-By Warner Todd Huston
Looks like the California city of Vallejo is closer every day to bankruptcy. And one of the chief reasons is the unfunded mandates forced upon it by the unions that contract with the city workers.
City staff members have been unable to come up with a detailed, long-term financial plan because negotiations with the police and fire unions are still ongoing. The city is asking for steep concessions from the unions, whose members are among the highest paid in the Bay Area and whose salaries comprise about 74 percent of the city’s budget.
Naturally, the unions couldn’t care less about good fiscal policy and what is right for the people of Vallejo. They are too greedy for that.
Negotiations with the unions are not going well, according to city officials. The parties met three times last week and the city is expected to look at a proposal from the unions on Monday, but no meetings are scheduled after that, Davis said.
Yeah, I’ll bet “not going well” is an understatement.
Here is the reason why unions are anathema to good government. Unions are not interested in what’s best for the people, they are only interested in high salaries, whether the city has the revenue or not, for their members. Good government, good fiscal policy…. well those are things no union cares about.
Government workers should never be allowed to be under a union contract. This is perfect proof of that maxim, too.
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Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer, has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and is featured on many websites such as newsbusters.org, townhall.com, New Media Journal, Men’s News Daily and the New Media Alliance among many, many others. Additionally, he has been a frequent guest on talk-radio programs to discuss his opinion editorials and current events. He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the new book “Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture” which can be purchased on amazon.com. He is also the owner and operator of publiusforum.com. Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions : EMAIL Warner Todd Huston