It’s Columbus Day morning and members of the SEIU Local 1000 have threatened not to come to work today. Whether they do or not, the mere threat is another poke in the eye of the typical California private sector worker, whether a private union member or not.
The public union members seem to have placed themselves above other workers in demands that they cannot be furloughed or laid off during a recession that has seen California unemployment reach more than 12%. There are rallies even today at Cal State Universities protesting public cuts while private workers suffer silently or scramble for new work.
Then of course there is the pension debacle. State and local governments are headed toward bankruptcy if the pension promises demanded by the public sector workers are not reformed. Imagine how the private sector worker feels, many of whom don’t have a pension or have difficulty contributing to one, when they will have to pay out of their own pockets to cover comfortable or even outrageous pensions for public workers who retire relatively early.
The Columbus Day squabble is the result of a renegotiated contract with the state, which dumped the Columbus Day holiday and combined the Lincoln and Washington birthday holidays into one paid day off in exchange for two personal days off. However, the contract was never signed so the union believes its members still are working under the old contract that gives them Columbus Day off.
Its all part of pressure politics to get the contract signed, of course, and the union has a right to make its point. But, it also highlights the fact the public sector union members have 14 paid holidays, which will be cut to twelve. Private workers don’t come near enjoying twelve paid holidays.
At one time, public sector workers were offered more generous benefits than private sector counterparts to offset lower pay. Over recent decades, however, the public workers have caught up in pay and they still receive the extraordinary benefits. This has come about because of the unions aggressive move into electoral politics. By being responsible for getting candidates elected, the unions essentially are negotiating with a grateful ally at contract time.
On this Columbus Day, the Weekly Standard wraps up what’s wrong with the unions push to dominate the political scene.
Now, however, the efforts of the unions to set up their members as a seemingly privileged class are meeting resistance. The Fresno Bee called the Columbus Day no-show plan counterproductive.
This week the Metropolitan Water District in Southern California is proposing increases in pensions, which could affect water rates. That has brought protest not only from print media, but has also generated an unusual effort by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association to run a radio ad campaign against the move.
While unions exist to protect their members, public unions are taking their advocacy to a point that will create a backlash against special privileges not enjoyed by the people who pay the bills.