Inverted Things
Avelaval
Jr. Member
Posts: 1,305
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« on: February 20, 2011, 11:22:49 AM » |
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There are a lot of folks worried, and with good cause, about the effect that public union pensions and healthcare will have on local government. From a philosophical perspective, it is absolutely unfair to the unions to cut their benefits, since the previous generation of union members basically chose lower pay in exchange for better benefits. And the government acquiesced, as future money seemed easier to promise than present money.
Now, there's philosophical and there's pragmatic. Given the state of things, some governments are saying "Whoops! Can't give you what we promised." And it's not pleasant, but the fact of the situation is that unions probably do have to give some things up.
(Some folks argue that public employee benefits should be cut to be on par with typical private employee benefits, as though it's an axiom that public employees shouldn't have anything better that private employees. I reject this axiom, as the only arguments in favor of this viewpoint are flavored heavily with sour-grapes.)
According to everything I've read about this current situation, the unions were willing to talk about cutting benefits. Scott Walker and his friends in the legislature ignored them. Instead Scott Walker dictated how much their benefits could be cut, AND said that they would lose their collective bargaining rights, AND said that the National Guard would be ready for worker unrest. (By the way, it's illegal for teacher's unions in Wisconsin to strike; that's why the collective bargaining is so important to them.)
(To translate this to a private sector situation, it seems this is rather like you going to your employer and saying "I understand our firm is having a tough time right now, and you may not be able to pay me what you agreed to. I'm willing to work with you. Can we talk?" And your employer responds "I've already decided to cut your pay by this much, and if you don't like it and try to quit I'll have some hit men bring you to work.")
Now look: I know people lie. The unions might well have been saying they were willing to accept lower benefits merely for good PR. The fact is, though, that the unions extended on open hand (perhaps insincerely), and Walker didn't bother to shake it even to humor them. Instead he responded with a hard slap in the face.
As for the aftermath... you get the union you deserve. Walker's slap in the face resulted in a teacher pseudo-strike. Good for them: remind the taxpayers that they have kids to take care of daily, which isn't cheap. And kudos to the democrats for running away. It prevents a more permanent poisoning of the union-government relationship, so that the unions might still be willing to negotiate in some good-faith.
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