I am jealous. I don't have collective bargaining rights. My pay is less than it was in 2006. I am happy because I still have a job and a family that I love and cherish. I do not have a dog in the fight, this is my observation only... Used to be, any government job (city,county,state,federal) never paid that well but you could rely on job security and benefits. Nowdays, pay for government jobs are outpacing the private sector. Something will have to give in order to attempt to balance the budget at every level of government. The choices should not be made in haste. Where would I start? I have some ideas but I can offer this, our blue collar workers like our firefighters police and teachers are not the problem. They are barely making a living wage now IMO. Besides, what jobs are more important or absolutely necessary? The problem in my mind is the upper level government employees that are bringing home six figure incomes plus the benefits and retirement. You know the cronies that were appointed that have a job that defies description. For every one of those jobs you ax, you could hire two or three blue collar workers or put a serious dent in the deficit. There could be far fewer six figure guys in the lineup at every level of government. The issue there is they don't really need collective bargaining, they are the annoited ones. The blue collar guys could easily do the (easy lifting) management guys work. They have been doing it for years anyway.
Destroyer is right, it is a touchy subject.
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