JAMES SHERK: TIME TO REIN IN PUBLIC SECTOR UNIONS:

In the 1950s, one out of every three workers belonged to a union. Today less than 7 percent of private-sector workers do.

Government unions have been the only exception to this downward trend. The labor movement originally thought organizing government employees made no sense. Civil service laws protect them from mistreatment, and the government has no profits to bargain over. In 1955 AFL-CIO President George Meany opined that “bargaining collectively is impossible in government.”

In the late 1950s, however, the unions came to see government employees as an untapped source of new members and dues. Starting with Wisconsin in 1959, many states began allowing—or requiring—collective bargaining in government. In the next two decades, unions organized millions of government employees.

Union membership has flourished in government since then. Unionized government agencies have no non-union competitors. No matter how inefficiently they operate, they stay in businesses. Moreover, government unions don’t run for re-election, so they don’t have to persuade new employees to support them.

Unions now represent two out of every five government employees, and those employees make up half the union movement. Twice as many union members work in the Post Office as in the entire domestic auto industry.

This shift to government has transformed the nature and interests of the union movement. Private-sector unions often lobby for special treatment, such as trade barriers to limit foreign competition, but they fundamentally desire a strong and growing private sector. That’s why the AFL-CIO endorsed the 1963 Kennedy tax cuts. Today’s construction trades unions support the Keystone XL pipeline for the same reason.

Government unions primarily want a bigger government. More government employees mean more government union members. Higher taxes mean more money they can bargain over. So government unions have campaigned for almost every major tax increase in recent history. . . . This transformation of the labor movement has had disastrous consequences for taxpayers and the recipients of public services. In most states, the average government employee makes considerably more than comparable private-sector workers, with most of that difference coming in back-loaded retirement benefits. This pushes taxes higher and squeezes out funding for other programs.

I’m with FDR. Government workers shouldn’t be allowed to unionize.