In a union city like Philadelphia, it really shouldn't come as a shock that when unions pitch fits, politicians' knees buckle, and taxpayers end up paying the price.
A few months ago, we posted on Philadelphia's proposed soda tax that drew union protests by the Teamsters. To be clear, we also believe the soda tax idea is a stupid idea--sort of like tea taxes were in 1773--as are most taxes today that go to pay for bloated governments.
If you live in Philadelphia, higher property taxes and a fee for trash pickup may be two things you'll pay for next year.
Philadelphia City Council approved Mayor Michael Nutter's $3.9 billion budget for 2011 with a vote Thursday evening.
To fill in a $150 million budget gap, officials made several tax increases, the most notable being a 9.9-percent jump in property taxes, officials told NBC Philadelphia. That increase will only last for two years.
The 9.9 percent temporary tax hike has to get final approval from council next week.
Council also passed measures that will institute a new, yearly $300 fee for trash pickup from small businesses, duplexes and apartment buildings and a tax on cigars and smokeless tobacco.
One high-profile tax that wasn't included in the approved budget was the proposed soda tax.
The measure -- which would have put a tax of 2-cent per ounce on all soda and sugary drinks sold within the city limits -- was both lauded and detested by residents.
Once again, taxpayers take a hit all because unions threw a fit.
__________________
“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776
Gallup's Job Creation Index for April reveals significantly more hiring within the federal government than in the private sector.
Read the rest here.
__________________ “I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776
John Stossel, one of our favorite commentators (even before he joined Fox) has written about more forced unionization:
A group of personal care providers who work in homes in Illinois filed a class-action lawsuit this week against Governor Pat Quinn and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). They’re suing because some of the 20,000 of the home-based workers have, against their will, been made dues-paying "public employees" of the state.
The National Right to Work Foundation represents some of the thousands of care providers who have turned down union membership, but may still have to fend off union bosses.
A middle-school teacher made her students join her in protesting budget cuts (video here). Unfortunately for her, it looks like her protest did nothing but prove that perhaps our teachers are, in fact, overpaid and underqualified.
Worth...every...penny.
__________________
"I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776
You've seen part of the video (here), now watch the whole thing (via Big Government) as union astroturfers from the SEIU, AFSCME and members from the teacher's union in Illinois clamor for tax increases:
Apparently, American History is not in their teaching curriculum.
__________________ "I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776
Across the country, teachers, those who are responsible for educating children and young adults basic skills in reading, writing and arithmetic (and a whole lot more) are acting out.
One of the basic tenets in business or of common sense (which, unfortunately, they don't teach in school) is that you cannot eat more than you produce. However, teachers and, more importantly, their unions seem to be failing at grasping that basic concept.
Sometimes organizations don’t realize how good they have it until public support for their positions erodes, the good will vanishes and the bottom suddenly falls out.
Well, the bottom has fallen out in many cases. States and municipalities are on the brink of bankruptcy, many taxpayers are out of work and they still have mortgages to pay and the property taxes that fund the salaries that public-sector workers receive still come due. Therein lies the rub.
As Americans have cut largely cut back on their own personal expenditures by putting less on their credit cards, eating out less frequently and clipping more coupons, it is only reasonable that the public-sector workers who are fed from the trough filled by income and property taxes tighten their belts as well.
But unions like AFSCME, the SEIU, NEA and AFT are fighting tooth and nail (and actually spending their members' money) to raise taxes to keep the public till well fed. And, when cuts are made (or even proposed), they take to the streets in protest, causing more costs to be borne by the taxpayers.
This week alone, teachers in Pennsylvania and in California have gone on strike in protest of budgetary cuts cuts. In the Pennsylvania strike, despite the recession, the dispute is not over cutting salaries but how much the teachers' raises should be:
The union proposed no salary increase in the first year and raises of between 2.50 and 2.85 percent in each of the next four years.
[snip]
...the school district proposed a zero percent increase in the first year and a 2 percent salary increase in each of the next four years.
School Board President Vince Sherpinsky argued that the district must pay additional millions to finance salary increases, due to changes in seniority.
When those figures are considered, the district's last offer amounts to an 18.81 percent cumulative pay raise; the union's proposal is 22.74 percent, Sherpinsky said.
The union offered to reduce its proposal by $1.25 million to address the seniority issue, but that, too, was rejected by the school board.
To add insult to injury, as the teachers' union bickers with the school district over how much of the taxpayers' money to spend, while the teachers are striking, many single parents (or those households where both parents work) have to make other child care arrangement or miss work entirely. This takes an even bigger chunk out of their already-strained budgets.
For the first time since 1976, New Jersey voters rejected a majority of proposed school budgets. Only 41.3 percent of the 538 proposed budgets received voter approval in yesterday’s Annual School Election, according to unofficial results released this morning by the New Jersey School Boards Association. That figure compares with a 73.3 percent approval rate last year.
According to the New Jersey Department of Education, nearly 26.7 percent of eligible voters participated in Tuesday's election, a significant increase from last year's 15-percent voter turnout.
“This has been a year unlike any we’ve seen before,” said Marie S. Bilik, NJSBA executive director. “Local boards of education did their best with the hand they were dealt. The election results should not be viewed as a rejection of public education or school programs. It's clear that voters were reacting to many concerns, including the poor economy and high property taxes."
