Comments on: Public Sector Unions Must be Banned http://greyswan.net/2009/01/public-sector-unions-must-be-banned/ A mostly unpredictable weblog Fri, 31 Jul 2009 01:22:12 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8 hourly 1 By: Philip http://greyswan.net/2009/01/public-sector-unions-must-be-banned/comment-page-1/#comment-107 Philip Wed, 13 May 2009 03:21:34 +0000 http://greyswan.net/?p=37#comment-107 It's amazing how jealous people get when others are doing well. Unions are more important now than ever for working people, private and public sector. If more company's had DB plans or a combination of DB and DC plans more Baby Boomers would be able to retire and enjoy life instead of watching their retirement savings all but disappear. For years people in the public sector have made less than their counter parts in the private sector and the only thing that made the job attractive and worth the low pay were the benefits that they received (tuition remission, early retirement, etc.). Now that wages have been decreased because of corporate greed and CEO bonuses that are 400% higher than regular employees, people in the private sector want to complain. It's not the fault of unions that businesses go under, it's in large part because of poor business planning by the employer. The big three aren't going under because of unions. A lot of it has to do with NAFTA and other trade agreements as well as auto designs that aren't competitive. Public sector unions have created a space for the middle-class to survive some of the hard times, like what we're in now. In many places they help keep a competive wage scale so that the private sector can't further lower wages. The problem is not unions but the greed that drives capitalism. [GS: It is true we could just give all the baby boomers 1 million dollars and they would be super happy! But what about everyone else who would now be slaves to these peoples benefits? Your arguments sound like communism -- why not give everyone everything? Of course, all that leads to is everyone being poor] It’s amazing how jealous people get when others are doing well. Unions are more important now than ever for working people, private and public sector. If more company’s had DB plans or a combination of DB and DC plans more Baby Boomers would be able to retire and enjoy life instead of watching their retirement savings all but disappear. For years people in the public sector have made less than their counter parts in the private sector and the only thing that made the job attractive and worth the low pay were the benefits that they received (tuition remission, early retirement, etc.). Now that wages have been decreased because of corporate greed and CEO bonuses that are 400% higher than regular employees, people in the private sector want to complain. It’s not the fault of unions that businesses go under, it’s in large part because of poor business planning by the employer. The big three aren’t going under because of unions. A lot of it has to do with NAFTA and other trade agreements as well as auto designs that aren’t competitive. Public sector unions have created a space for the middle-class to survive some of the hard times, like what we’re in now. In many places they help keep a competive wage scale so that the private sector can’t further lower wages. The problem is not unions but the greed that drives capitalism.

[GS: It is true we could just give all the baby boomers 1 million dollars and they would be super happy! But what about everyone else who would now be slaves to these peoples benefits? Your arguments sound like communism -- why not give everyone everything? Of course, all that leads to is everyone being poor]

]]>