public office to jump at to our solutions. Perspective is the only thing we have to contribute. Experience yields perspective and is what you get while you are looking for something else. Our perspectives will help those younger generations understand that if they do what we did, they will get what we got. They can ignore our advice. However, they will live with their decisions and we will not.
With the wisdom of experience and perspective, my generation should lead the way. If, however, we are unwilling to sacrifice some of what was heretofore promised, we will deserve to be called what we will have become: the “Selfish Generation.”
Special Report for the Northern Nevada Network.
Frank Partlow is a Nevada veteran since 1964 who now lives in downtown Reno
Wisconsin Teachers Are Doing OK
Posted by Tom in Public Employees, Unions on February 28, 2011
Here’s the link to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction database. In it you can find the current compensation of school employees, like the following:
AVERAGE WAGE AND BENEFITS (remember this is for about 9 months of work) includes a computation for retirement benefits, health and life insurance, sick day pay accrual, vacation days, personal holidays.
TEACHERS:
Milwaukee $86,297
Elmbrook $91,065
Germantown $83,818
Hartland Arrwhd $90,285 (highest teacher was $122,952-lowest was $64,942)
STAFF:
Arrowhead – Bus Mng – Kopecky – $169,525
Arrowhead – Principal – Wieczorek - $152,519
Grmtwn - Asst Princ – Dave Towers – $123,222
Elmbrk - Burliegh Elemetary – Principal Zahn- $142,315 (for a primary school!!)
And these folks are striking and forcing school closures because they don’t want to contribute to their pensions!
The system is upside down! Taxpayers better wake up.
BO From the Madison Wisconsin Mob Turns Off Voters in 50 States
Two articles highlight the stink from the Wisconsin capital sit-in and the incongruity of public employee unions. In NewsWeek, Robert Samuelson tells the story of How Big Labor Became Little Labor, tracing the decline of the private union workforce from 36% to 6.9% since the mid 1950s. “For unions, this pitted present members’ expectations — for high wages, generous fringe benefits — against companies’ needs to lower costs and, thereby, protect future jobs.” He points out that now 36% of the public sector is unionized but now running into the same problems, expectations do not jive with reality. With the Madison Mob continuing its sit-in, he foresees little labor becoming mini-labor!
Mark McKinnon in his Daily Beast post, End of the Privileged Class, argues that we do not need public employee unions. In that he agrees with FDR who said that unions have no place in the public sector. McKinnon makes four good points to support his case:
1. Public Unions Are Big Money. 10 of the top 20 political contributors in the last 20 years are unions and only four are corporations. The three biggest unions gave over $170 million in the 2010 election cycle.
2. Public Unions Redistribute Wealth:
“Unlike private-sector jobs, which are more than fully funded through revenues created in a voluntary exchange of money for goods or serv-ices, public-sector jobs are funded by taxpayer dollars, forcibly collected by the government (union dues are often deducted from public employees’ paychecks). In 28 states, state and local employees must pay full union dues or be fired. A sizable portion of those dues is then donated by the public unions almost exclusively to Democratic candidates. Michael Barone sums it up: “public-employee unions are a mechanism by which every taxpayer is forced to fund the Democratic Party.”
3. Public Unions Silence the Voters Voice:
“Big money from public unions, collected through mandatory dues, and funded entirely by the taxpayer, is then redistributed as campaign cash to help elect the politicians who are then supposed to represent taxpayers in negotiations with those same unions. In effect, the unions sit on both sides of the table and collectively bargain to raise taxes while the voters’ voice is silenced.”
4. Public Unions Are Unnecessary:
“The primary purpose of public unions today, as ugly as it sounds, is to work against the financial interests of taxpayers: the more public employees are paid in wages and uncapped benefits, the less taxpayers keep of the money they earn. It’s time to call an end to the privileged class.”
I would argue that the big union bosses have misled the public employee rank and file. The teachers, engineers, social workers in government are basically dedicated people who have been misled into thinking they will get pensions that are not funded, medical care that is excessive and salary and fringes that will continue to outstrip the compensation of the people who pay the taxes that fund their salary and benefits. So I condemn the fat-cat union bosses long before the good public servants.
In any case, the handwriting is on the wall and this basic element of run away government will stop. Voters can’t stand the smell!
Harry Reid…Nevada Doldrum
Posted by Tom in Housing, Nevada, Politics, Real Estate, Unions, Yucca Mountain on February 23, 2011
Old Harry sure has done a lot for Nevada, or is it to Nevada?
