It is no secret that I oppose public employee unions – mostly because they are an antiquated, Marxist-infiltrated political construct which promotes corruption and collectivist ideology in almost everything it touches.

Be very clear, I am not opposed to the workers, only their corrupt leadership. The leadership that enjoys the salaries, perks and privileges of  major corporate executives – sitting atop the union’s own bureaucracy. 

Leaders which reward politicians for ignoring the best interests of “we the people” by providing campaign funding and voter support and threatening others with “dire consequences” should they put the interests of the people over the union.

Non-sense …

It is counterintuitive to allow the functions of government to be controlled by entities which openly advocate the Marxist collective over the individual. Rewarding seniority instead of individual merit and achievement. Promoting work norms and discouraging members from outstanding performance. With a result that has traditionally reduced productivity while incurring higher costs and more chaos and confusion. All at our expense.

Which brings me to a fundamental question: why do we need public employee unions?  Protection from what?

Why my mailman needs protection from a government “of the people, by the people and for the people” is beyond me. What protections does he require that he cannot obtain as can every other private sector worker with a grievance?

He is not a coal miner faced with life-and-death safety violations. He does not face any additional dangers that are not faced by any other hardworking private sector employee that provides customer-facing services.

The truth be told, he is an employee of a buggy whip manufacturer who is seeking to maintain his standard of living while his company’s business model becomes more and more obsolete. The union protection he seeks is job security and guaranteed benefits – something that is increasingly not being offered in the more competitive private sector. And the unions are capitalizing on his fear of having to live and compete in the real work – to their benefit and political ideology.

Arrogance …

Even as our economy disintegrates and the private sector is suffering from the rules and regulations imposed by union-controlled politicians, union members are not sharing the sacrifice or pain  being experienced in the private sector. And their leadership is arrogantly demanding more.

Even though we can see that the politicians have created a privileged class of workers --  whose lack of performance only leads to the employment of more unionized workers – I find it ironic that they portray themselves as victims of society and “the man.” Truth be told, they are the functionaries of “the man” and seek to oppress “we the people” with the rules, policies and procedures which give reason and meaning to their very existence.

Consider how many union workers shirk their normal duties during business hours only to capitalize on the overtime necessary to finish their work? And nobody calls foul – they just sit there and listen to the unions demanding more money, benefits and control over the workflow.

Don’t believe me, listen to a union leader …

So why are we openly tolerating a union which is demanding more money, more benefits and more control over the work process at a time when the United States Postal Service is serving fewer and fewer people who are relying on alternative methods of communications. For general conversation, we have both wireline and wireless telephone, internet messaging and e-mail. For shipping physical packages, we have common carriers such as FedEx and UPS.

Note: The unions controlling UPS are going so far as to demand that the government penalize FedEx because it is operating under a different business model and union; allowing it to achieve significant cost savings and allowing them to offer lower prices to the consumers. The essence of  “capitalist” competition. 

Typical union behavior is not concerned about profit through lower costs and superior performance, it wants profits and larger wages through government-mandated tariffs and fees. And they want FedEx to play by the rules restricting UPS from competing for the value-conscious consumer’s business.

I am not the only one objecting …

Consider an editorial in Investor’s Business Daily which asks much the same question …

“Entitlement to more? By what standard does he believe the workers of a failing ‘business’ are entitled to more, let alone a job? Neither jobs nor high and ever-escalating wages are rights. But that's the union mindset: Demand more no matter what difficulties a business, or in this case a government-protected monopoly, is facing.”

You decide if the following is an example of the union’s leadership acting in its own self-interest and not in the best interests of its members?

“That same mindset believes that no jobs is better than moderate- or low-paying jobs. In just the last year, unions helped kill a mall project worth 2,220 jobs in the Bronx because the developer wouldn't guarantee that all tenants would pay workers at least $10 an hour. They also set a GM plant in Indiana on course to be shut down because members refused to take a pay cut.”

Why the unions need the democrats …

Its payback time. In return for providing major campaign funding and voter support for the democrats, they need the democrats to go beyond the billions that they have provided through the financial stimulus and the healthcare initiative – to pay for at least a trillion of unfunded pension obligations which exist in both the private and the public sector.

Whether through corruption, mismanagement or just the vagaries of the declining economy, pension funds are woefully underfunded, some say to the tune of at least $3 TRILLION dollars.

“States report that their public-employee pensions are underfunded by a total of $438 billion, but a more accurate accounting demonstrates that they are actually underfunded by over $3 trillion, writes Andrew G. Biggs in a new AEI Retirement Policy Outlook. The accounting methods that states currently use to measure their liabilities assume plans can earn high investment without risk.” <Source>

The unions need the democrats in order to pass legislation allowing their pension funds to be guaranteed by a government entity – thus insuring that the taxpayers will pick up the costs for this privileged class of workers.

How do you feel about working harder and harder for less and less – so your local government workers can live like royalty while you continue to scrape and beg to provide for your family?

The great hold-up …

Of course, if you fail to voluntarily surrender your wallet, meet Los Angeles Sheriff Lee Baca who threatens to release prisoners into your neighborhood to meet the budgetary challenges of running his department.

Somehow, politicians and the unions are great at telling you the services of front-line first-responders: the police, firemen, paramedics and medical personnel will be cut. Why does no one stand up and demand that thousands of cubicle workers and functionaries be terminated before public safety is compromised. Isn’t that what government is really about: public safety – not insuring benefits for politicians, special interest and their co-dependent union friends.

Investor’s Business Daily also notes:

“Making matters worse is a Democratic Congress that owes unions political favors and a White House that told the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights that labor organizing is a human right in need of expansion in the U.S.”

With Barack Obama, a Marxist in the White House and a democrat-controlled Congress, “we the people” face a clear and present danger from the corrupt practices and socialist ideology being put forth by both our government and the public employee unions. A danger which should be met with political resistance lest our beloved country become a cross between France and Mexico.

Bottom line …

I like my mailman, but not enough to sacrifice the health and safety of myself and my family in order to provide him with a privileged existence – not earned by commensurately competing for employment by offering a unique and valuable service – but by being a government functionary in a union/politician-controlled bureaucracy.

I do not want to find myself working harder and harder for less and less – and face a longer offset to retirement – in order to satisfy the needs of a pampered, privileged class of public employees.

We need to restore Congressional checks and balances before we find the Treasury looted and our America bankrupt.

We need your vote people – not for Republicans or Democrats, but for “honest brokers” to serve “we the people.” We must insure that there are political consequences for those who served us poorly, failed to enforce the financial laws and who are now being paid to “reverse the financial and social difficulties they themselves left behind – earning even more millions for cleaning up their own mess.

November is rapidly approaching. Vote as if your life depended on it – because it surely does. And if you remember nothing else in the ballot-box, the democrats are responsible for this fiasco. They took a bad situation, and while promising us they knew how to fix it, made it infinitely worse.

Also beware of the mainstream media which, to this very day, refuses to report the whole truth to the American public lest their corporate owners be denied the use of the public airwaves and other financial considerations.

Do what is right – revolt against the democrats and restore checks and balance to our corrupt and lopsided government.

-- steve 

Reference Links …

Check's In The Mail - IBD - Investors.com

Postal Service looks for ways to reduce labor costs

UPS vs FedEx: Labor law as a corporate weapon