[John.Galt2012]

My favorite sign said...”Self-employed support unions!” Yeah...right...not in a million years!

Actually, in the context of the Public Worker's Union, that statement is sorta true. Public worker's are paid by the taxpayer/government, so in effect they(along with us) are paying their own salary. That is why the Collective Bargaining Right of Public Workers is counter-intuitive. I guess it would be ok if each % increase in benefits corresponded to an equal % increase in taxes, then they could collectively bargain...but then they wouldn't.

[Hawthorn]

>> the Collective Bargaining Right of Public Workers is counter-intuitive <<

Thanks, Johnny G! Can't be said often enough!

To wit:

There's a fundamental difference between unions in the private sector and unions for government employees. It's apples to oranges.

Government employee unions are in effect "bargaining with themselves" since they exercise disproportionate influence in electing the political officials with whom they bargain, whereas private sector workers normally are bargaining with company officials whom they don't elect.

His understanding of this fundamental difference explains why even FDR himself, the greatest of all liberal/progressive heroes, was unalterably opposed to unions for government employees.

PS: Let's be careful not to call them "government workers." While many do in fact "work," a lot of them are simply "employed" without regard to any particular real work.