Is this a contradiction? Unions played a pivotal role in 20th-century America, protecting the working man and woman against unsafe conditions, excessive hours and starvation wages. And: Public sector unions in the 21st century, as currently run, weaken America.
We dont think this is a contradiction for these reasons:
The great union battles were fought in the private sector. Public sector unions are relatively new. For example, the state of Ohio allowed collective bargaining beginning only in 1983. Public sector unions were not part of the heroic union struggles of the last century.
Most of the achievements of unions have been firmly ensconced in law. No one is going to repeal the extensive safety regulations, the child labor laws and the almost countless other restrictions on exploitation of the worker.
As a rule, public sector unions expect automatic pay raises based on seniority, not on performance.
As a rule, public sector employees enjoy pensions and health care benefits that far exceed those in the private sector.
There is an inherent conflict of interest in public sector unions that does not apply to private sector unions. The public official negotiating for the government is under structural threat or structural reward. If the official bends against the union, the union can spend big dollars for his opponent at election time. If the official bends toward the union, the union can spend big dollars on his behalf at election time. This direct control of funds by government employees is a conflict of interest that would not be tolerated in any other governmental context.
Perhaps most important, the complexity of government today shifts the implications of collective bargaining within the government context. In the private sector, the implicated actors are the workers and the employer. Thats it. No one else. This is not so in the public sector context. A decision reached between the public sector union and the state the negotiator on the other side of the table are not the only entities affected by the decision. Rather, countless municipalities within the state are also implicated. Somewhat like unfunded mandates imposed by the federal government on states, the results of labor negotiations within a state often impose tremendous financial obligations on municipalities.
Unfunded mandates are unwise public policy, whether for states or for municipalities. Public sector unions cause unfunded mandates in many states.
State governments now struggling to get their budgets under control need to consider the structural complexities that public sector unions pose. These complexities vary from state to state; there is no one size fits all. What does clearly emerge from this maze is the distinction between a private sector and a public sector union. Even if one grants that a private sector union is a right, this is certainly not the case with a public sector union.
However these issues of structure and of political philosophy shake out, the bottom line is that when a state runs out of money, there is no choice but to ask everyone to make sacrifices. Wages. Pensions. Whatever there are no sacred cows when there is no cash. Whether it is the Democrat-favored teacher unions, or the Republican-favored police and firefighter unions, when the cash runs out, the cash cow dies. The only question is: sooner, or later?
Copyright © 2011 by the Intermountain Jewish News
