Reigning in Public Union Power in Wisconsin, Ohio and Hawaii

Hawaii Reporter ^ | Feb. 24, 2011 | Michael P. Rethman

[La Enchiladita]

It’s not only Republican governors who are cheering for Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and Ohio’s Governor John Kasich as they work to rein-in public employees’ union in those state. Democrats, including Hawai‘i’s own Neil Abercrombie, holding the top jobs in other statehouses may be closet fans – because they face the same problems Walker and Kasich are bravely trying to solve as they seek to balance their budgets.

On the federal level, I am pessimistic about President Obama on this issue. Obama faces no statutory requirement to balance the federal budget and will soon have increased the total federal debt by over 30% in just his first three years in office. And Obama’s support of labor unions is so broad that he’s ventured well beyond supporting government employee’s unions and orchestrated the de facto nationalization of General Motors and Chrysler Corporations.

[La Enchiladita]

Viewed from an historical perspective, even progressive Democrat and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt recognized back in the mid-20th Century that permitting public employees to engage in collective bargaining would be a foolish mistake and perhaps even illegal.

Wow! This is a dynamite article, making the case against public employee unions crystal clear.

[La Enchiladita]

To be fair,[haha] government employee’s unions both here in Hawai‘i and across the nation have become highly effective at one thing, namely building voting blocs that help protect government jobs and employee benefits no matter how much they drain from the private economy that pays the bills. In the several decades in which government employee’s unions have been legal, government officials at all levels have been pressured by public employee unions and their voting blocs to award nonsensical salaries (often based on longevity rather than productivity) plus overly generous life-long benefits that officials hope someone else will figure out how to pay for long after they are gone.

Woot, woot. Says it all...

[fatnotlazy]

The unions have to be destroyed, or at the very least, their power to extort money from the taxpayers has to be curtailed. The states are broke; the feds are broke. Something has to give. And it has to be soon.

[devistate one four]

And if the teachers and others can’t deal without a union
they can go work in a factory or a coal mine.

Bet there’s no takers.

Hell, my teachers had to work summer jobs to make ends meet, not jamaca. They LOVED the job!

[Carley]

Hawaii is a lost cause and they like it that way.

[newgeezer]

Reigning in Public Union Power ...

The "Hawaii Reporter" needs a (better) proofreader.

[La Enchiladita]

Do proofreaders exist anymore?
I think they rely on spell check, which does not read for meaning...

[magslinger]

Exactly. Obama is reigning in public union power. What we need is another Gipper to rein in public union power.

[magslinger]

Somebody who would rain on public union power would be a step in the right direction.

[RetiredArmy]

Ticks me off that any government employee is allowed to strike for better wages, stuff, yet the military, the ultimate government employee, the ones who put their butts on the line every stinking day in this country, are not allowed anyone to speak for them. No, we are at the mercy of the same thieves who give themselves pay raises, yet tell social security oldies, retired military personnel, do not get a pay raise for TWO years, and probably face it again yet next year. This illegal administration gives the military two straight years of the lowest pay raises in history and the rumor next year a freeze is planned. BUT, the same stinking thieves in congress give THEMSELVES a pay raise.

[immadashell]

Do proofreaders exist anymore? I think they rely on spell check, which does not read for meaning...

The reporter (who probably thinks he is the smartest person in every room) is most likely a product of the union run public school system and was taught by a "teacher" who couldn't be fired.

[La Enchiladita]

Obama is REIGNING because of public union power.
That’s their ticket and it’s about to expire.

[La Enchiladita]

Great points! Hear, hear!!

[FrankR]

[Free Vulcan]

The failure of the Blowhard-Pinhead strategy on record.

Best part is that the Dems have put all their money strategy on govt unions and have sown the seeds of their own destruction.

[kenavi]

Somebody who would rain on public union power would be a step in the right direction.

Beat me to it. You "reigned" on my parade!

[Logical me]

The states are broke; the feds are broke. Something has to give. And it has to be soon.

Agree. Our problem is we have let the hard core communists take over the Government until the House change. Even now I have some reservation about the new House. Seems we have some Republicans we may not trust. The RATS still have the agenda to remove all wealth from the more affluent citizens to feed their greedy butts.

[Islander7]

I am proud to say, the author's wife is a FB contact I regularly interact with.

Her Hump Day Report is a good read.

:-)

[4Liberty]

[Monorprise]

Its true public employee unions are very successful as looting the public, in a never ending self serving cycle.