Government of the unions, by the unions, for the unions

By Art Gallagher

Despite the rhetoric coming from Paul Krugman, Dick Durbin, President Obama and other demagogues on the left in the wake of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s attempt to scale back public employee unions’ power, no one has yet attempted to “break the unions.”

That’s a shame because public employee unions are as serious a threat to Americans’ freedom as is radical Islam. Maybe more so.  

In many states throughout the union, including New Jersey, public employee unions have more power and influence over government policy, operations and spending than our elected representatives.  From our governor down to the councilman and school board member, elected office holders ability to manage and govern their jurisdictions are constrained by laws and contracts that protect employees from the public will.

Walker’s proposal in Wisconsin to remove unions ability to negotiate for pensions and benefits and Governor Christie’s reform agenda in New Jersey are considered bold because over the last 50 years unions have systematically and gradually taken over our governments. Their political power was extreme and unchecked.   Before Christie took on the NJEA over the last year and thrived, no politician dared take on such a powerful special interest.  Sure there where those who tried, but you don’t remember who they are and neither do I, because the unions destroyed them.  Christie, and now apparently Walker, could be the right men at the right time to lead America back to a truly representative form of government in the States.

Yet, as bold and radical as the governors seem in the context of the last 50 years of growing union power, their proposals are relatively modest.  Far from really “turning Trenton(or Madison) upside down” or doing “big things” Christie and Walker are modestly tinkering with the existing systems.

As Daniel DiSalvo, an assistant professor of political science at City College of New York, told the Star Ledger’s Tom Moran in a Q and A published yesterday:

Christie has created a big storm, in part because of his aggressive style. But what he’s proposed is not that controversial. It leaves intact the entire collective bargaining structure. Yes, he would impose short-term pain, but the Walker plan goes to the root of the problem.

Walker’s plan might go to the root of the problem, but it only exposes the root, it doesn’t cut it:

Q. Is Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker really proposing to end collective bargaining?

A. Not exactly. He’ll retain it for police, firefighters and state troopers. But he is proposing a drastic rollback for teachers and other public employees. They will retain the right to bargain over wages, but not benefits.

Politically, Christie’s success over the last year and Walker’s anticipated success could well be due to the moderateness of their proposals being sold to the public with bold rhetoric.  Christie took on the NJEA last year by calling for wage freezes and health care contributions of only 1.5% of teacher salaries in order to save jobs.  The union looked petty in their vocal opposition and the public sided with the Governor by overwhelmingly rejecting school budgets at the ballot boxes.  The public continues to support Christie’s agenda and now the debate in Trenton is over how much spending to cut, not whether to cut.  That’s a big change, but it is not systematic change.

But systematic change was not politically possible a year ago.  It is becoming possible, but it won’t be swift.  The unions took over our governments incrementally over a period of a half century.  We, the people, did not notice it happening for the most part.  Now that the public is waking up to the relative largess of public employee compensation and benefits, systematic change becomes increasingly possible, but it will have to be accomplished incrementally.

DiSalvo makes the case why public employee unions must be broken in his National Affairs article published last fall. Every political leader should take the time to read the article.

Posted: February 21st, 2011 | Author: Art Gallagher | Filed under: Chris Christie, NJEA, Public Employee Unions | Tags: Chris Christie, Daniel DiSalvo, Public Employees Unions, Scott Walker | 9 Comments »

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