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From the Desk of Mike Mazzeo...
The Facts are the Facts. It's Not Economics, It's Union Busting!
As the events unfold in Wisconsin, the truth is emerging concerning the motivation behind Governor Walker's move to repeal collective bargaining for unionized public sector employees. Balancing the budget is the excuse to justify union busting. Jeffrey H. Keefe, Associate Professor of Labor and Employment Relations at the School of Management and Labor Relations, Rutgers University, released a study (February, 2011) using sound comparative methodologies to answer the question, "Are Wisconsin Public Employees Over-Compensated?" The result of the study showed that local and state employees are under-compensated. Comparisons were made considering education, experience, hours of work, organizational size and a number of other factors, showing that state and local employees receive less in compensation (benefits & wages) than comparable private sector employees. The standard earnings quotation shows the results that full-time state and local employees are under-compensated by 8.2%. Here in our own state, Governor Andrew Cuomo can be seen utilizing similar union busting tactics by mounting public media campaigns that pit small business workers who do not receive employer provided health care or pensions against the unionized public sector workers who do. To compare a small business worker against a public sector worker is an unfair and unrealistic comparison. When you accurately compare benefits, differences between private and public employees' compensation costs shrink as the size of the private organization increases. As Keefe's study indicates, the public sector worker is making less than the similar placed worker in private industry.
What is the answer? The answer is to look at true cost-saving measures to balance state budgets or to use anti-union rhetoric to blame unionized public sector workers for the poor financial state of local and state governments. The sad state of the economy is real, but it is not the result of over-paying unionized public sector employees. The solution is not to end collective bargaining rights of the working class. The answer is to hold our elected officials accountable for over spending, needless waste of public monies, and tax breaks for the rich. When the top 20% of the population has more money than the combined wealth of the rest of the population (80%), the problem is not the working class being overpaid!