Today, NYT: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/02/business/02leonhardt.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=leonhardt&st=cse . Summary: it’s not the pay, it’s the pension and disability benefits. And the work rules.
Recently, Fortune/CNN: http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2011/02/28/are-public-unions-our-convenient-economic-scapegoats/?section=magazines_fortune . Summary: the unions are (generally) not the cause.
Neither article supports the current moves to strip unions of the right to strike and/or engage in collective bargaining.
Thanks, David. I agree with the statement by the author of the first article: “To be clear, I’m making an argument that’s different from “Government workers are overpaid.” I’m saying that they are paid in the wrong ways — in ways that make life easier on union leaders and elected officials, at least initially, but that eventually hurt both workers and taxpayers.”