Martin O'Malley - the Duplicitous Two-Headed Union Champion

Kudos to my college roommate Squirrel for pointing this out to me. Extra kudos because he lives in North Carolina.

Does anyone find it ironic \ funny \ embarrassing \ etc that Maryland Governor, the liberal extremist humanitarian champion of the people Martin O'Mally criticized Republican Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker for his approach to trimming his state's massive budget problem, only to present similar offerings to the Maryland General Assembly, drawing thousands of union protesters to Annapolis to picket? I know. You liberals will say, "Oh, this is different." Whatever. You know I'm right.

As you may know, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker proposed limiting the states' union collective bargaining abilities. Like most states, Wisconsin currently has a structural deficit of several billion dollars. If you attended a Baltimore City public school, a structural deficit is when you have obligations to fund certain programs, but do not have the revenue stream to fund them. So, for example, let's say the economy goes to the crapper and hundreds of thousands of people are unemployed in your state (though most likely not state employees). With less people working there is less income tax revenue. And with more people unemployed, they're obviously spending less money, thus resulting in less tax revenue. This is the money that the state relies on to function.

Now, where is the money going? The unions across the country have successfully signed lucrative contracts with the different state agencies to give their union paying dues members huge pensions, high salaries, and healthcare plans that are funded mostly by the state, not the employees - unlike the rest of us who work in the for-profit world. Now the states can't afford to pay them.

There are options. The state could implement massive tax increases. But that's not popular. And most people would probably agree that the unions are abusing the system. So taking away some of their kitty is probably more popular.

So as you can see, Governor Walker of Wisconsin is in a precarious position. But that didn't stop Maryland Governor Marty O'Malley from attacking him. The future pretty-boy Presidential hopeful said that Walker's actions, "...represents a recipe for failure and ill will..."

Then on Monday, Annapolis was choked full of union members protesting O'Malley's proposals for dealing with Maryland's own structural deficit. According to the Washington Post, Maryland has $19 billion (BILLION) in unfunded pension liabilities and $16 BILLION in retiree health benefits. That's a lot of cussin' money!

After stripping the state education budget of $94 million, O'Malley is now attacking unions with his proposals of cutting said pensions and retiree health benefits.

So while O'Malley is busy nationally painting his personal Dorian Gray picture for his Presidential run, he's locally screwing Marylanders with the exact same tactics that he criticizes Republicans for doing. That, my friends, is the definition of a hypocrite.

The Right to Work

I am currently reading Barry Goldwater's The Conscience of a Conservative and there is a chapter that got me thinking. The chapter discusses labor and unions.

Maryland, as you may know, is not a right-to-work state. It's a Right-to-Join-the-Union-Or-Take-A-Hike state. That means that if there is a union that represents the employees of that company, you MUST join that union in order to work for the company. You cannot refuse to join the union. Joining the union is a condition of employment.

In right-to-work states, such as those in the South, you are not required to join the union in order to be hired by the company. Have you ever wondered why nearly every new manufacturing facility that has been built in the last 20 years has NOT been built in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, or Maryland? It sounds fairly simple to me.

The one thing, however, that really makes me anti-union is their abuse of power over their forced members. Unions routinely persuade their members to vote Democratic and donate millions of dollars yearly to the Democratic candidate of their liking - usually the ones that promise to push for higher wages for union members and life harder for the companies that hire their members. Stick it to the company, right?

However, if you are a Libertarian or a Republican you have no say in how your union dues are spent. I belonged to the Teamsters when I was employed by the Price Club back in college. My dues over a 3 month time period were $400. Read - four hundred dollars!!! For a summer job!!! And I KNOW that a portion of that money was used as donations toward Democrats, spending which I would object.

I am not anti-union in the respect that I think they ought to go away. To the contrary. I think that unions keep companies in check. You'll remember from 5th grade history that the unions were created to stop wide-spread abuse of employees during the Industrial Revolution. And unions continue to keep these companies in check. And the unions can represent an employee in a grievance situation.

But let's be realistic. Today's unions are their for self-serving purposes. Making a few at the top very rich. They are not really there to represent the collective bargaining power of the masses to make life easier for them. So in that respect, Barry Goldwater's book is relevant today as it was in 1960. Check it out.