California Government Workers Wants More Out of the Taxpayers

The Orange County Register reports:

For a further idea of how government employees constantly ratchet up their pay and benefits, consider, as the Register reported, that "other city unions … have a 'me too' clause allowing them to revisit their tentative agreements if another city union gets an increase." Everything is designed to give public employees more, more and still more. You know who gets to pay for this. City management officials, who often benefit from the same lush pension deals they strike with unions, rarely fight too hard, although with revenue drops they are stuck making their budgets work with far fewer resources. Hence, the half-hearted push for furloughs and other modest concessions.

Even though they enjoy outlandish benefits and higher-than-average pay, government employees are fonts of belligerence, borne perhaps of the entitlement mentality and years of union fealty. Even though California's state government is struggling to balance the budget, the Service Employees International Union and the California Correctional Peace Officers Association – the politically powerful prison guards, who muscled a 38-percent pay raise over five years out of then-Gov. Gray Davis during a previous state budget calamity – are threatening to break the law and go out on strike.

Another great one by Steve Greenhut.