With the defeat of the ballot proposal in Ohio that would have curbed public employee unions, we can use this election as a perfect example of why public sector unions must be abolished. $30 million were spent to oppose this measure by labor groups all over the nation. This was one of the strongest examples of union influence at the ballot box. There are roughly 115,000 public employees in Ohio. This accounts for roughly 1% of the state population. Yet, because of the power of collectivism, this small constituency was able to control the debate and pull off a landslide victory. This is the ultimate 1%. 1%of a state’s population can cause millions in service cuts and cuts to education simply to increase pay and pension benefits. This is what collective bargaining essentially means for state budgets. In order to meet contract requirements, state governments have had to curb services, close facilities, and even lay off workers.
The fact that unions can essentially vote themselves a raise or oppose limits to their power is why they should be abolished all together. They can simply control the conversation and shape public opinion with little in the way of opposition. Private sector unions have a healthy opposition from corporate and business interests. Wal-Mart can simply outspend the union’s effort to unionize their workers. However, who is there to oppose the public sector unions? Politicians are either funded by the unions or are afraid to be characterized as being against teachers or against police officers. Abolition is the only option.
For a republic to operate properly there the individual must be the most important unit of constituency. Unions, corporations, and special interest groups must not be allowed to wield the power that an individual can. When you marry the powerful force of organized labor with the power of public employees, you are creating a force that is almost unmatched. Public sector employees are among the highest paid members of society. This is because of the fact that the people who dictate their pay are subjects of the electoral process. Being able to wield the power of political action simply allows them to by proxy vote themselves a raise. In a free society, the self-interest of the individual is balanced by the self-interests of millions of other independent individuals. In a collectivist society, the self-interest of one organization can easily outweigh the self-interest of the rest of society. You are seeing this play out to a destructive end in Europe. The self-interest of many special interest groups are forcing the entire continent off a proverbial cliff.
We need to break the hold on our public services that the unions have. Public employees are supposed to be servants of the people. They should not hold the people hostage with the use of scare tactics and misinformation. Millions of people suffer and earn barely enough to make ends meet, while 1% of the population has the power to bribe elected officials to give them a raise.