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EDITORIAL
Labor statistics
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Updated: Apr. 10, 2012 | 10:44 a.m.
Bad news for organized labor last week -- and ominous news for taxpayers.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that union membership fell again last year to 12.3 percent of all workers. The drop was particularly significant in the private sector, where union membership slipped 10 percent.
The numbers reflect why labor bosses are so adamant about pushing "card-check" legislation through Congress. Rigging the game by getting rid of secret-ballot organizing elections -- which unions often lose -- might help reverse years of membership declines.
Of particular interest in the statistics, though, was the fact that a majority of union members -- 51.5 percent -- now work for some level of government.
Thus it also becomes apparent why most labor organizations embrace the modern Democratic Party and its tax-and-spend, big government philosophy.
Notes Daniel Henninger of The Wall Street Journal: "The central battle in our time is over political primacy. It is a competition between the public sector and the private sector over who defines the work and the institutions that make a nation thrive and grow."
As union membership in the public sector has exploded, "They broke the public's bank. More than that, they entrenched a system of taking money from members' dues and spending it on political campaigns. Over time this transformed the Democratic Party into a public-sector dependency."
A political party that has evolved into the party of government. Labor unions that increasingly depend on government growth for survival. Where does that leave the taxpayers, who must pay the bills?
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The economic troubles the country is experiencing don't affect the unions, at least if you listen to their vitriolic spewing against accepting any wage concessions to cut expenses in Las Vegas in particular and in Nevada as a whole. They refuse to even bother coming to the table to discuss pay concessions so the only thing left is to start laying them off. Tom Collins noted as much in his "worth vs lay them off" comments. They're not worth what they're being paid, nor do they deserve the exorbitant raises included in their contracts. Every other business has had to cut costs so the unions are next.
One way to control government spending is to disband all public sector unions, in particular the SEIU (ACORN), renegotiate all public sector employment contracts, and investigate all of the union leadership for corruption. Andy Stern (SEIU president) is a leech on America.
UNIONS SHOULD BE BANNED FOR PUBLIC EMPLOYEES. PUBLIC EMPLOYEES SHOULD BE BANNED IN THE LEGISLATURE.
ACTUALLY, IT IS BANNED IN THE STATE OF NEVADA,
HOWEVER, SLIMEY JUDGES ALSO PUBLIC EMPLOYEES, BTW, HAVE ALLOWED THEM TO 'DOUBLE DIP'. HENCE, WE HAVE WILDLY OUTRAGEOUS PAY AND OVER THE TOP BENEFITS FOR FIRETHUGS WHO HAVE JOHN OCGUERA (KING OF THE NOVELTY LIGHTER BAN) SITTING IN THE LEGISLATURE ROOTING FOR THE FIRETHUGS TO GET MORE, MORE, MORE.
I VISITED THE NEVADA SENATE AND WATCHED AS THE DAY WAS SPENT EXTOLLING THE VIRTUES AND 'PERSONAL THANK-YOUS'
FROM EACH SENATOR GUSHING ABOUT 'HIS OR HER STAFF' BY NAME, ON THE RECORD.
WHEN IT CAME TIME FOR A MODEST CHANGE IN FUTURE HIRES HEALTH CARE BENEFITS, DINA TAXES, MAGGIE CARLTON, BOB COFFIN ALL STARTED WHINING ABOUT THE POOR FUTURE GOVERNMENT WORKERS, 'WHAT ABOUT THE ONES THAT RETIRE AT 50?' BLEATED UNION HACK MAGGIE CARLTON? DINA TAXES
PUT IN 2 AMENDMENTS TO KILL THE BILL,
AND BOB COFFIN CHIMED IN 'CAN'T WE ALL JUST FEEL THE LOVE'??? (BARF).
THESE UNION GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES IN THE LEGISLATURE ARE NO FRIENDS OF THE
TAXPAYERS. THEY WANT 'YOUR' MONEY.
THEY ARE GREEDY, DEVIOUS, AND UNDERHANDED.
IT'S TIME TO 'THROW THESE BUMS OUT'!
AND ELECT A TAXPAYER'S ADVOCATE, NOT A GOVERNMENT UNION EMPLOYEE ADVOCATE.