Congress seems determined to throw our money at Detroit without forcing the unions to renegotiate their outdated contracts.
Sensing an opportunity, some are demanding that now is the time to bail out cities and states without requiring them to bring employee compensation in line with the private sector.
Joe Conason in Slate.com offers this to Barack Obama:
"His first priority should be immediate, substantial financial aid to the states and cities that are now laying off thousands of public employees and preparing to fire thousands more. Rapid, generous assistance to localities would not only keep hundreds of thousands of workers employed, but would simultaneously advance national priorities in health, education, infrastructure, and energy efficiency."
Gov. Beshear, get your private jet warmed up!
3 comments:
Not only should the government make the unions renegotiate the contracts, a major concession should be on the part of the unions themselves, not just the rank and file. The union should be required to open their books and expose their poor spending habits and excessive salaries. When the Union officials are ready to actually feel the pain and reduce the union dues they collect from the rank and file, should talks of financial assistance should be discussed and considered.
The government should make the unions renegotiate all contracts, lower the wages to a reasonable rate, and open their books to the public. The government should also have to lower their own salaries, and open their books to the public.
Rather than bring public employee compensation in line with the generally lower paid private sector, why not require the private sector to bring its pay and benefits in line with the public sector--assuming the public sector is better paid?
Too, rather than reporting "average salaries" of either the private sector or public sector, why not require that the median incomes of all be reported? And, include all forms of compensation--not just salaries.
If private sector employers get healthcare benefits, stock options, retirement packages, include that in the median income as well. Do that, and you're likely to find that the private sector receives more per hour than does the public sector.
And, it might be a good idea to include a comparison of comparable size government with comparable size private sector businessess. You're likely to find that on the basis of median income, the private sector will far and away out-perform public sector.
Whether union, management or government, regulation of all would be desirable. As Alexander Hamilton and/or James Madison wrote in Federalist Paper 51:
“If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.”
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