Here’s some recent foreclosure data for Reno and Las Vegas:
One in sixteen homes in Reno is in foreclosure; and one in nine homes is Las Vegas is in foreclosure, that’s 11%!
The unemployment rate in the state is 14.6%
Yet Reid rejects a Nevada Energy Park plan for nuclear reprocessing and generation which would not only bring thousands of jobs to the state but create a Nevada Permanent Fund, much like Alaska’s, that would pay each family an annual dividend of over $2,000! Harry is sending jobs and money to other states.
Oh, if that’s not enough, Harry now wants to ban prostitution! Yep, kick another industry out! Makes no sense at all. At least these folks work for a living, something Harry who had fed at the public trough for too many years, doesn’t understand!
Maybe Harry just got religion or something. If that’s the case, the gaming industry should start to worry. After all he may next consider gambling a vice!
The public union bosses should apologize to their members for getting this idiot elected. It’s the members who are suffering, not the fat cat bosses.
Public Employee Unions Exist For Their Leaders….Not Their Members!
Posted by Tom in Economics, Education Facts & Policies, State Finances, Unions on February 22, 2011
Let’s start with a simple question: who are the most powerful people in our nation? Congressmen? Senators? Governors? How about the President? No, not even close. All of these people come and go. Well then, what about the entrenched bureaucrats? They come but don’t go. Close, but no cigar. All of these folks are dependent, they are beholden.
Beholden to whom? Who controls them? Well the voters are too disorganized, with independents swinging elections; and the voters are fickle from election to election. What about the people who can deliver votes, and I mean “deliver” in the Chicago sense of the word. These are the special interest people who can ENFORCE discipline. Who can command delivery of votes. These are the union leaders.
These people are as powerful as any dictator in a banana republic, or more timely, as any dictator in the middle east! They tell President Obama which side the bread is buttered on. So he jumps in to the Wisconsin fracas against the citizens calling pension reform “an attack on the unions.” Or, he tubes the widow and orphan bondholders in favor of the UAW and takes over GM.
Think about the position of a union leader. Fat compensation, fawning liberal press reporting what you want, unlimited expense accounts, no oversight on union control or finances, and you OWN the politicians. Think of that they own the President, supposedly the most powerful position in the world!
What does one do to stay in that position? He or she keeps members in line. What’s his major priority? To stay on top, to stay in power. And the only thing he must do is keep members in line.
That is done by promising, by confronting, and by creating dissension (in other words “community organizing”). Is any of this necessary for the welfare of the members? Hardly! But it is necessary for the leaders to retain their positions.
The thing about this “community organizing” is that it need not be true, it need not be real, it need not be economic. Yes, that’s right, it can all be a big lie. But the big lie works. It really works well where union membership is mandatory either legally or practically. De jure or de facto.
So where there is no economic hope of pension payouts every being realized, union leaders promise more and negotiate for greater pension benefits. Is so doing, they lie to their members and the lie is necessary to keep them in power.
The sad, immoral fact is that the union members rely on these powerful leaders who are only acting in their own behalf. Members rely to their detriment on this “super class” of rulers. When will they wake up?
Leftist Confronts Problems of His Own Making
Posted by Tom in Budgets, California, Deficit, State Finances, Unions on February 20, 2011
The picture of a Democratic governor confronting the out-of-control public pension mess that he himself initiated in his earlier term. California pension payouts have gone from $2 Billion to $6 Billion in 10 years. Of course, there’s a lot of games played with last minute promotions, etc. to maximise those generous payouts. The state’s program is underfunded and those unfunded liabilities don’t show up on the accounting books.
Those books show a $25.4 Billion current budget deficit! Jerry Brown wants to punt a tax increase to help solve the budget gap to the taxpayers. But he needs a handful of Republicans to agree to put the tax increase on the ballot. Business groups and the Republicans want the pension issue included as part of the fix.
According to the WSJ article, Public-Pension Fight Surfaces in California, ”Several big unions argue that the time isn’t right for a pension overhaul, including some that helped block efforts along those lines by former Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. They worry that union members would have to pay significantly higher costs to fund their pensions, among other things.”
Imagine that, they worry that they would have to pay significantly higher costs to fund their pensions!
If there is any solace in this, it’s that the man responsible for public union collective bargaining in the state must now deal with the mess he created! Public employee unions, public monopolies, even FDR would be shocked!