Author's Note - This also is also posted on my blog, Rum, Romanism and Rebellion.
They are doing a series of stories on Morning Edition about governors who are in states with legislatures controlled by the other party. This morning's story was on Don Carcieri, Governor of Rhode Island. Carcieri is part of a movement by many Republican Governors, Arnold Schwartzenegger most prominently, to slash benefits and pay of public employees.
The argument of Carcieri and the others is interesting: you all are struggling with your low pay, while some pampered state employee gets their health paid for and a great pension. It is very easy to see how this argument could fly among working folks struggling to pay the rent.
The question I have is this, why do private sector employees get such low pay and benefits compared to public employees? Well, it could have something to do with the lack of unionization in the private sector these days. Around 9% of private sector employees are unionized, whereas 37% of public sector employees are unionized. I don't have the stats on it, but I am willing to bet that a unionized private sector employee gets similar pay and benefits to the public sector employee. (NB-There is an excellent article in The American Prospect about Schwartzenegger's battles with the unions)
So, why is union membership so low? Probably because these same Republicans have been doing all they can to strip the union movement of the right to organize, and their allies in the business community have been doing what they can to convince employees that somehow wages will be lower if they unionize. So, they do what they can to make sure that no union is in place to fight for pay and benefits, then they point to the one place where people can organize and complain about the money they are making.
Makes you wonder if it was all planned...
