I disagree with your comparison to the private sector. First off there is virtually no private sector union. Secondly very few of us in the private sector have a contract.
My benefits (medical and retirement) have been changed multiple times in my lifetime with little to no compensation in return. For instance my pension was changed to a 401k, it was simply rolled over and the pension was eliminated. My healthcare plan went from 0$ contribution to thousand $ a year with reductions in coverage. Again no compensation for the change.
Furthermore I did not campaign, fund or elect by boss who controls my benefits and pay.
Please stop comparing the private sector to the public. There is no comparison. The public sector is organized crime which requires the private sector to pay protection money or face consequences.
“Please stop comparing the private sector to the public. There is no comparison. The public sector is organized crime which requires the private sector to pay protection money or face consequences.”
Not all public sector employees are unionized, particularly in the South, yet many of those states also have significant unfunded liabilities. This is not the fault of the employees. It is a conscious decision of politicians and the bureaucrats they hire to manage the government. Living in North Carolina I do no perceive bureaucrats at the state or local level being held hostage to what you refer to as the “organized crime” of the public sector. In this state unions have little influence over the legislature, public pensions are almost fully funded, and during the financial crisis of 2008, wages of state employees were actually cut by the legislature.
Most private sector employees do not have a formal written contract. When I speak of “contract” with respect to private sector I speak to the implicit agreement when an employee goes to work for an employer. The conditions of the contract can be changed during the term of employment and often are. At the time the conditions of employment are changed the employee can accept the changes or leave the firm. However, the compensation agreed to up to the point of the formal change of conditions must be paid for labor performed.
For example, an employer cannot change wages and other compensation for past services. If I am paid every two weeks at a rate of $10.00 per hour, an employer cannot hand me a paycheck this week paying me at a rate of $8.00 per hour. The pay reduction applies only to wages after the announcement of the reduction, not past wages owed.
Similarly, if went to work for a company in 1970 and was told in addition to wages I would receive a pension worth 50% of my ending salary if I worked 20 years, I am owed that pension if I fulfilled the 20 years service and the company did not modify the terms of the pension plan during that period. That is the contractual relationship between an employee offering labor and an employer compensating him/her for that labor. This applies to any employee, public or private.
When your benefits were changed as a private employee the employer did not take anything away from you with respect to wages and benefits earned up to the time the benefits were changed. When your pension was changed to a 401K your accrued benefits to that point in time were rolled into the 401k, not taken away from you. Since the accrued benefits were not taken away, you did not incur a loss on the labor hours you had given the company to that point in time. When the company changed the rules you were free to leave. If you stayed with the firm when it reduced or changed benefits, by staying you were agreeing to the new terms of the employee/employer contract.
With respect to public sector employees campaigning, funding or electing bosses you are suggesting they are responsible for the actions of their bosses. Not all public employees belong to unions, not all belong to the same party, not all campaign for political candidates and not all vote. Furthermore, even if public employees acted 100% in unison with respect to elections (which they don’t), there are many times more non public employee citizens voting in elections than employees of the government affected by an election. If public sector employees are truly extorting the private sector, businesses and individuals comprising the private sector have the right to organize and with superior numbers elect representatives who will change the rules governing compensation of public employees going forward. What they do not, and should not, have the right to do is reduce compensation for work already performed under terms to which both parties agreed.