Stressed to pay off your bills? Who cares? Not public unions, whose workers already have wage, benefit and pension packages far superior to private workers, as well as job security worthy of envy.
The Boston Globe reports that public unions are spending at least 1.3 million dollars to fight a ballot measure promoted by the people to cut sales tax rates:Determined not to be caught off-guard in a volatile election year, labor unions are pouring money into an effort to fight a deep cut in the state sales tax, campaign finance reports show.A group of unions - fearing mass layoffs of teachers, firefighters, and other state and municipal workers - has raised $1.3 million so far this year to defeat Question 3, one of two antitax measures on the November ballot. Supporters have raised $76,000.
"If this referendum passes, there is no doubt it will have a devastating impact on local services that have already been cut to the bone,'' said Stephen G. Crawford, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Coalition for Our Communities, which includes the Massachusetts Teachers Association, the Massachusetts Nurses Association, and the Service Employees International Union. "Teachers, firefighters, local health care service, police officers - those services will bear the brunt of this referendum question.''
Supporters of the tax rollback, led by longtime libertarian activist Carla Howell, gathered about 19,000 signatures this year to put the question on the ballot and are hoping to capitalize on the restive mood of the electorate.
"They will have big money; we have a grass-roots campaign,'' Howell said.
The fireman first principles of politics plays a role here. Whenever tax cut proposals are circulated, specters of riots and conflagrations across the landscape are hyped to instill fear in taxpayers. In reality, there is plenty of waste - much of it coming from layers of bureaucrats - in the public sector.
Costs are killing communities across the nation. Since politicians are in bed with public unions,who give them campaign help in return for payback with taxpayer dollars, the people must take their destinies in their own hands by insisting that government runs with the efficiency that we, as taxpayers, insist on.
How to send a message and help make this happen? Cut the dollars available to fill the troughs.
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