From watching the news or reading the AFL-CIO blog, it seems the growing government-worker demonstrations in state capitols have all the zeal and righteousness of the recent pro-democracy Egypt protests. Their passion is understandable -- after all, they are seeking to protect hard-fought benefits packages obtained in earlier negotiations. Moreover, government workers justifiably feel like scapegoats for politicians eager to balance budgets.
But these are hardly pro-democracy protests. In fact, they are anti-democracy protests. Protest leaders are seeking to thwart the will of voters and a public increasingly upset that government workers are taking advantage of their already generous entitlement packages to the disadvantage of taxpayers.
Americans are fed up that teachers unions protect bad teachers and block reform. We're frustrated that government workers spike their final-year salary and over-time pay to obtain a high life-time payout, effectively gaming the system. We wonder why large pockets of government workers retire early with a "disability." We chafe at government health-care policies and pensions in which state and local employees contribute little, if anything, while benefiting from generous payouts that squeeze government budgets.
Meanwhile, the union leadership approaches every cut as an attack that must be defended as a last stand. Last week, several Wisconsin districts closed schools as teachers went to protest a proposal seeking to eliminate collective bargaining rights for public employees. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, introduced the proposal as a way to deal with the state's $3.6 billion budget shortfall without laying off government workers.
It's not only Republican leaders making these decisions to balance state budgets. Democratic governors including New York's Andrew Cuomo and California's Jerry Brown are making tough decisions to deal with the reality that revenue is no longer there to pay the salary, benefits and post-retirement pay and healthcare of government workers.
But like petulant children, union leaders are urging their members to demand the status quo rather than deal with the new reality of state and local governments teetering on bankruptcy. Rather than advocating governments ignore the deficit problem, union leaders could do some good by being part of the solution.
Union leaders could propose ways to consolidate and cut government spending to save money. No one has better knowledge than the government workers themselves what is excessive spending. Politicians are eager to hear how to cut waste, and the unionized government leadership can present itself as part of the solution rather than simply adding to the problem.
It's time we all make difficult choices and cut back on entitlement spending and government programs -- we can no longer afford the status quo, and staying wedded to our old ways disadvantages future generations. It's no longer feasible to just suggest all of our budget problems can be fixed by raising taxes on Americans making more than $250,000 a year. Instead, unions should be creative and think about how else to ease financial problems. Adding jobs is one way -- employed people pay income tax. Unions can help by encouraging a state to be business friendly. Virginia is a great example of this: it has a low unemployment rate because the state has found a way to be bipartisan in its approach to business without kowtowing to unions.
Unions should use their political power to be creative. States are hurting due to declining tax revenue. Some of this revenue is sales tax revenue being lost as consumers buy from Internet retailers. Meanwhile, local retailers such as Borders, Tweeter and Ultimate are closing stores and further eroding not only sales tax revenue but also jobs and thus state income tax revenue. Rather than focus on just union jobs, savvy union leaders should focus on the health of the overall state economy and tax revenue.
Unions can no longer supersede the popular will of state and local voters to get their way. Yet, in the case of the Wisconsin protests, the unions reached out to a higher power for help trumping local concerns. The Daily Caller reports that the organizing arm of the Democratic National Convention, "Organizing for America," which helped elect President Obama, is behind much of the energy of the Wisconsin protests. Reportedly the campaign is filling buses and running phone banks, and even President Obama accused Gov. Walker of running "an assault on unions."
Now is the time for unions to elevate the discourse and show the leadership our nation needs. Rather than organizing massive protests at state capitals, they should join the rest of us in grappling with our nation's budget problems. There has never been a better time for unions to be part of the solution.
Gary Shapiro is the president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association, which represents more than 2,000 technology companies and owns and produces the International CES. Shapiro is the author of The Comeback: How Innovation Will Restore the American Dream.
Follow Gary Shapiro on Twitter: www.twitter.com/GaryShapiro
Rev. Jesse Jackson: Assault on Unions Is an Attack on Basic Civil Rights
The billionaire Koch Brothers are under the illusion that America is their 'promised land.' They fund 'Americans for Prosperity' and the 'Tea Party' which are synonymous with ignorance, racism and a lack of patriotism and are the architects of the elimination of collective bargaining rights (as in Wisconsin). It is time for real Americans to stand up to these thugs and defend the Democracy for which we sacrificed so much.
