Unions Bankrupting the Country -- Using Taxpayer Dollars
Clint Bolick at the Hoover Institution writes:
By now it is well-known that public employee contracts with generous wage [sic] and benefits are bankrupting state and local governments across the country and encircling the necks of future generations with an anvil of debt. What is almost completely unknown is that the hard-nosed union officials who negotiate lavish contracts for government workers are often paid to do so with taxpayer dollars.
That is part of a widespread practice called “release time,” in which public employees are paid full-time wages and benefits by taxpayers, yet they report and answer not to government officials (or taxpayers) but to their unions. In turn, release time can be used for lobbying, campaigning, soliciting grievances, union recruiting, and negotiating for higher wages and benefits -- all at taxpayer expense. . . .
More than half of unionized workers today are public employees. They already exercise outsized influence as they negotiate their contracts with fellow public employees. The taxpayers should not foot the bill for the rope with which the unions are hanging them.
Related
Amid Bankruptcy, Detroit Leaders Talk Zimmerman
Toxic Government by Democrats: Minneapolis