In Chicago, however, public-sector workers rallied with their unions on Wednesday and, as noted on Big Government.com (from which the title of this post came), "a phalanx of public sector employees, including SEIU, Illinois Education Association, Illinois Federation of Teachers, AFSCME, and AFL-CIO, rallied in support of the tax hike in the capital, Springfield." [Emphasis added.]
As the attitude of many public-sector unions is greatly (and grossly) personified by this teacher, it has become a national problem. Unless and until more Americans realize the basic principle that you cannot eat more than you produce, taxpayers will continue to be the meal by which public-sector unions will continue to feast.
If some men are entitled by right to the products of the work of others, it means that those others are deprived of rights and condemned to slave labor.
Now, back to work you serf!...There's a government worker out there who needs a new car.
__________________ “I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776
The Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act is a bill that has lingered in Congress for several years and had previously enjoyed bi-partisan support in the House. The bill is written to require states, counties and municipalities to recognize and bargain with unions on behalf of all police, firefighters, as well as EMS workers, irrespective of their current state laws.
As states, cities, and many municipalities go broke, many due to the wage, benefit and pension packages negotiated by public-sector unions, the PSEECA is an intrusion on states's rights, as well as another unfunded mandate from the federal government which could push several states over the fiscal edge.
Earlier today, the Florida League of Cities sent out the following alert to members, which states:
Action Requested: Please CALL Senators Bill Nelson and George LeMieux and your Member(s) of Congress and urge them to oppose passage of S.3194 or H.R.413.
Yesterday, the Senate moved one step closer to scheduling a vote on a mandatory collective bargaining bill, when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) re-introduced the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act of 2009, S. 3194. He did so under a Senate rule that allows the bill to come to the floor in as little as 48 hours after introduction and without committee review. S.3194 is identical to S.1611, which Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) introduced last year, and is nearly identical to H.R. 413, the House version of the bill.
The House also seems to be preparing for a vote on mandatory collective bargaining legislation sometime this month with Rep. George Miller (D-CA), the chair of the House Education and
Labor Committee and one of the bill’s leading advocates, saying he expected H.R.413 to pass Congress in April.
If and when both chambers adopt identical bill language, it will be sent to the President who is expected to sign it.
The National League of Cities urges the Congress to reject this legislation because it undermines municipal autonomy with respect to making fundamental employment decisions, interferes with state and local laws, and may be unconstitutional.
[snip]
The National League of Cities and its national partners continue to oppose this legislation because it would grant the federal government authority over fundamental employment decisions historically reserved to states and local governments.
S.3194 -- without consideration for state or local laws -- would:
Grant every police officer, firefighter and emergency medical technician at the state or local level the right to form and join a labor union;
Direct local governments to recognize the employees' labor union;
Require cities and towns to collectively bargain over hours, wages, and the terms and conditions of employment other than pensions;
Require states and municipal governments to establish an impasse resolution process;
Require that state courts enforce the rights established by this mandatory collective bargaining bill; and
Direct every state – even if it currently recognizes employee collective bargaining rights – to conform to federal regulations around mandatory collective bargaining within two years of the bill’s effective date and without regard to state or local laws.
[snip]
House Co-sponsors of H.R. 413 from Florida:
Cong. Vern Buchanan
Cong. Corrine Brown
Cong. Lincoln Diaz-Balart
Cong. Mario Diaz-Balart
Cong. Alan Grayson
Cong. Alcee Hastings
Cong. Kendrick Meek
Cong. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
Cong. Tom Rooney
Cong. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz
The League is urging its members to contact their congressional delegation to urge opposition to H.R. 413 and S. 3194...You can too by going here.
__________________
“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776
Last year, the city of Pittsburgh fired five Public Works employees after Team 4 found they did not disclose their criminal histories on job applications.
Those workers appealed and have gotten their jobs back, Team 4 reported on Monday.
In some cases, the employees argued that they did not deliberately lie about their records.
"The arbitrator decided he didn't deliberately falsify his application. The individual believed a plea bargain wasn't the same thing as a conviction," said Joe Rossi, of Teamsters Local Union 249.
The city is paying thousands of dollars in back pay to the five employees. [Emphasis added.]
Hopefully, these aren't the same public workers who read utility meters because, if they don't know that a plea bargain is a conviction and omitting that on an application is falsification, they sure as heck have no business reading those little doohickeys that spin around on the side of your house.
__________________
“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776
For the first-time ever, in 2009, public-sector workers belonging to unions surpassed private-sector workers who belong to unions. This trend is likely to continue, irrespective of the fact that the SEIU is now running the National Labor Relations Board. Moreover, as public-sector union membership swells under President Obama, the consequences to the economy will continue.
Reason's Nick Gillespie offers three reasons why public-sector unions are helping to kill the economy [edited for brevity]:
1. They cost too much. As USA Today recently noted, federal employees make on average almost $8,000 more than their private-sector counterparts. When you add in benefits, the gap spreads to about $30,000.
2. We can’t fire them. The private sector has shed positions in response to slackening demand and the economic downturn.
3. They create a permanent lobby for expanded government and higher taxes. Look at California, where teacher unions have spent over $211 million dollars on elections in the past decade. One result is that 40 percent of California’s budget must be spent on education, regardless of the number and needs of students. Over the last 10 years, taxpayer contributions to public-sector pension funds has increased by 2000 percent!
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