I've been watching the Wisconsin protests and debates over that state's "Budget Repair Bill". Essentially this bill does the following:1.) Requires state workers to contribute 50% of their pension.
3.) Eliminates collective bargaining for benefits, only allowing it for wages. Wage increased would have a cap based on inflation.
It's that last one that's causing all the problems. Let's make no mistake here. The primary goal of this bill is not to balance the budget. Governor Walker's claims to the contrary are absurd. The workers have already agreed to concessions that would effectively address the budget goals of the legislation. The purpose of this bill is to undermine the political strength of public unions. Period. The Governor is being a disingenuous liar. If he called the bill: "The 2011 Public Union Eradication Program" he'd be on much more solid ground. And while this will certainly draw the ire of most of my friends, I might actually be able to get behind him on that.
Unions collectively bargain and strike to fight unjust working conditions or wages. This is fight between workers and management. When it comes to public unions however, there is a problem... we're management. That's us. That's our money. I can understand how conservatives get a little upset when they see their tax dollars used to pay higher wages to state workers, who then in-turn, use that money to contribute to Democrats who will vote to raise workers’ wages, so they can give more money to Democrats. Just like I get apoplectic over the Citizens United decision that essentially does the exact same thing for corporations/lobbyists and Republicans. It's a little intellectually dishonest of me to support one and not the other.
We seem to be missing the larger point here though. Most people (Rush Limbaugh notwithstanding) don't think that school teachers are lazy, overpaid parasites. This is why we (management) can vote ourselves tax increases to better fund schools. As concerned owners of this enterprise we call the state, we should want to invest in its future. We shouldn't be bickering over collective bargaining rights and public unions because there should be absolutely no need for them. Teachers shouldn't need to bargain, they should be getting paid so well that the best and brightest among us are waiting in line to interview for the job. It's ridiculous that a school teacher needs to organize in order to protect themselves from... well, from me.
I think we'll find that once school teachers start making $250k+ per year, this whole union thing will seem a little silly and unnecessary to most of them. If Governor Walker really wants to remove the corrupting influence of public labor unions over politics I have a solution. Take that great big tax cut you pushed through and re-allocate all of those funds to teachers and home health care workers. These people hold the future of our nation in the palms of their hands. I bet they'd be perfectly willing to give up those pensions and platinum-coated health benefits if you increased their salaries by a couple hundred G's a year. If we paid these people relative to the value they deliver for our society they’d have plenty of cash on hand to invest in their own 401K, buy their own health care and still retire at age 55.
The protesters and pro-union supporters have been duped into believing this is somehow about collective bargaining by Democratic politicians and left wing union organizers. The supporters of the bill have been duped into believing this is about balancing the budget by right wing fat cats and Republican politicians. But most seriously, we've all been duped into focusing our anger and attention on the wrong issue while politicians on both sides fill the coffers of their campaigns with our money while we're busy screaming at each other.
The bottom line is that public unions are not the issue here. The issue is that we are bad bosses.
