Wisconsin, Unions, Greed, and Double Standards
The title of this post pretty much sums up my feelings about the current situation in Wisconsin over the proposed bill to limit collective bargaining among public sector unions. The bill the Governor of Wisconsin is proposing is something that is not only necessary but long overdue. Reckless spending, a significant percentage being spending on union pensions and benefits, has left Wisconsin no choice but to reign in spending, including spending in the public sector.
The reaction by the unions and Democratic legislators to this proposed bill is saddening but not unexpected. Unions have long had their way, to the detriment of the taxpayers of Wisconsin. As for the Democratic legislators fleeing the state to prevent a vote on the bill, that is an unfortunate tactic that sadly has been used by both parties in the past.
The unions argue that the bill is an attack on workers and the middle class. Nothing could be further from the truth. The bill is about fiscal responsibility and balancing the budget. Does anyone without an agenda honestly believe the Governor would propose a bill like this if the government was rolling in dough? As for an attack on the middle class, unions only represent 12% of the workforce, which hardly makes it an attack on the middle class.
Collective bargaining is not a right, it is a privilege. It is a privilege that federal employees do not have. As previously stated, only 12% of the workforce is unionized, with most employees choosing not to belong to unions. So collective bargaining is not something that most employees need or even necessarily want.
The old argument is once again raised that teachers are underpaid for the important work they do. While this may have been true in the past, it is hardly true today. Union workers in Wisconsin make substantially more in salary and benefits that do their counterparts in the private sector. The percentage of salary that union workers in Wisconsin pay towards their pensions and health insurance is far below what federal workers and private sector workers pay. The compensation packages that union employees receive at retirement are much more generous that packages received by non-union employees.
Union workers seem to have no qualms about receiving these kinds of generous benefits at the expense of the taxpayers of Wisconsin. They also have no qualms about keeping their students out of class while they protest in the capital. They have no qualms about having doctors right them phony sick leave slips so they can continue to protest.
The overall behavior of the union protesters in Wisconsin has also been deplorable. They have occupied the capitol building and been loud and disruptive. Their signs and chants show a lack of civility that is disturbing coming from supposedly educated professionals. If you were to follow the coverage provided by the liberal main stream media however, you would think they were all a bunch of angels. Comparing this to the coverage by that same media to Tea Party protests is very enlightening. The immensity of the differences in coverage is a reflection of the bias held by most media.
The bottom line is that if something is not done about the out of whack benefits that have been granted to unionized public sector workers in Wisconsin by collective bargaining, real damage will be done not to the union employees, but to the students that these same employees are supposed to be teaching. Furloughs will happen simply because the state of Wisconsin can no longer afford to keep funding these types of benefits. So it the union employees are truly concerned about their students, instead of their pocketbooks, they should accept the bill, as should the absent Democratic legislators. With the economy of the country in the state it is presently in, sacrifices have to be made by everyone, including union employees.
Of course this is just my opinion, I could be wrong.
