Public Versus Private Sector Unions

– Wall Street Journal Op-Ed ‘Gets’ It

Echoing a local problem that repeats itself across the nation, a Wall Street Journal article points to a sharp difference in the actions of public sector and private sector unions in this country.

Private sector unions recognize what is going on with the economy and are taking steps along with their employers to adjust to the harsh realities of the current situation.

I know of at least one case here in Kentucky where one of the state’s major aviation employers and their union are collectively looking at all sorts of imaginative ways to preserve jobs for those who need them while doing things like setting up early retirement and other options for those who might choose to use those plans.

The Journal article points out that public sector unions are acting very differently – most don’t seem to recognize even the rudiments of the current economics. This short-sighted viewpoint has worked for public sector unions in the past – the Journal’s Op-Ed indicates that public sector workers earn an astonishing 46 percent more today in wages and benefits than private sector workers.

However, today things are different, as the recent failure of many school-related tax issues in Ohio shows. Public sector demands for more money in our faltering economy are meeting increased resistance.

The laws of economics bow to no-one. Before the public sector bankrupts the private sector, I would expect the private sector to finally wake up. In fact, the recent movement of Tea Parties and failed tax referendums show that awakening is already under way.

It’s time for public sector unions to come to grips with what is happening across the country. They need to step up to the plate and join their private sector counterparts in shouldering their share of the pain to get us through the current fiscal mess. Otherwise, as the old saying goes, what goes around, comes around, and when the rest of us grow tired of suffering alone, the backlash against public sector unions might be very sharp indeed.