We don’t have to surrender to public-sector unions
Posted in: Government | October 24th, 2011
This article by Neil Reynolds looks at the history of public sector unions and why they’re a problem. In my mind, I’ve come to the conclusion that in most cases public sector unions simply shouldn’t exist. They are fundamentally different from private sector unions for two reasons:
- Unlike a private company, the government has no incentive to keep costs down. It can’t go out of business. There is no bottom line for a government. It can agree to almost anything and simply raise taxes or add on more debt.
- Public union members are also voters. When a government gives rich contracts to public sector unions it is literally buying votes. This is a huge conflict of interest that is simply wrong.
All over the western world, public sector pay and benefits are far more lavish than their private sector counterparts. In order to bring things into line public sector wages and benefits should be tied to whatever the going rate is in the private sector. If we don’t want to wind up like Greece, I don’t see any other way. Here’s the article:
We don’t have to surrender to public-sector unions
