Sure, it’s radical, but this article makes a pretty good case that public employee unions are not really unions at all. Instead:
They’re collusive cartels that use campaign donations, organized get-out-the-vote onslaughts and sometimes physical threats to literally buy the acquiescence of those with whom they should be “negotiating”. The politicians are supposed to be working for we the taxpayer. But we the taxpayer have no seat at the table between the public employee unions and their political benefactors.
These unions are particularly strong in New Mexico, a state with a bloated government workforce. Of course, that strength in numbers makes the unions even more powerful and abusive of their power. How else would you explain AFSCME’s recent, illegal use of the state’s email system, to bash Republican gubernatorial candidate Susana Martinez even though she has not campaigned on reducing the government work force.
In Albuquerque, government employee unions, this time for the police, are also mounting a public relations campaign to avoid layoffs among their membership. While some conservatives think no amount of police is enough, I find it hard to believe that significant cost-savings cannot be found by cutting back — or extending the number of years that must be worked before cops can retire with a generous public pension.
Banning public employee unions is unlikely to happen, but there is no need for them and the public/policymakers need to understand this and make decisions accordingly.
Apparently only twelve states do NOT permit public sector unions. Here is the link to a good Cato institute article about the problem: http://www.cato.org/pubs/tbb/tbb_61.pdf
One thing that can be done in the internet age is to disclose the facts and figures about the cushy wages and benefits that NM public sector workers enjoy compared to the private sector. The ideal location for this information would be on the New Mexico Governor’s internet site. A Democrat governor would never do this – but perhaps a Republican governor would. One can only hope.
Can you fix the link? I’d really like to read the article.
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The post was to another blog, but apparently the blog or the link itself is no longer working, here is an excellent article on the subject from the Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/Ban-government-employee-unions-8528271.html
Thanks.
I’ve been concerned for some time about the influence of public employee unions in New Mexico. We seem to have an inordinate number of current and former government employees — teachers, etc. — in the legislature.
I keep hoping Albuquerque’s middle managers’ union will go on strike to see if anyone notices.