Monday, March 06, 2006
Union Heresy in Pittsburgh
A City employee has just committed the unpardonable sin of publicly raising the prospect of possible dissension among Pittsburgh’s unions. After all, solidarity is the single most important factor in the ability to extort above competitive market wages from employers.
The offender?-- a candidate for City Council who happens to work in the Department of Public Works. The gentleman is quoted as saying, “ The only union that would benefit from lifting Act 47 would be the fire [fighters] “ and further “If you pay [them] more, it’s got to come from somewhere, and its going to be the other unions.”
This statement is a public disclosure of what has undoubtedly been festering for some time. The level of wages, benefits and special treatment the firefighters have been able to extract from the City because of Act 111 along with their political clout and acumen have certainly outstripped the compensation of union workers in other departments and forced the City to balance its budgets over the years largely at their expense.
Obviously, the answer is not to extend Act 111 to all public sector unions. The answer is to make serious changes in Act 111 to bring some semblance of balance to the bargaining power of public safety unions and municipalities.
We can hope that private sector union members will begin to publicly voice similar dissatisfaction over the unconscionable imbalance of bargaining power between Pennsylvania’s teachers and school boards. As taxpayers they must be feeling the pinch of the outrageous school property taxes they must pay, especially in Allegheny County.
Union solidarity between public and private sector unions is only working to further destroy the private sector and jobs in Pennsylvania by forcing ever-higher tax burdens on citizens and businesses.
A City employee has just committed the unpardonable sin of publicly raising the prospect of possible dissension among Pittsburgh’s unions. After all, solidarity is the single most important factor in the ability to extort above competitive market wages from employers.
The offender?-- a candidate for City Council who happens to work in the Department of Public Works. The gentleman is quoted as saying, “ The only union that would benefit from lifting Act 47 would be the fire [fighters] “ and further “If you pay [them] more, it’s got to come from somewhere, and its going to be the other unions.”
This statement is a public disclosure of what has undoubtedly been festering for some time. The level of wages, benefits and special treatment the firefighters have been able to extract from the City because of Act 111 along with their political clout and acumen have certainly outstripped the compensation of union workers in other departments and forced the City to balance its budgets over the years largely at their expense.
Obviously, the answer is not to extend Act 111 to all public sector unions. The answer is to make serious changes in Act 111 to bring some semblance of balance to the bargaining power of public safety unions and municipalities.
We can hope that private sector union members will begin to publicly voice similar dissatisfaction over the unconscionable imbalance of bargaining power between Pennsylvania’s teachers and school boards. As taxpayers they must be feeling the pinch of the outrageous school property taxes they must pay, especially in Allegheny County.
Union solidarity between public and private sector unions is only working to further destroy the private sector and jobs in Pennsylvania by forcing ever-higher tax burdens on citizens and businesses.
