Thursday, March 28, 2024
Hawai'i Free Press

Current Articles | Archives

Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Obama's Stern Paymaster: Public sector unions raiding private sector unions
By Heritage Foundation @ 11:15 AM :: 8389 Views :: Energy, Environment, National News, Ethics

Last month when the White House released its visitor log for the first six months of the Obama presidency, one name appeared far more often than any other: Service Employee International Union (SEIU) President Andrew Stern. Stern has every right to expect to be welcome in the Obama White House. He has repeatedly bragged about the fact that under his leadership, the SEIU spent $60.7 million to elect Barack Obama president. And what is Stern buying with his $60.7 million besides White House tours? Ever expanding federal government programs and state government bailouts which are rapidly bankrupting our country.

 

Unlike his predecessor, John Sweeney, who came up the ranks after starting with the International Ladies Garment Workers Union, Stern entered the labor movement when the SEIU organized his shop when he was working as a welfare case worker for the State of Pennsylvania. Stern’s public sector entrance into labor is by no means an anomaly. In fact, for the first time ever in American history, preliminary estimates of union membership for 2009 show that most union members now work for either the local, state, or federal government.

Heritage scholar James Sherk has the numbers:

“The overall unionization rate between January and September 2009 stood at 12.4%, unchanged from last year. However, this difference masks a large difference between unions in the private and public sectors. Union membership has fallen to 7.3% of private sector workers – the lowest rate since Roosevelt signed the National Labor Relations Act into law. But it is a completely different story in the public sector: 37.6% of government employees belong to unions, up almost a percentage point since last year. Those 7.9 million unionized government employees are 51% of all union members nationwide.”

The days when “union member” meant an American working in a steel plant, or coal mine, or auto factory are gone. Today, unions are dependent on government, not the private sector, for their livelihood. Therefore, unions like the SEIU have little interest in private sector job growth. Private sector jobs don’t help fund $60.7 million political campaigns. But government jobs do. The change in incentives has been devastating to American taxpayers. Manhattan Institute senior fellow Steven Malanga explains why:

"In the private sector … employers who are too generous with pay and benefits will be punished. In the public sector, however, more union members means more voters. And more voters means more dollars for political campaigns to elect sympathetic politicians who will enact higher taxes to foot the bill for the upward arc of government spending on workers."

Heritage’s Sherk details just some of the ways we have already witnessed this:

The United Auto Workers already made General Motors and Chrysler so uncompetitive they had to be bailed out by President Obama. But who will Obama turn to when Stern’s SEIU has bankrupted us?

---30---

 

  • QUICK HITS

    After announcing that the deficit for the 2009 budget year, which ended on Sept. 30, set an all-time record in dollar terms of $1.42 trillion, the Treasury Department said Thursday that the deficit for October totaled $176.4 billion, even higher than the $150 billion imbalance that economists expected.

    After spending more money on new programs in his first nine months than Bill Clinton did in his entire eight years, President Barack Obama plans to announce in next year’s State of the Union address that he wants to focus extensively on cutting the federal deficit.

    Following last week’s announcement that the nation’s unemployment rate hit 10.2%, President Obama will hold a “jobs summit” next month.

    According to Gallup, more Americans now say it is not the federal government’s responsibility to make sure all Americans have health care coverage (50%) than say it is (47%).

    Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told KOMO News in Seattle it is “very fair” to send people to jail for not buying health insurance.

  • Recent Entries

    In the Green Room: Utah’s Gov. Herbert on DC ‘Freezing Out the States’ Over Health Reform

    Is there a Constitutional Basis for Mandatory Health Insurance?

    Big Labor and Big Government Are Officially the Same Thing

    Outside the Beltway: California’s Nightmare the Future for Other States?

    Asino: The EU’s €7 million Blogging Donkey

     

  • Links

    TEXT "follow HawaiiFreePress" to 40404

    Register to Vote

    2aHawaii

    808 Silent Majority

    Aloha Pregnancy Care Center

    AntiPlanner

    Antonio Gramsci Reading List

    A Place for Women in Waipio

    Ballotpedia Hawaii

    Broken Trust

    Build More Hawaiian Homes Working Group

    Christian Homeschoolers of Hawaii

    Cliff Slater's Second Opinion

    DVids Hawaii

    FIRE

    Fix Oahu!

    Frontline: The Fixers

    Genetic Literacy Project

    Grassroot Institute

    Habele.org

    Hawaii Aquarium Fish Report

    Hawaii Aviation Preservation Society

    Hawaii Catholic TV

    Hawaii Christian Coalition

    Hawaii Cigar Association

    Hawaii ConCon Info

    Hawaii Debt Clock

    Hawaii Defense Foundation

    Hawaii Family Forum

    Hawaii Farmers and Ranchers United

    Hawaii Farmer's Daughter

    Hawaii Federalist Society

    Hawaii Federation of Republican Women

    Hawaii History Blog

    Hawaii Homeschool Association

    Hawaii Jihadi Trial

    Hawaii Legal News

    Hawaii Legal Short-Term Rental Alliance

    Hawaii Matters

    Hawaii's Partnership for Appropriate & Compassionate Care

    Hawaii Public Charter School Network

    Hawaii Rifle Association

    Hawaii Shippers Council

    Hawaii Smokers Alliance

    Hawaii State Data Lab

    Hawaii Together

    HIEC.Coop

    HiFiCo

    Hiram Fong Papers

    Homeschool Legal Defense Hawaii

    Honolulu Moms for Liberty

    Honolulu Navy League

    Honolulu Traffic

    House Minority Blog

    Imua TMT

    Inouye-Kwock, NYT 1992

    Inside the Nature Conservancy

    Inverse Condemnation

    Investigative Project on Terrorism

    July 4 in Hawaii

    Kakaako Cares

    Keep Hawaii's Heroes

    Land and Power in Hawaii

    Legislative Committee Analysis Tool

    Lessons in Firearm Education

    Lingle Years

    Managed Care Matters -- Hawaii

    Malama Pregnancy Center of Maui

    MentalIllnessPolicy.org

    Military Home Educators' Network Oahu

    Missile Defense Advocacy

    MIS Veterans Hawaii

    NAMI Hawaii

    Natatorium.org

    National Christian Foundation Hawaii

    National Parents Org Hawaii

    NFIB Hawaii News

    No GMO Means No Aloha

    Not Dead Yet, Hawaii

    NRA-ILA Hawaii

    Oahu Alternative Transport

    Obookiah

    OHA Lies

    Opt Out Today

    OurFutureHawaii.com

    Patients Rights Council Hawaii

    PEACE Hawaii

    People vs Machine

    Practical Policy Institute of Hawaii

    Pritchett Cartoons

    Pro-GMO Hawaii

    P.U.E.O.

    RailRipoff.com

    Rental by Owner Awareness Assn

    ReRoute the Rail

    Research Institute for Hawaii USA

    Rick Hamada Show

    RJ Rummel

    Robotics Organizing Committee

    School Choice in Hawaii

    SenatorFong.com

    Sink the Jones Act

    Statehood for Guam

    Talking Tax

    Tax Foundation of Hawaii

    The Real Hanabusa

    Time Out Honolulu

    Trustee Akina KWO Columns

    UCC Truths

    US Tax Foundation Hawaii Info

    VAREP Honolulu

    Waagey.org

    West Maui Taxpayers Association

    What Natalie Thinks

    Whole Life Hawaii

    Yes2TMT