Collective Bargaining with the American Tax Payer

WaPo has an interesting article talking about how Ohio and Wisconsin are showing how much things have changed since unions began in this country.  It started off that unions bargained with corporate giants, demanding safety regulations, fair wages, etc.

Now, most union members are government employees.  So they are not demanding higher wages or better hours from a corporate goliath, but from the American tax payers, their neighbors.

Can I just say that the situation in Wisconsin is ridiculous.  There is no money.  What exactly do the unions expect the state to do?

I believe the union wants them to lay off the 5%, and keep the collective bargaining, pay and benefits as is. That 5% won't hurt their rank and file that much, and - huge bonus - lay offs look really bad for the Governor and they can spin that into better bargaining next go round.

Also, the legislatures that went awol.  They need to be fired.  If I didn't show up to do my job, I'd be fired.  Elections have consequences.  The people voted.

And, if they can't get the legislatures back, then I say hold special elections and see if their opponents from October want another shot at their seats.  Let's see how the people feel about them now.

The ridiculousness of this is that state governments saw this criss coming.  Market crash in 2008, tax reciepts are super low, no money in state coffers.  They should have been making plans.  Maybe they were in Wisconsin, maybe the union still wouldn't give an inch.  Maybe.

I'm really tired of state employees.  The worlds changed guys.  Get with the times.

Comments

eichak said…
I think all of their pro-union signs should just say "give me all of your money I need it more than you do" I have a friend who is an administrator for a school system in CA. She told me it costs the school system one million dollars to try to fire a tenured teacher no matter what the reason. So that district has several teachers that should not be teaching.
Megan said…
It's close to impossible to fire someone in general. The system has made it that way, people sue for ungodly reasons. We had a guy quit because he knew he was going to fail his drug test, and he got with the EEOC board and is now suing to get his job back. He claims he was made uncomfortable by my boss. And the government pays the EEOC!! Thousands of dollars will be wasted on this douche because the system has told him it should be impossible for people not to work!
I have many more stories just like this, wasted cases with the EEOC battling the awful corporate monger because someone lost their job, for...uhoh...NOT DOING IT! But somehow someone can turn it on the corporation, because seriously, they have more money than God right? This crazy idea that everyone should have money and the right to it is insane. You only deserve money if you work to make it. If you don't do your job you should lose it. Oh here's another great story! A manager fell asleep at her desk over the weekend for 5 hours! An investigation has to be launched to ensure this information is correct, witnesses have to be questioned, tapes have to be checked. And oh by the way, if she hasn't had any write ups, this will only be a final write up for her. Because otherwise she could have some cause to sue the company, and that would be more expensive than the man power to do the investigation and the time she lost sleeping on the clock. This is what the world has come to, zero accountability.
BellsforStacy said…
Megan - I think you should write a post for me about your HR experiences. You have credibility because of 1) where you live and 2) your line of work.

Consider please.
eichak said…
I think that Megan should contribute. If everyone had to work with the people she does that lie to get jobs, yell when the lies are discovered and then can't seem to come to work or get along with others while they are at work, the world would be a different place.
Also the unions need to change their terminology again, instead of the government (state or fed) they need to use the words tax payers. The tax payers are really the one's paying the bills.
eichak said…
I read today, I can't remember where--but public employee unions are able help chose the officials who they negotiate their salaries and benefits. They use their members union dues to elect the people with whom they want to negotiate. Some of these unions have a pretty big pot of money to use to influence elections.
Private Unions have no say with whom they have to negotiate
Megan said…
I will consider this proposal. There's a lot to say about the crap I've had to put up with at work, and most of it is just people being rude because they think I'm beneath them so they can boss me around. I will get back to you when I think I can write something that sounds less like a rant.
eichak said…
I think that there are people in our society whose only skill in negotiation is anger.

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