Free Republic

Germany's liberal Free Democrats are ready to weaken the power of the influential trade unions in order to push through economic reforms were the party to enter government in next month's election, FDP leader Guido Westerwelle said on Tuesday. “I won't be looking for conflict, but I won't avoid it if it's necessary in order to create a new beginning for Germany,” he said in an interview in Berlin. In comments likely to fuel debate over which economic reform path Germany should take after the election, he accused the trade unions of being responsible for “blocking the reduction in mass...

It is a mistake to think that America's unions are in decline. Yes, the AFL-CIO is having its troubles.... Public sector unions, then, are not in decline at all. Indeed, they are extraordinarily powerful. They have many millions of members, they are loaded with money for campaigns and lobbying, and they have activists in virtually every political district in the country. No other interest groups can match their potent combination of money, manpower, and geographic dispersion. Ask Arnold Schwarzenegger. He has proposed reforms (of public employee pensions, of teacher tenure) that California's public sector unions fiercely oppose. And they have...