Even "Blue State" Dems turn against public unions

[IronDioPriest]

The excerpt below is from InstaPundit. The whole thing is worth the read at America Interest blog, linked at the title.

Glenn Reynolds comment: "I think the unions picked Wisconsin for their stand in part because that way they wouldn’t have to go after a well-connected Democratic governor."

The article supports that comment. These public sector unions are going down, and something tells me they're not going down quietly.

Blue State Dems Turn on State, Local Workers
by Walter Russell Mead

...Despite the differences in rhetoric, killing public sector unions is a nonpartisan policy in the United States. While Republicans are more explicit about their goal, and want to move faster, Democrats and Republicans are both taking steps that will soon reduce the public sector union movement to a shadow of its current self.

Look at Rahm Emanuel, newly elected mayor of Chicago. Chicago is a dark blue city in a deep blue state; Emanuel is a career Democratic pol who served as chief of staff to the most liberal American president elected in many years. And what is Emmanuel doing? The mayor-elect was cagey on the subject during the campaign, but massive tax increases are off the table, and so are big bailouts from Washington DC. According to Time magazine, the campaign has spoken cryptically about saving $110 million from reducing “outdated and duplicative work processes to focus on front-line service delivery.” Translate that out of bureaucratic Newspeak and it means getting more work done with fewer people: layoffs. Emanuel says that the city’s generous pensions need to be preserved, but may also have to be, ahem, renegotiated. This does not sound like a renegotiation up. . .

Look at New York, the classically blue state where I live, home to liberal lions like Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, Fiorello LaGuardia and Mario Cuomo. Here our new governor Andrew Cuomo is seeking major concessions and threatening layoffs against the public sector unions, vowing to balance the state’s budget with spending cuts. Cuomo has also promised — read his lips? — not to raise taxes, and has introduced what the New York Times editorial page calls a “radical” bill to cap property tax increases and require a super-majority to raise them by more than 2 percent a year. Up to 9,800 state employees face layoffs under his new budget: that is more than six times more people than Wisconsin governor Walker has threatened to lay off if his union bill isn’t passed. . . . The public sector labor movement has reached a historical dead end. Cities and states that yield to labor demands have higher costs, higher taxes and higher debt than places that don’t. Over time, those states stand to lose revenue, jobs and population to cheaper and more efficient jurisdictions. If the governor of Vermont can see New Hampshire from his house, the governor of Illinois can see Wisconsin and Indiana...

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[Libertas]

Interesting little sidebar brewing that threatens but likely will not end the money-laundering relationship demonrat politicians and union leaders enjoy.  And the MFM will always portray the demonrat efforts as "working together" and not "hostile" like their GOP counterparts efforts to reign in costs.  But the main message is being sent, and the MFM cannot hide it or spin it ahead enough...lucrative salaries and benefits for public sector union jobs are unsustainable.

[IronDioPriest]

...But the main message is being sent, and the MFM cannot hide it or spin it ahead enough...lucrative salaries and benefits for public sector union jobs are unsustainable.

Not ONLY unsustainable, but inequitable. I think that is a message that is also being sent and received, loud and clear.

[Libertas]

Yes, good correction, the public sector has been far outpacing the private sector, the latter being double-whammy'd by being reduced to less than the rate of inflation.

[IronDioPriest]

Yes, good correction, the public sector has been far outpacing the private sector, the latter being double-whammy'd by being reduced to less than the rate of inflation.

Yup. I think the implications of this recession are finally sinking in to the private sector, and one result is that private sector businesses and employees are seeking answers. One answer that jumps right out as undeniable fact is that every public sector employee and the bureaucracy/agency/department/branch they work for is supported by a direct transfer of productive wealth from the private sector. As people recognize that fact, inequity between public and private sector pay and benefits will simply no longer be tolerated. Talk about your "going Galt" scenario. We're there, right now.

[Libertas]

Yes, this is just the initial shock to the system, what follows, especially if it cannot be intelligently dealt with, will be a lot worse!