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Message: <blockquote data-quote="TJV" data-source="post: 357909" data-attributes="member: 4300">Forget Favre,  I think the resentment occurs not because SpartaChris and others are upset with their jobs but because he - and all the rest of us taxpayers – are paying for the lavish benefits of government employees.  You mentioned the unions supporting the democrats – that of course is right as they give 100s of millions of dollars to democrats nationwide. That’s why government employees should not have collective bargaining rights: It is a conflict of interest. When a private business and a union negotiate, each side represents different interests. When a politician beholding to the unions for his/her reelection bargains with a government worker union there is no one at the table representing the rights of taxpayers.  Kimberley Strassel wrote a piece for the Wall Street Journal titled, Union Power for Thee, But Not for Me. The subtitle is, If the president is so upset with Wisconsin's labor law reforms, why won't he allow federal workers to bargain collectively? The point she makes is if Walker’s bill is passed, Wisconsin state employees will still have more rights than federal employees. (You have to subscribe to read the article.) With regard to the kind of person Walker is, when he was elected as Milwaukee County Executive, he said he thought the job paid too much. So what did he do about it? He reduced his salary by over $300,000 over eight years.  The problems with public unions go beyond lavish compensation and benefits. In Milwaukee county because of union rules, county park employees work from 8AM to 4:30PM. If there is an event in one of the parks after 5PM employees must be paid overtime. How many capable workers do you suppose would be willing to work a flex time schedule or start at noon?  The bottom line to all this IMO is no matter what you think about all the issues before us as a nation and in the individual states, we just can’t afford to spend like we are spending. As I type this, the Federal government is borrowing 40 cents for every dollar it spends. Who disagrees that is unsustainable? And beyond that on the local level, personnel costs typically take up 60% or more of their budgets.  Two quotes from a Wall Street Journal story by Robert Costrell, titled Oh, To Be a Teacher in Wisconsin: “The showdown in Wisconsin over fringe benefits for public employees boils down to one number: 74.2. That's how many cents the public pays Milwaukee public-school teachers and other employees for retirement and health benefits for every dollar they receive in salary. The corresponding rate for employees of private firms is 24.3 cents.” And later in the article: “The average Milwaukee public-school teacher salary is $56,500, but with benefits the total package is $100,005, according to the manager of financial planning for Milwaukee public schools.” And keep in mind, if they can’t get by on that salary and benefit package, they have three months off every year to earn more income.  BTW, I like the sentiment behind your screen name – so we certainly agree on that. </blockquote>

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