I would like to make something clear upfront, the issue of public employee compensation is volatile and toxic. I would also like to mention that I am a member of a Union, CWA. People love and support their public servants but do not generally approve of the sweet deal they have in comparison to the private sector, just like people generally love their congressperson but hate congress(check those rates or re-election.) Walkers easy election and the big wins for reform in California in addition to DEMOCRATIC governers(don't forget Rahm in Chicago is prepared to go to all out war) pressing hard on pension reform and the alienation of perhaps their strongest constituency should tell you all you need to know, change is coming and it is up to the public sector unions to either be a leader in change or leave it up to the people, which in these economic times will destroy them.
There was a time when the understood contract was that public employees got paid much less than their private sector peers and this was made up by benefits. There was also a time when private sector employees enjoyed constant raises and pensions as well as free to very low cost health insurance, both of those situations are no longer relevant or in existence. Thee current situation is that public employees get paid more, have much....MUCH better benefits and have much more job security(this one is changing, but still far above the job security in the private sector.)
The promises made by long gone politicians to buy votes are not sustainable and the faster we realize it, the faster this public relations battle can be won. Completely gutting new employee benefits and laying off newer employee to feed the benefits and pensions of older and much better compensated workers also just makes unions look bad. The "Hey I got mine" of the Boomer generation is sickening and isnt confined to just the issue of healthcare. There will have to be comprehensive reform even for the untouchables, fire, police, teachers and most importantly and untouchable of all, current retirees. The vote buy schemes with 6% COLAs and pensioners being retired for 35+years because pf retiring in their early 50s has the public both jealous and mad as hell. Bill Maher touched on this recently, the firemen that retired in his 50s with a 55k salary now getting 196K per year, stories like this will doom the entire public pension system. Even if measures like those in San Jose and San Diego are somehow found to be illegal, this will just embolden the voters who will seek drastic measures, changes to state constitutions or even more drastically, bankruptcy.
Now for some pre emptive responses.
1. Yes it would be nice if people in the private sector got together and fought to be on par with the public sector, this will not and cannot happen in this economy so saying it is either naive or just being obtuse. These benefits are not coming back to the private sector in my lifetime.
2. Yes I understand they have a contract, the public believes these were gotten in bad faith with the same parties on both sides of the table and will vote accordingly and in drastic fashion. No those wallstreet bonus' should not have been paid, that argument will have no legs in a public discussion.
3. I understand they get paid less than corporate CEOs, when everyone in the private sector is a corporate CEO, this argument will be applicable.
4. The "more educated meme" is useless, 28% of Americans have a college degree and having a college degree is no longer the ticket to a great job. More importantly those that say " I could do better in the private sector" and done have degree actually in demand like engineering, math or science are kidding themselves. A masters in English will get you a great job at Starbucks right now.
5. Public employees DO get paid more than private, at all but the highest professional degrees. Apples to apples comparisons, especially when including benefits are not even close.
Change is coming, the public sector unions can decide what part of that change they want to be, leading the charge or picking up the pieces after the aftermath. There is a reason the President took no stand on the issue and Democratic governers from cost to cost(California to New York) have jumped on the bandwagon. The public wants blood, unions can have a say on if its enough blood that they can survive or fatal