Ok. I'll bite since you don't care to pimp your blog here.*
http://muchedumbre.com/madison-the-end-of-the-public-sector-unionDon't forget, Mike, I was a State employee too. You're leaving out some critical information in your post. There's a huge difference between public employees and public employees (See what I did?). Along with the teachers, firefighters, highway patrol, health department workers (that's where you were, right?), are the clerical workers, the cafeteria workers, the bathroom cleaners, and so on.
Then there's the
appointed State employee. Usually a political crony of whoever is in office at the time, put there, and taken out, of his/her job by the whims of a politician. Frequently they're politicians themselves, having been disposed of by a previous gubernatorial administration. In the past, some of these appointees were actually professionals who knew the in's and out's of the department they were leading. They actually
cared about the teachers, firefighters, highway patrol, health department workers, social workers, clerical workers, cafeteria workers, bathroom cleaners, physicians and so on.
Of course, we both know that after all these years of Republican governors, that's no longer the case. So even the department heads are politicians. They don't care about those under them. Hell. As long as they get their raise, oops, sorry bonus, from the Governor they're happy. The little guys? Those raises went away years ago....
Here's another important point you left out. I didn't belong to the union when I worked for the State but I know this: As a professional, my salary was about 60% of a like-position "on the outside". In order to attract professionals like me, or schoolteachers, or social workers, or cafeteria workers, or bathroom cleaners; or physicians, the State proffered excellent benefits in the form of health care and retirement plans geared towards providing us a career as opposed to a job, despite the ridiculously small salary. Not for free, mind you, that was only for the Department Heads, we had to contribute to our retirement and health care just like everyone else.
I also knew that, although I wasn't a union member, the unions negotiated with management to secure the future of myself and my co-workers, not the political appointees (management itself) looking to make a quick buck at the expense of our schoolteachers, social workers, clerical workers, cafeteria workers or bathroom cleaners; or physicians.
What else did the union do for me? They insured that the Governor or Agency Head, the newly-elected or appointed official given a job not based on qualifications or compassion (like the teacher, social worker, cafeteria worker, bathroom cleaner, or physician) wouldn't fire me and my co-workers just because we belonged to another political party.
That's why unions, while flawed, are a good thing. Could they use some tweaking? Sure...
Unions could use some work to modernize and update their business plan.
Two years ago, GM was flawed and many, including you, said they must be destroyed.
Instead, GM reorganized, modernized, and updated their business plan. And is, today, more successful than it's been in years.
Part of that successful reorganization was the effort of the unions restructuring and capitulating to management in the form of wages, benefits, and pensions. In Wisconsin today, the unions are agreeing to pay more into their pension plans, make salary and benefit concessions, and work with management (the State) to better everyone.
But, that's not good enough!
Management (the State) has already promised the shareholders (the rich corporate interests in Wisconsin) tax breaks allowing their profits to grow even more. How are they paying for this? By killing the rights of the middle class to fair and honest wages and working conditions!.
The unions are powerful, just not as powerful as they were years ago. Big Business and Big States (with their political appointees) are even more powerful. They are grabbing more and more power with every Citizen's United (what a misnomer!) case out there. Bashing and destroying unions are the right wing, pro-rich, trickle down philosophy dream of every Republican, Libertarian, and Tea Party member out there.
If anything, I see unions growing, especially here in the South, in response to the union-busting bills being initiated by the likes of the Governor of Wisconsin and our very own Florida Gov. Jar Jar Binks.
It's high time the American people stood up to these people. Since when did it become popular to hate on teachers, police and firemen?
