Government unions have become the driving source for the expansion of government in the United States. While private sector unionism has fallen dramatically since the 1950s, government unionization has exploded. Today the majority of union members work for federal, state, and local governments.
Unlike private sector unions that are dependent on a firm’s commercial success, government unions are are dependent on the growth of government for their survival. Forced unionism, automatic union dues paycheck deduction, and the elimination of secret ballot elections are just some of the tools government unions use to increase their power at taxpayers’ expense.
This is why the Democratic Party fought against Gov. Scott Walker’s government union collective bargaining limitations in Wisconsin. Any rollback of the government union machine is an existential threat to the progressive movement.
The Competitive Enterprise Institute, in partnership with Crossroads GPS, launched a Big Labor vs Tax Payer Index yesterday that enables citizens to track how government unions are gaming the system in their state. Using 1,150 data points, the index ranks each state in 23 different categories to determine where government unions are best positioned to exploit taxpayers.
The Index includes scores on collective bargaining, broken into subcategories, including:
- Paycheck protection laws;
- Open meetings laws;
- Government union density;
- Public employee pension underfunding;
- Right to work laws;
- Secret ballot protections and card check;
- Project labor agreements;
- Strike policy for government employees.
Each state page even includes links to the laws governing each policy issue.
“The index is an excellent way for citizens across the country to see if their political leaders prioritize fiscal responsibility or the interests of Big Labor. After a preview of the index at the State Policy Network Conference in Seattle last week, think tanks and policy makers across the country are sharing ideas about how to improve their states’ rankings. The Big Labor vs. Taxpayer Index is already proving to be a vehicle for positive change,” CEI’s Labor Policy Counsel F. Vincent Vernuccio explains.
