For the first time in American history, a majority of union members are government workers rather than private-sector employees, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced in a press release on Friday.
While some leftwing hacks believe that this is okay, most Americans should be concerned about this, particularly with the public employee pension crisis in full bloom.
“In its annual report on union membership, the bureau undercut the longstanding notion that union members are overwhelmingly blue-collar factory workers. It found that membership fell so fast in the private sector in 2009 that the 7.9 million unionized public-sector workers easily outnumbered those in the private sector, where labor’s ranks shrank to 7.4 million, from 8.2 million in 2008,” according to the New York Times.
Some “highlights” from the 2009 data include:
- More public sector employees (7.9 million) belonged to a union than did private sector employees (7.4 million), despite there being 5 times more wage and salary workers in the private sector.
- Workers in education, training, and library occupations had the highest unionization rate at 38.1 percent.
- Black workers were more likely to be union members than were white, Asian, or Hispanic workers.
- Among states, New York had the highest union membership rate (25.2 percent) and North Carolina had the lowest
rate (3.1 percent).
And of course these public employees have about taken over the Democratic Party, with predictably disastrous consequences. The good news is that their agenda is now in utter disarray, with the underdog victor of Republican Scott Brown over Martha Coakley, in Massachusetts.
What about Latinos? Only 10.2% belong to unions. Yet Latino elected officials overwhelmingly whore themselves to unions. And a Latina, Hilda Solis, is now the head of the U.S. Department of Labor.
The largest union victory since the auto industry was organized in the 1940’s was the unionization of California’s In Home Supportive Services (IHSS) workers about 10 years ago. It was a huge victory for organized labor, making about 100,000 workers State/county employees and bringing them into the union fold. There were some wars between unions, and at least one of them was exposed as corrupt, but the American Federation of State and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) eventually wound up with most of these low wage government workers in their membership. If you have never been to a Board of Supervisors meeting and seen the audience packed with people wearing green T shirts (with the AFSCME insigina on them) and using their 3 minutes each at the podium to plead for wages and benefits you have not seen “democracy in action”. Here in Orange County even the so called conservative Supervisors have succumbed to these tactics to grant raises and benefits that most everyone knows are unsustainable. Oh yes, the union also engages in finding people to enroll in the IHSS program so there are more cases and thus more work for their union members and a need for more workers and members and more membership dues. The union is also effective in P.R. efforts to seek sympathy and support for the low income, disabled clients served by the IHSS program any time anyone, such as the Governor, proposes to cut back. Clients in wheelchairs and even iron lungs are wheeled into the legislative chambers in Sacramento and County Halls of Administration to pressure electeds to do no harm to the disabled via budget cuts, etc. It is a circus with no end -at least until the money runs completely out.
Meanwhile the typical factory worker keeps at it for “peanuts” so the job won’t get outsourced.
Yes our failed trade policies and Ronald Reagans attack on unions have left the regular working person on thier own with nowhere to turn. And the Republicnas are pushing to get rid of any remaining laws that protect unions as a solution. More of the same policies that got us here are not likely to work free trade, less regulation, lower taxes, more right to work laws, paycheck protection acts to name a few.
Yes The pensions and benifits of the public sector have become a burden. But mostly because we have allowed our base of production of products to be moved overseas. Trade deficits over use of oil from overseas, the list is endless