Pat McMahon: Benefits
Mar 1, 2011, 7:50 PM | Updated: Jun 5, 2012, 3:27 am
OK. Now before I start this, don’t start getting goofy on me before you know what I want to talk about. Let’s begin this way. I don’t want to destroy unions and collective bargaining. So now you can call off the ghost of Jimmy Hoffa. All right?
There’s no question that all too often, America’s workers were taken advantage of before they had representation. They needed clout — the power of numbers — in order to negotiate fairly.
Then over the years, the pendulum began to swing the other way with ridiculously extreme demands and the threat of shutdowns. In Arizona, there’s very little of that because it’s a right-to-work state. There are unions and there are choices. But in Wisconsin, the struggle currently going on is among state and city employees. If salary and benefit improvements in the free market are met, the employer can raise prices.
But these people are paid with tax money! Wisconsin teachers at $90,000 a year, a principal at $150,000, a Milwaukee city bus driver $100,000. Pensions and double-dipping are out of control. And the union members don’t want to help pay for it. With overtime, a Wisconsin garbage man made $160,000. Now, that’s trash!
