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As most of you probably know the Wisconsin public unions almost bankrupted that State before Gov. Scott Walker courageously stepped in to stop it.
The unions did everything in their power to stop him including a failed recall election. I will be after my own State to open these negotiations to public scrutiny and I�d recommend you do the same in your State.

Jim





At Last, Scrutiny for Public-Union Deals

Wall Street Journal, by Matthew J. Brouillette - Thanks Eric

Year after year, elected officials behind closed doors negotiate labor contracts for 19 million state and local government workers. The result? Skyrocketing salaries, health-care costs and pension benefits are making services like public schools and policing unaffordable for taxpayers. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, compensation for government workers nationwide has grown 21% since 2000, compared with only 9% in the private economy.



Fortunately a growing list of states now shine light on secretive contract negotiations with public-employee unions�putting taxpayers back in charge. In April, Idaho�s governor signed a bill requiring open meetings and records in all executive labor negotiations. Colorado did the same last fall for public-school district contract talks. Similar legislation is advancing in Washington, and the Pennsylvania Senate passed two transparency bills this month.

To date, 12 states offer some kind of public access to the negotiating room.

The public pension crises facing states from California to New Jersey to Illinois are great illustrations of politicians and union leaders making backroom deals that taxpayers could never afford. Overly generous benefits aren�t the only concern: Conflicts of interest exist when elected officials bargain with public unions behind closed doors.

Pennsylvania�s Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf must negotiate contracts worth $3.4 billion with 16 labor unions by this summer. Six of these unions contributed more than $2.6 million to Mr. Wolf�s election campaign, and so the governor has a strong incentive to reward his financial backers. Despite the state�s budget deficit, Gov. Wolf this week agreed to one-year extensions for two unions with pay increases and no concessions [by the unions] in health-care benefits. Taxpayers learned about the deals, which will cost $23 million more than the previous year, from a news release.

In the end, open collective bargaining is a growing national movement because it�s good government. Allowing public access to contract negotiations will tame spending and shift control back to citizens, where it belongs.

Obamabucks to donuts Barack�s National Labor Relations Board tries to preempt these state laws and eventually tries to nationalize all public employee contract negotiations; to redistribute the wealth more evenly, don�tcha know? It�s only fair.

Here's another one for you Jim. I own and operate a machine shop. One day a state employee had me do some personal lathe work for him. When he came to pick up the job and pay his bill he asked me, "How come you didn't give me a state employee discount?" I screamed at him, "WHAT?" He then told me that all businesses are supposed to give state employees a discount. I told him, "F*ck off. You're no better than any other customer. The bill stays the same." He paid his bill and never came back ..............good riddance you arrogant prick.

The worst of it to me is these unions protect even the most imcompetent. I am told it's almost impossible to fire a schoolteacher anymore unless they're caught for example having sex with students. Inability to teach is certainly not a criteria for dismissal.
That's the reason charter and private schools have become so popular.
The other issue is disipline. If some students are disciplined nowdays the school may get sued. When I was in school and got disiplined my parents upon hearing about it said something to the effect "I bet you deserved it"!
Jim

My State now does a yearly comparison between State employees and comparable work in the Real World. State employees get compensated at at least 50% more at entry level jobs, climbing to 100% more as they near retirement. All at the expense of their free and equal citizens. All due to the quid pro quo of the buying of political support by the Democrat politicians. Democrat politicians that have absolutely no fiduciary responsibility since they're using other people's money. Pure, corrupt, vote-buying. There's a reason this had to be allowed (unionization) by an Executive Order signed by Kennedy. It was the corrupt payback for the unions stealing Illinois for him.

The "Democratic" party that was once the blue coller/working class party of many of our parents is long gone. It it now in fact the Communist or Socialist party - take your pick.
However they're too slimey to own up to this and change the name.
Jim

Every one of those federal and state workers should have matching 401K plans just like corporate employees in private sector have. No more pensions for anyone.

I'll let you in on a little secret-they don't have a pension. The well is dry, but, they haven't figured it out yet.


They will. There is no such thing as a solvent pension, circa 2015. Ever play "musical chairs" when you were a kid?


Best,
Ted

There should be no pensions at all and Social Security needs to be privatized too.

You are about 50 years too late. After LBJ signed the law allowing congress to loot social security funds for their pet projects, we got to where we are today, with pretty much a zero balance. The HUD gettos being torn down today in Chicago are where some of your retirement money went.
Hope that worked out for you.
We are an aging society, and in just a few years (2025, or so) there will be two people working for every seven people retired and living on social security. Since quite a few of those "two people" will be part time baristas, with no benefits, attempting to pay back over 100 large in student debt, they will be very humorless about any problems with social security.

The very good news is, due to it's "One child" policy, China has created a social monster that will be bearing bitter fruit about the same time, with that "One child" attempting to support two familys worth of aged and elderly parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and whoever ended up disabled in that family, as well. They will be too tied up socially, at home, to cause much trouble abroad.

Best,
Ted

SOYLENT GREEN IS PEOPLE!!!!

The Red Chinese have already shown a willingness to kill millions of their own citizens.