A school superintendent demonstrates how to manage a public employee union.

Henry Blodget’s comments on the subject of firing teachers.

This is the type of action we need with far more public employee unions.

Now there is plenty to question in this article including the assertion that the teachers average $72-$78k salaries.  This seems quite high and if it is an average there is one number that represents the average salary.  Are benefits included this figure?  Usually it is the benefits package (pensions, health care) that make the total compensation for government employees so much more than those in the private sector.

But most importantly this public employee union has added such inflexibility to the process that a reasonable negotiation was likely never possible.  The unions start with the premise that they will never take less, they will never do more for the same amount and end up insulated from the pressures of competition that private sector employees face.

The problem is that most politicians won’t or can’t fire their entire work forces like was done here or when Ronald Reagan fired all the air traffic controllers that tried to strike.

Now in cash-strapped California a judge has decided that the governor had not authority to furlough state workers and they must receive backpay for their forced days off.  And the teacher’s union has formed a new committee called “Taxpayers for Jobs and Against Corporate Handouts”.  A sure way to drive company headquarters out of California and into more reasonable business climates.  The entire California economy will be hurt by this kind of concept.

Public employee unions should be abolished, government salaries and benefits should be adjusted to that of the private sector and we need to reduce the role of government because they can’t get much done at a reasonable cost.

Posted via email from John's posterous