"Layoffs: In the private sector, they’re a part of life. For government workers, they’re another Pearl Harbor."

Labor brute force rules

But do the unions really care? Bullying legislators and abusing taxpayers is nothing new for organized labor. In his 2009 farewell address, former National Education Association general counsel Bob Chanin laid it out on why his union had been so effective:

“It is not because we care about children; and it is not because we have a vision of a great public school for every child. [It is] because we have power. And we have power because there are more than 3.2 million people who are willing to pay us hundreds of million of dollars in dues each year because they believe that .  .  .  the union can protect their rights and advance their interests.”

This episode has always been about power. Public employee unions have a disproportionate share of it, and it's time to end their use of undue influence to fleece the taxpayers (real working people) by pushing for the ever expanding growth of big government.