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Strength of Public Sector Unions: 'Crazy'?
At the New York Times today, columnists David Brooks and Gail Collins had a discussion about yesterday's primary elections, touching on the failure of labor unions to meet their goal of mounting a challenge from the left to Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark. Along the way, Brooks and Collins raised the issue of the ascendance in the labor movement of unions representing government employees.
"The unions are becoming a public sector lobbying arm," Brooks said. Collins piled on:
I'm not comfortable with a situation in which the only unions that continue to flourish are the ones for public employees. It's crazy that it's easier to create a union for high school principals than underpaid slaughterhouse workers or chicken-pluckers. The people who most need the benefits of unionization are the ones that have the hardest time getting it.
Tom Shoop is vice president and editor in chief at Government Executive Media Group, where he oversees both print and online editorial operations. He started as associate editor of Government Executive magazine in 1989; launched the company’s flagship website, GovExec.com, in 1996; and was named editor in chief in 2007.
