This question does not seem to be asked enough. We have states that are going bankrupt and others having major problems balancing their budgets. But nobody is asking the question of why these unions exist.
I believe that Union leaders have exerted their power and hold this over all politicians heads including both Democrats and Republicans. They have much more power than the lobbyists we all hear horrible things about in Washington DC.
Unions were formed for two main reasons long ago. It was to stop a business from taking advantage of their workers through poor work conditions and low pay.
The first reason, poor working conditions. Why should there be a need to protect government workers against poor working conditions in the public sector. Our politicians are put in office to take care of or oversee our public services. I expect all of my politicians to make sure workers are not put into poor working conditions. If under the politicians watch conditions are found to be poor, it is my contention that the politician should be replaced if they do not fix the problem. No need for a union here.
The second reason is, business has a profit motive which often was selfish and unfair to the work force. Our government does not have a profit motive. No need for a union here.
Why is it that wages paid to public workers have skyrocketed much faster than the private sector and also maintaining or increasing fringe benefits. Public sectors workers work for us, they get paid from our tax money. So why is it the average public worker earns much more than the average private worker?
We have public workers that will retire today, then get rehired at their former job for a lower wage. What you don't see is that they are now collecting a government pension as well. In essence collecting two wages for the same job. This is nothing but a shell game, moving it off the local budget to the state budget.
Most will work for 30 years then retire at age 52-55 with a pensions equal to or better than 60% of their final salary. Of course the wage scale is setup so that these jobs receive excessive salary bumps toward the end of their career. Since they start receiving these benefits in their mid 50's they in essence start receiving their version of social security 13 years before the private sector workers can collect social security. States will not be able to afford these pensions down the road. It is logical to realize that a public worker receiving a pension 13 years longer than the average private sector worker will bankrupt the system much quicker.
When you look at vacation days and sick days we will see our government workers getting many more days off than the private sector. The number of government holidays usually outnumber those for the private sector almost two to one. Most people have heard how many workers retire with 200-300 unused sick days that they now get paid for. Today the overwhelming majority of private sector jobs do not let you accumulate them or incorporate them with your vacation days and are very limited with carryovers if any.
Back when I was in school I hardly remember ever having a substitute teacher. Today teachers can be out of the classroom on average 1 1/2 days per month in some states. 15 sick days out of a 180 day school year is excessive. What is going on? We are once again being taken advantage of.
Think logically about what has happened the past 25 years. Property values skyrocketed so budgets in the local governments blossomed, this money has been spent on workers, and we the taxpayer has been taken advantage of. Now that property values have dropped, revenues have also dropped. But the cost is still there.
You can read the stories about double dipping, excessive retirement payouts, wage increases and pensions. It's obvious that the taxpayer has been used by the public unions and our politicians. I do believe that all those worker that been promised wage packages, should be honored. But I believe that unions need to be done away with in the public sector and future contracts need to be cut back to where they are competitive with private sector jobs.
Why have our politicians allowed this to happen? The reason is the power exerted by the unions. They must bow down to them or they will use their money to replace them. Most politicians feel this way but can't come out and just say this. Look at the power and threats that happened in Wisconsin, the march on their capital, the defiance of the Democrats because they realize the power.
WAKE UP AMERICA
