Why Are Public Employees and Their Unions Under Attack?

As many states began their legislative session’s public employees and the unions that represent them have been under attack, they also find themselves being blamed for the various state and city administrations fiscal problems. But why is it “Open Season” on Public Employees, are they/ we really to blame for problems?

There are two reasons that immediately come to mind; people often look for someone, or something to blame when they experience troubles. The other reason is that public employees are easy targets and even easier to prevent them from objecting to the attacks.

Why are they being blamed and why are public employee the problem?

When things go wrong for people they go through different phases from denial, that can’t happen to me, then shock when it does. Then there has to be a reason, someone to blame, and eventually people decide that they just have to fix the problem, recover and get on with life.

One reason that public employees are an easy target is because they are easy to control. There are rules limiting when they can identify themselves as a public employee, which would add credibility as they speak on issues. But there is much more to it than the control factor.

I could go back through history and point out times when such tactics have been used, but some might decide to create another distraction by attacking those comparisons, so instead I’ll only go back the past two to three years. For nearly three years the economy has been in a free fall, the mortgage fiasco has been in full swing, loans have been difficult if not impossible to obtain, full prices have been on a roller coaster going from around $2.00 a gallon to over $4.50 and down again (they are approaching 4 again). Last year was the second year and people were in disbelief how bad things were, and scared that they would only get worse, many were in a state of shock.

When the housing “bubble” burst Democrats began to Blame Republicans, the President at the time was George W. Bush (Republican). Then the Republicans began to blame the Democrats. After all they (Democrats) won control of both the House of Representative and Senate in the November 2006 elections, and it was prominent Democrats like Christopher Dodd and Barney Frank that fought against stricter regulations for the mortgage industry. Then information began to come out about politicians getting “sweetheart” deals on mortgages, the public began to turn on incumbents. Politicians began to talk about the economy and government fiscal problems and then “Golden Parachutes” being given to business executives as the reason for the problem in order to distract the public from their previous actions.

As states, counties and municipalities began to have to deal with financial problems those politicians realized that they needed to find a similar distraction. They couldn’t blame greedy financial sector executives, that card had already been played. People began to be angry as reports of private sector union protests and threats against executives and their families. Politicians realized a new target for deflecting public anger and discontent had to be found. Public employees and their unions became the choice, if they were put on the defensive they wouldn’t be able to remind voters that they had warned the politicians’ years earlier of the potential for fiscal problems if they (elected officials) didn’t change the way they were doing business. The same politicians that sought out and bragged about public employee union endorsements were now attacking those same unions.

Last year as positions in the legislative and executive branches of various governments were coming up for elections there were people that seized upon the public’s anger and turned it into supporters. They gave them “someone” to hate, they focused that anger. First they portrayed themselves as an “Outsider”, not a part of “The System”. Despite their past, their business partners and ventures, they kept saying that they were an “outsider” and if elected would change the system. If you keep repeating something long enough sooner or later people will begin to believe it. Once people began to believe the lie candidates could turn the anger into energy to get out the vote, and what better way than to give people someone to hate, someone to blame. Public employees and their unions were the perfect choice, you could get the voters to blame the public employees pay and benefits for the tax increases and you could exploit the incumbent’s previous endorsement from those unions to attack their credibility.

Why did the attacks intensify after the elections?

Most people don’t differentiate between public sector and private sector unions, and a union is a union. Another reason is because it’s easy to find excesses, perceived and real. Then you speak in general terms; avoid details that relate to your specific entity (local, county, state). When people are angry they will listen to the “sound bite” without researching the facts. Now your public employees and their unions have to fight on multiple fronts, they are busy trying to keep pay and benefits while fighting the public relations battle. This will allow legislators to push through legislation that will benefit their interests with very little notice or opposition. It’s like the con man or pick pocket, while you’re watching their one hand (the attacks on public employees and unions) they are taking your wallet (passing legislation that in the long run will cost you more). These attacks also keep most from realizing that the “Outsider” isn’t changing the system, they are exploiting it.

About now you may have your doubts about what I’m saying, or your remembering my “union” past and thinking that I’m just on the defensive, So let me ask you a question, when someone says unions what’s the first thing you think of? Do you think of all those examples of California’s fiscal problems and the pension benefits they get? Do you think of the factory workers in the industrial sector and their benefits? Do you think of the fact that public sector employees are doing the work of two, three, or more people and have been doing so for years?

The next time a politician blames the public employees ask for specifics. If they cite specifics you need to take the advice of Ronald Reagan, Trust but Verify.”

The union movement started in the North east, and although it has expanded to other areas the south and Midwest are mostly Right to Work States (belonging to a union is not a prerequisite to being employed). In some states public employees aren’t allowed to organize, in others they can organize but are not allowed collective bargaining.

Public sector employees, especially law enforcement, firefighters, and teachers are under attack because they are easy targets. As I’ve mentioned, as long as the message is wrapped up in a catchy commercial or has a good “catch phrase” many people will not look at specifics immediately to see if the message is correct or accurate.

If you think for a moment you can think of a public employee that didn’t do what they were supposed to, or got angry and over reacted to a situation, however, that doesn’t mean that all public employees are no good. Just as it is wrong to paint a race or ethnicity with a “broad brush” it is wrong to denigrate all public employees because of the actions of a few.

Finally, let me address the pay and benefits. In your job do you get paid overtime if you work more than 40 hours a week? Police officers and firefighters are the only occupations that are exempt from the Fair Labor Standard Act regulations regarding the payment of overtime after 40 hours a week. Although it won’t be much, will you receive your full Social Security Benefits when you retire? Because of legislation enacted in the mid 1980’s police officers, firefighters, and some other public employees will have their benefits reduced. If you look you may find that it was after that legislation was enacted that public employees began to negotiate for additional benefits. Also, although there are public pension systems that the employee does not contribute to there are many more in which they do (I paid between 7.5 and 10.5% of salary).

Politicians like to say that they have to pay the salaries and benefits because of the “union” contracts. It is also the reason they can’t fire bad employees. I have written about terminating public employees in the past so I won’t go through it again, except to say that as a union representative my job was to ensure that the employee was treated fairly and that the discipline (including termination) was done in accordance with procedures. As far as pay and benefits are concerned the politicians are leaving out something very important. They could open the contracts and renegotiate pay and benefits. However, if they were to do that their fiscal actions would be subject to review. Also, their benefits could also be called into question and reduced or eliminated. Have you seen Congress doing away with their health insurance or changing their congressional pension (a member of Congress can retire after serving only 6 years and receive a minimum pension of $66,000.00 per year for the rest of their life)?

So the next time you hear public employees being attacked, blamed for the bad situation ask the person doing the blame to do like Paul Harvey used to, insist that they tell you “The Rest of The Story.”

That’s My Opinion, What’s Yours