Snippets from 'Dump P.S. Unions' Ops

"Follow the money, Washington reporters like to say. The money in this case comes from taxpayers, present and future, who are the source of every penny of dues paid to public employee unions, who in turn spend much of that money on politics, almost all of it for Democrats. In effect, public employee unions are a mechanism by which every taxpayer is forced to fund the Democratic Party."-(Public unions force taxpayers to fund Democrats-Michael Barone)
"Private sector unions fight with management over an equitable distribution of profits. Government unions negotiate with politicians over taxpayer money, putting the public interest at odds with union interests and, as we've seen in states such as California and Wisconsin, exploding the cost of government. The labor-politician negotiations can't be fair when the unions can put so much money into campaign spending. Victor Gotbaum, a leader in the New York City chapter of AFSCME, summed up the problem in 1975 when he boasted, "We have the ability, in a sense, to elect our own boss."- (Government Unions Have Not Benefited the Public-Jonah Goldberg)
"...public employee unions have the legal authority to force workers to join the union and then to pay union dues that can be used to elect political candidates the unions favor. The favored candidates, of course, are those who promise to deliver the higher pay and benefits. "-( Public Employee Unions' Unnatural Advantage-Bruce Chapman)
"And the real issue is whether public sector unions should even be allowed to exist. Frankly, when even a modicum of common sense is infused into the equation, the answer is a resounding no. And the foundational reason is simple. There is no one at the bargaining table representing the folks who are actually going to pay whatever is negotiated."-(End Public Sector Unions...Period -C. Edmund Wright)
"An enormous disparity occurs between the pensions offered to the public employees versus the typical pensions received by private sector employees. The public pensions are so out-of-line that they require 2-3 private sector workers to pay for the benefits of one public sector retiree. A further detriment to unions is how their pay scale works: Workers are given raises based upon seniority, not measured results or hard work- such a practice would never happen in a private run business or enterprise. For example, young promising teachers that have not been tenured (aka not fully protected by the teacher’s union) are the first teachers cut during a budget crisis even if their talent far exceeds that of a tenured teacher. In a time when private sector union membership is at low not seen since the 1930’s, memberships in public sector unions continue to increase.[...] -(Eliminate Public Sector Unions! - Alyssa Kaeding)
"Collective bargaining in the public sector thus is less a negotiation than a conspiracy to steal money from taxpayers. The notion that this is "in the economic interests of the middle class" for government employees in Wisconsin and elsewhere to get above-market wages and extremely lavish benefits is just laughable. Sure, government employees are "middle class," but so are the vast majority of taxpayers who don't enjoy the special privileges that come from owning the means of coercion." - (The Means of Coercion...The priveleged are revolting in Wisconsin - James Taranto)