I look forward to listening to this discussion. I have long thought as Mr. Howard does as regards public employee unions. Having worked under two private sector unions (both while in the employ of the same company), The United Food and Commercial Workers Union and the Teamsters, and have seen first-hand the corruption in unions in general, I am not a fan, and I tend to believe that there are enough government protections for employees in any job that unions have outlived their usefulness. The majore difference that I see between private and public employee unions is the collective bargaining aspect. When my employer 'bargained' with the unions, he sent his legal representative to bargain on his behalf. This rep could only offer what he knew my employer would agree to, and could not be bought off by the unions, because ultimately, the contract would have to be signed by my employeri - no dummy. When public sector unions negotiate a contract, they are dealing with politicians who will likely not be in office when the fallout from their over-promising comes to bite - not them, but the taxpayers who are left holding the bag. Why do they overpromise? Because public employee unions can throw around large wads of cash in the form of campaign 'donations' to ensure that their employees get all that they are asking for. Not a fair fight. And while public employees enjoy their fat pensions 'guaranteed by the full faith and credit' of the government funded solely by tax revenues, retirees from the private sector will have their retirement dollars reduced by the taxes necessary to fund these fat pensions. As I tell many people, it's you and me, baby, who is the 'full faith and credit' of the government.
I look forward to listening to this discussion. I have long thought as Mr. Howard does as regards public employee unions. Having worked under two private sector unions (both while in the employ of the same company), The United Food and Commercial Workers Union and the Teamsters, and have seen first-hand the corruption in unions in general, I am not a fan, and I tend to believe that there are enough government protections for employees in any job that unions have outlived their usefulness. The majore difference that I see between private and public employee unions is the collective bargaining aspect. When my employer 'bargained' with the unions, he sent his legal representative to bargain on his behalf. This rep could only offer what he knew my employer would agree to, and could not be bought off by the unions, because ultimately, the contract would have to be signed by my employeri - no dummy. When public sector unions negotiate a contract, they are dealing with politicians who will likely not be in office when the fallout from their over-promising comes to bite - not them, but the taxpayers who are left holding the bag. Why do they overpromise? Because public employee unions can throw around large wads of cash in the form of campaign 'donations' to ensure that their employees get all that they are asking for. Not a fair fight. And while public employees enjoy their fat pensions 'guaranteed by the full faith and credit' of the government funded solely by tax revenues, retirees from the private sector will have their retirement dollars reduced by the taxes necessary to fund these fat pensions. As I tell many people, it's you and me, baby, who is the 'full faith and credit' of the government.