Politics & Current Affairs — February 22, 2011

Public Unions An Anachronism

Public unions have been a 50-year mistake. The argument for public unionization wasn’t moral, economic or intellectual. It was rankly political.

bigthinkeditor

Public unions have been a 50-year mistake. A crucial distinction has been lost in the debate over Walker’s proposals: Government unions are not the same thing as private sector unions.

Traditional, private sector unions were born out of an often bloody adversarial relationship between labor and management. Meanwhile, government unions have no such narrative on their side. The argument for public unionization wasn’t moral, economic or intellectual. It was rankly political. Private sector unions fight with management over an equitable distribution of profits. Government unions negotiate with politicians over taxpayer money, putting the public interest at odds with union interests.

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7 min

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with

Laurie Santos

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