Labor Unions and The Government
There was a time in our history when labor unions served a good purpose: protecting workers from employer abuse and substandard wages. There are plenty of well-documented examples of big industry taking advantage of employees… which led to the huge body of employment law that exists today. While isolated cases of employee mistreatment may still occur, there are regulations and oversight organizations that hold the employer liable for illegal activities. Such instances virtually disappeared compared to 100 or so years ago.
Given that a very large reason labor unions became so strong in the first place is predominately gone, what purpose do such unions serve today? Where is their membership?
In 2007, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics:
There were a total of 108,714,000 total workers in the private sector. Of those, 8,114,000 or 7.5% were members of unions… and unions represented a slightly higher number of workers (8,870,000), for a total of 8.2% of the workers. (Some people are represented by unions even though they’re not members.)
There were a total of 21,053,000 government workers, of which 7,557,000 or 35.9% were members of unions… and unions represented a higher number of workers (8,373,000), for a total of 39.8% of the workers.
In other words, a worker is almost 5 TIMES as likely to be represented by a union in government than in the private sector. Why might that be the case?
Are government workers more likely to be mistreated and need representation? Does the government not compete in the employment marketplace and might be able to underpay workers?
I doubt it.
I suspect unions are stronger in government because they CAN be. The government doesn’t spend its own money on wages and benefits, it spends YOUR money… and MY money. It’s just easier for government to go along with union collective bargaining agreements.
But “going along” with union demands is not a good long-term strategy. Unions will ALWAYS want more… and, at some point, the economics stop working. Look at the automobile industry, which was once one of the largest and most highly unionized industries. The car companies kept giving the unions (and the workers) higher wages, more benefits, bigger retirement plans, etc. Slowly, a breaking point was reached and car companies could no longer sell cars for higher prices that supported their costs… and when the sales of cars declined, profits disappeared.
Government cannot keep increasing their “prices” (taxes), either.
The time has come for CHANGE.
Government should pay competitive wages for work, just like the private sector. It should offer similar benefits as the private sector. It should function in the labor market the same as any company in our free enterprise system. The higher salaries should be reduced. The more attractive health plans should be priced accordingly. The lucrative retirement programs should be adjusted.
And, just as importantly, unproductive government workers should be fired. It seems one of the biggest functions of unions is to protect their members, and getting rid of an employee is very difficult (especially in government!)… chances are, a poor worker will just get moved around.
Unions in government have a particularly vexing problem. They represent workers and are paid union dues… and some of that money goes to lobbying the very government they are negotiating collective bargaining agreements with.
