For public employee unions – those representing police, firefighters, teachers, prison guards and agency workers of all kinds at the state and local levels – these are the worst of times.
Despite record high membership and dues, and years of unparalleled clout in state capitols, public-sector unions find themselves on the defensive, desperately trying to hold onto past gains in the face of a skeptical press and angry voters. So far has the zeitgeist shifted against them that on one recent weekend, government employees were the butt of a “Saturday Night Live” skit, and the next day, a New York Times Magazine cover article proclaimed “The Teachers’ Unions’ Last Stand.”
Public unions’ traditional strength – the ability to finance their members’ rising pay and benefits through tax increases – has become a liability. Although private-sector unions always have had to worry that consumers will resist rising prices for their goods, public sector unions have benefited from the fact that taxpayers can’t choose – they are, in effect, “captive consumers.”