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My husband is a New Jersey state worker whose division is not unionized. As a result, job titles, salaries, and classifications are all over the place. He earns more than some colleagues who have been there 15+ years, and some people with less experience than him make more than he does (and about half of what he could potentially earn in a similar private-sector job.) Collective bargaining does provide some order and rationality to job classifications and salaries, and defined cost-of-living increases and health benefits.

The problem is not unionization per se, it is the forced collection of public employee union dues for political contributions, all of which go to Democrats who will support bigger government, higher salaries and benefits for public employees, etc. at the expense of taxpayers.

rockmom on November 13, 2009 at 12:55 PM

I’ve been a classification analyst for the state of NJ and what you are saying should NOT be the case. Classification, and titles have nothing to do with whether or not you are in a union, they have to do with the functions of the position that you are performing. Salaries may differ b/c unions members typically get raises based on years of service/across the board, while non-union workers usually get raises based on performance (within a salary grade structure in both cases.) You are correct that the union takes $ and gives it to the Democrats and left-leaning organizations.

The Statists will be considered certifiably insane if the think they can disarm 100+ Million guns owners – all at once!

They won’t – at least not until that’s a last resort

This, is provided they actually allow free and fair elections in ’10 & ’12! If you but take a moment to review who they’ve cozied up to abroad and there allies here and who they proclaim to admire/idolize, Chavez, Zelaya, Achmedinejad, Putin, Mao, Castro, basically the who’s who in the tyranny sweepstakes. If mimicry is the highest form of flattery, then what should one expect from the likes of those that sing the praises of this cast of characters?

While the outbreak of participatory involvement of the electorate is heartening, the question to me, remains if they will be permitted to fully exercise it in ’10 or ’12. The shenanigans of ’08 I think have yet to be fully explored, and with Holder at the DOJ will probablyremain that way. The dismissal of the New Black Panthers case, after they’d be convicted I might add, is a case in point.

The motivation for even more underhanded mischief, can be assumed by the way they have been heedless of their constituents in regards to the stim pkg & the Healthcare bill. Not to mention the backlash felt from NJ & VA in ’09. And NY-23 isn’t over just yet.

That gives us two unofficial parties pushing for big government — Democrats and the labor movement.

Don’t forget the un-unionized part of the vast federal bureacracy.

This article is a must read to understand both the in the tenches tactics employed, and the long-term strategy for our dystopian nightmare to follow. Its worth an “update”, but for the sake of the commenters, here is the link;

http://nrd.nationalreview.com/article/?q=ZGFmMDY4NzdkMmIwZTQ1MzU2ZDA4NGZhNzJlNGU2MTE=

The California Tea Party Patriots have launched an initiative for the 2010 ballot that would outlaw political contributions by public employee unions. This is where it must start.

Unplug The Political Machine

rockmom on November 13, 2009 at 12:48 PM

Unfortunately, they would still be able to run TV ads.
They should try for a preposition that would outlaw public service employees bargaining collectively.

Union membership has fallen to 7.3% of private sector workers – the lowest rate since Roosevelt signed the National Labor Relations Act into law. But it is a completely different story in the public sector: 37.6% of government employees belong to unions, up almost a percentage point since last year. Those 7.9 million unionized government employees are 51% of all union members nationwide. Most union members today now work for Uncle Sam.

These facts cannot be understated. Most taxpayers wonder why budgets cannot be cut and why public employees have such generous pensions. This is why.

Obama’s ties to labor are open and notorious. More disturbing, look at NY-23 and a credible argument can be made that the Republican Party is likely as beholden to unions and big government as the Democrats. I’m not arguing for a third party, but I honestly hope that conservatives open their eyes to the possibility that the Republican party has been compromised along with conservative principles.

[I learned about this on Fox News because the local media never mentioned it.]

Unplug The Political Machine

rockmom on November 13, 2009 at 12:48 PM

Let’s be sure to add this to the post 2012 agenda.

Quick union story. I was a Special Agent for US Customs (no union allowed) and had a case of drug smuggling through a port of entry. The Customs Inspector (Union) who physically found the dope wrote his report in pink ink, completely illegible, and with 3rd grade grammar and then went home from his shift. When I got the report from his supervisor (not union), I told him I needed this guy to get back here, pronto and rewrite the report or else we wouldn’t be able to prosecute the guy. The sup refused on the grounds that the union would freak out, so I had to call this shithead up and order him to come back to work and do his job. Of course, afterward I caught a bunch of shit from my supervisors (who got an earful from the union rep).

Froggy on November 13, 2009 at 12:14 PM

Sounds like something that would take place on that cop show The Wire. As liberal as the creator may be, he pulled no punches when it came to bureaucratic incompetence.

That, they say, is just too crazy an idea.

Big government, Big Labor and Goldman Sachs, the same thing