Government Unions: It’s About the Money

Conn Carroll / February 28, 2011

“It’s not about the money,” says University of Wisconsin Associate Professor of Political Science and Law Howard Schweber. Wisconsin Education Association Council President Mary Bell agrees: “This is not about protecting our pay and our benefits. It is about protecting our right to collectively bargain.” Both Scheber and Bell are half right: the fight in Wisconsin is not about the money… of state employees. These workers have already agreed to pay more for their health care and retirement benefits.

But this is about someone’s money … the union’s. Consider that while the  unions have very generously volunteered for their state employee members to give up some of their money (in the form of contributions to health and retirement benefits), the government unions themselves haven’t given up a single cent of their union dues. That is what the fight in Wisconsin is all about: preserving the government union direct pipeline to taxpayer dollars. The Heritage Foundation’s James Sherk explains how government unions created this racket: (more…)