THE HILL: Unions are not the cause of the country’s economic woes, Vice President Biden said Wednesday…
Biden said the Republicans are trying to use the bad economy that their policies created to push a conservative social agenda.
“We are going to see the economic conditions they created used as an excuse to fundamentally go after the social agenda that the far right has been trying to accomplish for a long time,” Biden said. .. (more)
During this debate about the damage unions have done to this country, it is very important to make a distinction between public and private sector unions. While there valid arguments that even private sector unions have flourished because of favorable regulations and requirements, the fact remains that companies have options.
Where options don’t exist are with the public sector unions. Back when these folks started to unionize, government employees were being paid much less than their private sector brethren. But what the public sector jobs did offfer was security and benefits. But as is this case when the people in charge (politicians) are allowed to spend other people’s money, they realized that by giving the public sector employees huge raises and outrageous lifetime benefits, they could secure their support and votes.
So now we have a situation in which public sector employees are paid at approximately 2 1/2 times the rate of their private sector brethren and retain the gluttonous benefits that they’ve always had. A great example is the Lancaster City Police force. Starting pay is about $41,000 and within 5 years they are at about $58,000.
This, of course, does not include the generous and regular overtime pay. Whena patrolman retires, after only 20 or 25 years of service, they receive 2/3 of what a then lieutenant is making. Right now, that is about $80,000 per year.
So at 45 years of age, a career patrolman can retire making over $50,000 per year. On top of that, they receive LIFETIME health insurance benefits.
Compare this to a police officer in Philadelphia, where it is actually dangerous to be a cop. They only get health insurance benefits for 3 years after retirement.
It’s time to break these collective bargaining agreements and reduce the pay and benefits of public sector employees dramatically.