The recent battle over a Federal government shutdown adds more evidence to the argument that public sector unions must be abolished. Cities are reeling under unsustainable pensions paid to government workers who are not working. And those in state government jobs are receiving the largest pensions of all. They are destroying the economy. Their contracts are not approved by voters but by secret quid pro quo arrangements with the politicians they support.
Federal collective bargaining rights were granted by executive order, not by an act of Congress. In 1962 John F. Kennedy granted collective bargaining to federal workers through Executive Order 10988. The voters of America had no say in this cozy relationship. The result is that today federal workers earn up to twice as much as their private sector counterparts. But since they are unionized they have a power private sector workers don't have: to force other workers to support them through taxation.
The debt created by these union pensions may be unconstitutional: the Constitution says Congress may levy tariffs and fees in support government services. If employees are no longer working and providing services, then the tariffs and fees are not providing any services. Furthermore, the money going to pensions deprives the neediest Americans of much-needed entitlements. When excessive debt is created, the service on this debt takes more money out of the Federal government, reducing its ability to help the poor even further. (more...)
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