MEGAN MCARDLE: “A friend whose son has autism sent me this absolutely horrific tale of abuse and neglect by New York State workers who are supposed to care for the cognitively disabled. These are unionized workers who are, like most of New York’s civil service, very hard to fire. Naturally, the union fought as hard for them as it could. And so rather than fire them, many of their supervisors simply transferred them to other homes, even though offenses included punching their charges, throwing them against the wall, and sexually abusing them. The man who was caught standing between the legs of his disabled charge with his pants down and her diaper off describes himself as just waiting until he can collect his state pension.”
These are the people that the Democrats depend on. But I think unions should be liable for their members’ misconduct under respondeat superior, as employers are. That would discourage them from protecting the jobs of the incompetent and abusive.