The Washington Post reports today that protesters have taken over the state capitol in Madison, Wisconsin in opposition to plans introduced by Scott Walker, the newly-elected Republican governor, to force public-sector union employees to make a contribution to their health and retirement plans. The public-sector union protestors are attempting to compare this fight to the noble popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, but this is a false comparison. The public-sector union protests against pension reform are the total opposite of the fight for liberty in Tahrir Square that transfixed the world.
Of course, there is plenty of potential for such false comparisons: Democratic state senators have fled the state and the Democratic National Committee and President Obama’s campaign committee are organizing more protests across the rust-belt states that were swept up by the GOP in the 2010 midterms. For the public-sector activists, this is nothing short of an existential struggle.
As one protestor said to the Post, “It’s one thing about the money. We’d be willing to negotiate the money,” said Bauer, a library media specialist at Parker High School in Janesville. But “he’s trying to take away our human rights. . . . I don’t want my kids living in a state like that.”
But this begs the question, when exactly did a pension plan become a human right? For those who work for the federal government and have been contributing a portion of their healthcare and retirement savings from their paycheck since the 1980’s, it may come as a surprise that state and local employees in Wisconsin and elsewhere have lavish benefit packages that are far more generous. Currently, Wisconsin public-sector employees get a defined benefit of up to 70% of final salary, regardless of how much they contribute into the system.
Even more importantly, private-sector union employees have long had to contribute a portion of their pay towards healthcare and retirement. Even once-mighty Bethlehem Steel was forced to terminate health and pension benefits for about 90,000 retired employees after the escalating burden of their generous defined benefit retirement plan forced the company into bankruptcy. Simply put, state governments are now learning the same lesson that private-sector companies had to learn decades ago.
The public-sector unions are the last and best hope of the Democratic machine that dominated American politics for most of the 20th Century. Faced with dwindling private-sector unions and an independent middle class that is increasingly skeptical of labor-based politics, the Democrats will stop at nothing to intimidate politicians who threaten to finally put an end to the massive funneling of taxpayer dollars into public-sector union dues and ultimately into the campaign war chests of Democratic politicians.
However, unlike Egypt, the reformers have nothing to fear from this vocal minority. Unlike Mubarak’s oppressive regime, the Republican majorities in Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere were duly elected by a majority of the people. Unlike Cairo, the protestors in Madison will arouse little sympathy from the taxpayers who pay their lavish benefits. For those of us who dutifully save a little bit from each paycheck for our own retirement, it is hard to accept that public-sector employees should not be required to take the same responsibility for their own futures.
