Public Unions vs Private Unions
 

For the first time, there are more members of government unions than of private unions. In 1975, there were four times as many members of private unions than public unions. But now, 51% of all union members are government employees. About 7% of all private employees belong to a union, while over 37% of government employees belong to a union. Liberal heroes of the 20th century, such as Franklin Roosevelt and Fiorella LaGuardia, strongly supported industrial unions. But they believed that public employees could too easily exploit their government monopoly position. Well, they were right. The fiscal crises faced by California and New York have a clear relationship to their having to deal with very powerful public employee unions, whose pay and benefits now exceed private workers with equal skills. Unfortunately, both political parties in New York are fearful of confronting this issue in a fair and reasonable manner for the taxpayers.