Wisconsin Public Employee Unions: Breaking the "Circle of Corruption"
With all of the labor turmoil in Wisconsin, especially in light of certain democrats refusing to act on behalf of “We the People,” it is now time to reassess the viability of public employee unions and to break the cycle of corruption that now exists.
The ABC’s of Political Corruption …
| A |
Politicians are elected by “We the People” to govern in our name and to manage the delivery of public services to “We the People” in the most cost-effective and expeditious manner. |
| B |
There are no constitutional rights granting public employees the right to collectively bargain for the purposes of imposing work conditions, salary, perks, benefits and other constraints on work performed on behalf of “We the People.” |
| C |
When public employee unions are able to use their public employee member’s dues to provide campaign donations, media support and voter drives on behalf of a particular party or politician, the party and the politician now has to serve two masters. |
| D |
When a politician fears public employee union’s more than “We the People,” the stage is set for corruption. |
| E |
When the politician allows public employee unions to dictate work rules and increases in public employee salaries and benefits in order to preserve and protect their elected positions against political challengers – the corruption within the political system is complete. They no longer serve “We the People” – and only serve themselves and the public employee unions. |
What are the consequences of allowing public employee unions to exist within the framework of government?
| 1. |
“We the People” can no longer trust our elected officials to act in our name; never being sure which master they are serving when negotiating work rules, salaries, benefits and retirement packages. |
| 2. |
“We the People” see budgets inflated to accommodate more public employee union workers. |
| 3. | “We the People” see the cost of providing government services rise beyond all expectation and prudence due to increases in salaries, perks and benefits. |
| 4. | “We the People” see the cost of projects inflated and the time to completion becomes longer and longer. |
| 5. |
“We the People” see corruption in the government contracting process as elected officials demand that work be performed by “union employees” at an artificially-inflated wage scale. |
| 6. |
“We the People” find that public employees are taking advantage of their negotiated collective bargaining contracts to “milk” the system when it comes to overtime, shift-differentials, holidays and credited retirement time – leading to the rise of $100,000 clerical workers and the need for even greater numbers of unionized personnel. |
| 7. |
“We the People” find that we are creating a “privileged” class of public employee whose jobs are guaranteed, who cannot be easily terminated for malfeasance or laid-off in times of economic difficulty. And who earn more than a corresponding person in the private sector. |
| 8. |
After a while, “We the People” find that most of our hard-earned money is being spent to support retired public employees who may have taken early retirement and who no longer provide public services to “We the People.” |
| 9. |
“We the People” are finding that the unionized public employees and their public employee unions are expecting “We the People” to make up any shortfall in their unfunded pension funds – even when they experienced a loss due to economic conditions which affected us all. |
Stop now: Before all of you unionized public employees tell me about the police, firefighters and teachers …
We agree that there are hazardous jobs within the government, but they are no more hazardous than today’s volunteer armed forced.
We agree that our children’s future depend on having decent teachers; but it appears that unionized teachers are not doing the job required to educate our children. It is their public employee unions that prevent competition within school districts to provide a superior education. It is their public employee unions that prevent competency testing for teaching ability and subject matter knowledge. And it is their public employee unions that prevents parents from volunteering to provide additional assistance at schools.
And before you tell me that we need to lay off police, fire, medical and other critical employees …
“We the People” hire our elected officials to serve our needs – to protect us from threats to the public order and disasters of all types. To uphold their oath of office, these public officials must prioritize our public services – not with “across the board” lay-offs, but reducing cubicle workers and functionaries in all non-critical areas before a single police, fire or EMT is laid-off.
Bottom line …
It’s not for the public, nor their members, that public employee unions exist. It is to serve their, arguably, corrupt leadership by allowing them to manage large sums of money – both from dues and pension fund contributions – and to pursue a political course of action which can best be described as “socialism” – where people are viewed as units of labor and are conditioned to meet the “norm” rather than embarrass their co-workers by performing at exceptional levels. Where promotion is determined by seniority and not merit. Thus leading to an entire workforce that has absolutely no incentive to perform at higher levels and render superior service to “We the People.” One need only consider the Department of Motor Vehicles or the United States Postal Service to see the truth in this statement.
Sure there will be kind-hearted and wonderful people among the drones, but they would be there, performing at exceptional levels, with or without public employee unions.
One of my best friends works for the City of Los Angeles after a lengthy career in the public sector. She can hardly believe the incompetence of her boss and the lengths to which her department manager will go to avoid work-enhancing productivity aids. She handles millions of dollars in her position and yet the department routinely overlooks mistakes “because that impacts someone else’s job function.”
We are facing a fiscal Armageddon and “We the People” need to act now. Perhaps we cannot easily elect the representatives we want, but we can disrupt the circle of corruption.
For those in Wisconsin, hold fast – forget the protests and demand that your elected officials act in an honest and ethical manner (not hiding out and shirking their public duties). For everyone else, it is time we also rallied against corrupt public employee unions.
AS A GROWING AND METASTASIZING CANCER -- PUBLIC EMPLOYEE UNIONS SHOULD BE OUTLAWED AS A CORRUPTING INFLUENCE ON THE BODY POLITIC.
-- steve
“Nullius in verba.”-- take nobody's word for it!
“Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.”-- George Bernard Shaw
“Progressive, liberal, Socialist, Marxist, Democratic Socialist -- they are all COMMUNISTS.”
“The key to fighting the craziness of the progressives is to hold them responsible for their actions, not their intentions.” – OCS "The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane." -- Marcus Aurelius “A people that elect corrupt politicians, imposters, thieves, and traitors are not victims... but accomplices” -- George Orwell “Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt." (The people gladly believe what they wish to.) ~Julius Caesar “Describing the problem is quite different from knowing the solution. Except in politics." ~ OCS