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Townhall...
5 Reasons Unions Are
Bad For America
By John Hawkins
At one time in this country, there were few workplace safety laws, few
restraints on employers, and incredibly exploitive working conditions
that ranged from slavery, to share cropping, to putting children in
dangerous working conditions. Unions, to their everlasting credit,
helped play an important role in leveling the playing field for workers.
However, as the laws changed, there was less and less need for unions.
Because of that, union membership shrank. In response, the unions
became more explicitly involved in politics. Over time, they managed to
co-opt the Democratic Party, pull their strings, and rewrite our labor
laws in their favor.
As Lord Acton noted, “Power tends to corrupt,” and that has certainly
been true for the unions. Unions have become selfish, extremely greedy,
and even thuggish in their never-ending quest to take in as much as
they can for themselves, at the expense of everyone else who crosses
their path.
That’s why today, unions have changed from organizations that “look out
for the little guy” into the largest, most rapacious special interest
group in the entire country. Where unions go, disaster usually follows.
Just to name a few examples:
1) Unions are severely damaging whole industries: How is it that GM and
Chrysler got into such lousy shape that they had to be bailed out?
There’s a simple answer: The unions. The massive pensions the car
companies paid out raised their costs so much that they were limited to
building more expensive cars to try to get their money back. They
couldn’t even do a great job of building those cars because utterly
ridiculous union rules prevented them from using their labor
efficiently. America created the automobile industry, but American
unions are strangling it to death. Unions also wrecked the steel and
textile industries and have helped drive manufacturing jobs overseas.
They’re crippling the airline industry and, of course, we can’t forget
that...
2) Unions are ruining public education: Every few years, it’s the same
old story. The teachers’ unions claim that public education in this
country is dramatically underfunded and if they just had more money,
they could turn it around. Taxpayer money then pours into our schools
like a waterfall and....there’s no improvement. A few years later, when
people have forgotten the last spending spree on education, the process
is repeated.
However, the real problem with our education system in this country is
the teachers’ unions. They do everything possible to prevent schools
not only from firing lousy teachers, but also from rewarding talented
teachers. Merit pay? The unions hate it. Private schools? Even though
everyone knows they deliver a better education than our public schools,
unions fight to keep as many kids as possible locked in failing public
schools. In Wisconsin, we’ve had whole schools shutting down so that
lazy teachers can waste their time protesting on the taxpayers’ dime.
Want to improve education in this country? Then you’ve got to take on
the teachers’ unions.
3) Unions are costing you billions of tax dollars: Let’s put it plain
and simple: Government workers shouldn’t be allowed to unionize. Period.
Why?
Because you elect representatives to look out for your interests.
It’s obviously in your interest to pay as little as possible to
government workers, to keep their benefits as low as possible, and to
hire as few of them as possible to do the job. However, because the
Democratic Party and the unions are in bed with each other, this entire
process has been turned on its ear. Instead of looking out for your
interests, Democrats try to hire as many government workers as
possible, pay them as much as possible, and give them benefits that are
as generous as possible, all so that union workers will do more to get
them re-elected.
In other words, the Democratic Party and the unions are engaged in an
open conspiracy to defraud the American taxpayer. There’s no way that
the American people should allow that to continue.
4) Unions are fundamentally anti-democratic : How in the world did we
get to the point where people can be forced to join a union just to get
a job at certain places? Then, after they’re dragooned into the union,
they have no choice other than to pay dues that are used for political
activities which the unwilling dues-paying member may oppose.
Add to that the fact that the Democrats and the government unions
collaborate to subvert democracy at the expense of the taxpayer and
it’s not a pretty picture. Worse yet, unions have gotten so voracious
that they even want to do away with the secret ballot, via card check,
so they can openly bully people into joining unions. The way unions
behave in this country is undemocratic, un-American, and it should
trouble anyone who cares about freedom and individual rights.
5) Government unions are bankrupting cities and states: Government
unions have bled billions from taxpayers nationally, but the damage
they’re doing on the local level is even worse. We have cities and
states all across the country that are so behind on their bills that
there have been genuine discussions about bankruptcy. There are a lot
of irresponsible financial policies that have helped contribute to that
sorry state-of-affairs, but unquestionably, the biggest backbreakers
can be directly traced back to the unions.
As the Washington Times has noted, union pensions are crushing budgets
all across the country.
Yet it comes as little surprise that the same profligacy that pervades
the corridors of federal power infects this country’s 87,000 state,
county and municipal governments and school districts. By 2013, the
amount of retirement money promised to employees of these public
entities will exceed cash on hand by more than a trillion dollars.
So, what happens when these pensions can’t be paid? They will come to
the taxpayers with their hands out. When they stroll forward with their
beggar’s bowl in hand, the American people should keep their wallets in
their pockets. That may not seem fair, but the public sector union
members have gotten a great deal at everyone else’s expense for a long
time and if somebody has to take a haircut, and they do, it should be
the union members instead of the taxpayers they’ve been bilking for so
long.
Read it with links at Townhall
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