First, my organization is principled and does not seek government funding for ourselves. We are focused on the long term health of the US economy and have embraced the bipartisan Deficit Commission's findings. I have worked scores of factory, restaurant and other jobs and still work 70 hour weeks and have delayed gratification my entire working life - so I did not grow up rich and certainly do not feel greedy.
But it is not about me. it is about the simple fact that our nation is heading towards a fiscal cliff and we need to focus on that. And I did call for shared sacrifice. And if anyone cares I advocated against the Obama tax cut deal with the Republicans. We are in serious trouble and that means taxes must be raised, government spending must be cut and we need a growth, innovation-oriented economy. Again - the numbers do not lie! If American soldiers are risking life and limb - why is it so difficult to have other Americans agree on shared sacrifice? Have we no shared national purpose any more? Are HP commenters unable to understand the concept of unsustainable deficits?
Of course unions are largely behind organizing most of the protests in Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan & Indiana. That's actually what this issue is really about, Unions organize middle class workers and are main contributers to the Democratic Party. Getting rid of them significantly weakens the base of the Democrats for future elections. With all due respect, there are countless groups, such as Americans for Prosperity and Crossroads GPS organizing and running ads in support of Governor Walker and the Republicans the same way unions are, only the funding comes from far fewer, mostly out-of-state people with economic & political interests in doing away with unions.
Lastly collective barganing has been law in WI for 50 years, it's not undemocratic and if you look at any poll, even Rasmussen, people overwhelmingly support those rights.
Tell you what--let's trade 1000 mediocre teachers for every corrupt banker/financier we taxpayers bailed out, or for every bought off congressman, or for every Supreme Court Judge who gives closed door speeches at political fundraisers for folks who have cases in front of them, or for every corporate head Walker gave a tax break to. A thousand to one in terms of harmfulness--is it a deal?
Our dire, national financial straits were created by one thing: corruption in the financial industry. Quit trying to strip working people of their constitutional rights to meet and or in any way blame them for trying to earn a decent wage with security in old age.
Without unions, there are no livable wages for the rest of the middle class, even if they aren't in a union. The unions are the ground under the feet of working people.
Wow, what a statement, considering a large number of Gov. Employees are retired military, and a very large number of those have one or more "disabilities" that come from protecting and serving this country. Anyway, I thought this article was supposed to be about teachers and their enomous salaries and the golden parachutes they receive upon retirement. LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! When you talk about government service, it was designed for those that served, and I've yet to see any retiree abuse that by serving their tour of duty and then claiming to be hurt, just to claim a disability check. And you'll have to explain that " high life-time payout" that you claim they recieve, because I've yet to see a government worker that drives a Bentley.
so the answer to all our problems is make less money, have less collective labor rights (the counter balance to capital formation) and pay more for our benefits and those end up in the wall street casino.
Great! Lets make a bumpersticker. Im on foodstamps and i make 10x more than Ming
Oh sorry, my bad. You run one of those Corporations.
President & CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association
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You are perpetuating old lies and hiding behind half truths. Indeed there are excesses in public worker unions, but the excesses are concentrated in certain areas. Meanwhile, the right wing is trying to make it sound as if ALL public workers are excessively compensated. The irony is that the public workers who really are compensated excessively have been promised by the right wing that they won't have to give anything up.
I'm talking about law enforcement, of course. In every town, city, and state, when you look at who has the truly golden pensions and benefits, it's always law enforcement. It's not the gardeners that keep the City Hall landscaping neat. It's not the people stuck behind counters and long lines of people at government offices. No, the cream always goes to law enforcement, and politicians always assure law enforcement that they have nothing to worry about.
In SF, the last Chief of Police retired with a cash-out payment of almost $500,000 PLUS a yearly pension worth more than $250,000. That goes for the Fire Chief and just about every single city department head. Meanwhile, teachers make $50k and gardeners make $24k.
Yes, unions could stand some reform. Our democracy could too, but there's no reason to perpetuate lies.
The first Google has a bit of a problem though. Almost every one of the links on those pages also contains the following, Rasmussen Poll on Wisconsin Dispute May Be Biased. You can see why they want to get rid of education in America. Can't have the general public be more educated than they are. They just don't understand why we aren't swayed in the least by a poll that we have already been told is biased. Especially after we read the idiotic questions Rasmussen asked and see just how biased the questions were.