Public Service Unions

When public service unions are mentioned, the first thing that comes to my mind is the Air Traffic Controllers strike back in the Reagan days.  They were threatening to go on strike and Reagan said he would fire anyone that did.  Well, some of them did go on strike and true to his word, he fired them.

I have always been a firm believer that public service employees (government employees) should not be allowed to strike and any that do should be fired.  A person that chooses a career in public service does so of his or her own free will.  If they are not happy with the pay or benefits and are unable to negotiate better, then they should go to work in the private sector.  
  
Teachers Unions keep this country’s education stuck in the mud.  Please notice I said “teachers unions and not teachers”.  Our education system is messed up, and has become overly bureaucratic.

 Advancements in technology are reforming the ways we can educate our kids.  Modernizing the system will take less labor to perform the same function better.  If only the union would either lead, follow or get the hell out of the way.   In far too many school districts, unions stop innovation and keep us stuck in systems that were developed in the 1800's.

Public employee unions promote big government and cronyism.  They have an economic incentive to make government even bigger.  Their pensions are bleeding taxpayers dry at every level of government; federal, state, county, township, and city.   Have you noticed lately how many cities have either gone bankrupt or are on the verge?

Here’s a video on the subject which I found on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=mVyNlJUKgug#!

UPDATE   10 Sept. 2012   Chicago teachers go out on strike even though they are already the highest paid in the country AND were offered a big raise.

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/06/12/how-much-do-chicago-public-school-teachers-make/

http://www.suntimes.com/15054902-761/chicago-teachers-strike-for-first-time-in-25-years-contingency-sites-ready-charters-remain-open.html

Among other demands, the Chicago Teachers Union had asked for a 30 percent pay increase—despite the facts that just 15 percent of fourth graders are proficient in reading and just 56 percent of students graduate in the district. The school board ended up offering a 16 percent pay increase over four years, but as last night’s midnight deadline for strike negotiations neared, the union rejected the offer.