{"id":486007,"date":"2010-03-29T19:37:12","date_gmt":"2010-03-29T23:37:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seattletimes.nwsource.com\/html\/northwestvoices\/2011474593_publicempolyeeunionscommentarydrawsresponse.html?syndication=rss"},"modified":"2010-03-29T19:37:12","modified_gmt":"2010-03-29T23:37:12","slug":"public-empolyee-unions-commentary-draws-response","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/486007","title":{"rendered":"Public-empolyee unions: commentary draws response"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bashed by a businessman<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bill Baldwin bashes public-employee unions as only a businessman can [\u201cTime to rein in public-employee unions,\u201d Opinion, March 26]. I have learned in 45 years of work that business people are absolutely galled that working people dare to approach middle-class incomes. And yet the country\u2019s healthy postwar economy was built largely of middle-class spending power ensured by strong unions.<\/p>\n

Baldwin resorts to all the standard anti-union clich\u00e9s and no facts. He infers that private-sector union members make less and pay more for their benefits than public employees. The facts are to the contrary.<\/p>\n

I teach at community colleges now, hence am a state employee. My benefits are adequate but are definitely inferior to those I received under a union contract in the private sector. As a part-time instructor, I have to work year-round at two schools to make a modest living. The system is wired against hiring many full-time instructors. A friend of mine works for the state highway department. He makes less than he would in the private sector and his benefits are inferior.<\/p>\n

I resent Baldwin\u2019s inference that state employees are dupes who are forced to pay union dues. If it weren\u2019t for the unions, who knows what miserable wages and benefits people would have to acquiesce to?<\/p>\n

And his blatant attempt to polarize working people is shameful and typical of conservative tactics. All my life I have seen wealthy people wanting to take theirs out of the hide of the working people. Baldwin is a broken record.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Walter Marquardt, Seattle<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

We should support reforms<\/strong><\/p>\n

I applaud Bill Baldwin\u2019s commentary. We are becoming a society of taxpayers and tax receivers and the [receivers] are winning.<\/p>\n

Through their campaign contributions and political activism, the state employee unions control the Democrat Party. Thus, when the Democrats are in the governor\u2019s mansion, the unions are, in a sense, negotiating with themselves for their pay and benefits. And who pays for this lopsided negotiating? We do, the taxpayers.<\/p>\n

This issue is not just prevalent here in Washington, but throughout the country in hundreds of city halls and nearly all state capitals. We need to elect local leaders who support the reforms Baldwin describes. If we don\u2019t do this soon, it may be too late and the state unions will have negotiated themselves a permanent throne on our state capital.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Don Skillman, Medina<\/em><\/p>\n

Apply solution to business<\/strong><\/p>\n

I totally agree with businessman Bill Baldwin\u2019s solution to reducing the cost of public-employee contracts: He argues we should just reopen the contracts so we can pay working people less.<\/p>\n

It is such a good idea that it should apply to business agreements as well as labor agreements. If I decide my mortgage payments are hurting my budget, I just dishonor the contract, mandate that it be renegotiated, and pay less. Excellent idea!<\/p>\n

\u2014 Kevin Cole, Seattle<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Why people need unions<\/strong><\/p>\n

I just read your Bill Baldwin\u2019s op-ed column in the Friday Seattle Times. Balderdash! I\u2019m being civil when I say that.<\/p>\n

I am a school-bus driver in Western Washington. I am also a union member. Personally, I am insulted by Baldwin\u2019s characterization of public employees and their unions as holding a gun to the heads of the state when it comes to being fairly compensated for what we do and the service we render to the taxpayers of this state.<\/p>\n

Not so many years ago, our drivers\u2019 hours were substantially cut in order to correct a condition brought about by a district policy that was at odds with Washington regulations. We were never fully compensated for the lost hours. What pay increases we have received over the past four years have not kept up with the cost of living and, as a result, many of our personnel have to work at two to three jobs just to get by. That hardly makes us overpaid.<\/p>\n

Many years ago, while I was employed in the private sector, people I knew, who had worked faithfully for many years for [a local retailer], were called into the break room one Monday morning and told that their hours were being cut from 40 per week to 30 and that they were now part-time employees and would receive no benefits. No negotiations, no warning. Just like it or lump it. That is why working people need unions.<\/p>\n

As for the budgetary difficulties of the state, I\u2019m sure that much-needed relief could be gotten if corporations like Boeing, Microsoft and such just paid their fair share of taxes instead of holding a gun to the state\u2019s head by threatening to leave the state or country because South Carolina or China will give them carte blanche, taxwise, and guarantee a \u201cunion-free environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Dennis R. Bertaud, Sequim<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Join hands with labor<\/strong><\/p>\n

I labored through the Bill Baldwin op-ed piece and found nothing there that has not been said thousands of times, and better by at least half of the writers who preceded him.<\/p>\n

Baldwin asks us to drag down the organized workers who are enterprising enough to amass some pricing power in the labor marketplace. You don\u2019t see him criticizing Apple or Intel or Microsoft for doing the very same thing those workers have done.<\/p>\n

Public-sector unions along with the Longshoremen and a few of the legendary trade unions are the entrepreneurial success stories of organized labor. They created the pricing power that forces boardroom bottom-dwellers like Baldwin to share their comfy upscale cul de sacs with at least a few people who actually earned the right to their wages.<\/p>\n

I admire the guts, determination and solidarity of the members and organizers of all of our unions. They bought us our spot in the middle class, standing out there on the picket lines. They\u2019ve stayed there defending the prosperity of all wage earners in the face of incredible assaults from guys like Baldwin, in good times and bad.<\/p>\n

Join hands with labor to defy people like Baldwin and you, too, can have a greater share of the wealth created by your labor.<\/p>\n

\u2014 George and Patricia Robertson, Seattle<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bashed by a businessman Bill Baldwin bashes public-employee unions as only a businessman can [\u201cTime to rein in public-employee unions,\u201d Opinion, March 26]. I have learned in 45 years of work that business people are absolutely galled that working people dare to approach middle-class incomes. And yet the country\u2019s healthy postwar economy was built largely […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2861,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-486007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2861"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=486007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486007\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}