The following appeared as an Op Ed in the Waterbury Republican Newspaper on Feb 11, 2009.  Regrettably taxpayers lost, as the Democrat-controlled State Legislature allowed the referenced contract to go into effect, costing taxpayers $86 million!     

 

 

Unions vs. taxpayers: Who will win?

 

 If the public sector unions don't cooperate,

let the unemployed, private sector apply for their jobs!

 

 

Rep-Am op-ed by Susan Kniep,  February 11, 2009

 

 The cheering you hear is emanating from taxpayers who are witnessing Gov.  M. Jodi Rell trying to wrestle the helm of our Ship of Fools from the public-sector unions that have been allowed for years to steer our state and local municipalities off course and into a sea of debt. If you look closely, you can see some of the men and women from our Democrat-­controlled legislature who have pirat­ed $86 million of the taxpayers money to give to one union, as the state faces budget deficits of nearly $1 billion in 2009, and $8 billion to $10 billion for 2010-11.

 

If our Governor can bring this ship to shore by Friday, she may be able to save taxpayers the $86 million which after that date would be handed over to 5,200 union members, some of whom would benefit from wage in­creases as high as 6 percent.

House Speaker Christopher Dono­van is trying to keep this Ship of Fools afloat. With taxpayer money burning a hole in his pocket, Donovan felt he needed someone to do his talking for him, so he hired a mouthpiece at $165,000 a year, which with benefits could grow to $200,000.  The recent hiring of Douglas Whit­ing follows the hiring by Donovan of union promoter Rick Melita. Donovan appears to be building his own fief­dom to promote the public-sector unions at the expense of taxpayers.

Donovan and his fellow Democrats lack the courage to cast a vote publicly on the $86 million union contract. To do so would demonstrate whose side they are on. This contract will set precedent for other state and munici­pal union contracts that will follow.

Connecticut taxpayers pay one of the highest property-tax rates in the nation, second to New Jersey. About 85 percent of local property taxes fi­nance the lucrative wages, pensions and benefits of town and Board of Ed­ucation employees because of state binding-arbitration laws.

 

Under Gov. Rell’s proposal to limit mandatory subjects of binding arbi­tration to salaries and benefits, the unions would lose some of their con­trol over state and local budgets. The ability of arbiters to transfer manage­ment rights to the unions would end.     Unions no longer would control town­-owned cars being driven home, the number of teachers in a classroom, the number of firehouses, the work schedules of police officers and more.

 

Gov. Rell’s proposal to suspend binding arbitration for two years would allow municipal leaders some breathing room to formulate their lo­cal budgets.

 

Taxpayers have a choice during this legislative session. They can support the unions and the Democrat-con­trolled legislature that embraces the status quo, or they can support Gov.   Rell’s no-tax-increase budget and the policies she has proposed to control local and state government costs.

 

It’s apparent the governor’s budget was designed to address the state of the economy, which is in a free fall.   Americans are losing their homes, their savings and their jobs.

 

Recently released national unemployment fig­ures are grim, with 1.77 million work­ers thrust onto the unemployment line in the last three months. This equates to 591,000 jobs lost monthly. In the past year, manufacturing lost more than 1 million jobs, with the auto in­dustry alone giving up 197,000.

 

On the home front, Connecticut’s unemployment rose to 7.1 percent in December, while Connecticut officials continue to predict a loss of 60,000 to 80,000 jobs during this recession.

 

With job loss comes the threat of honest, hardworking Americans los­ing their homes because of tax-lien sales by municipalities when property taxes cannot be paid.

 

As the private-sector worker is try­ing to hold on to his job, the public-­sector workers want more as does the state union demanding the $86 million payment to settle its contract.

In Connecticut, the unions have launched an expensive campaign.  Their slogan, “It Won’t Work,” refer­ring to Rell’s budget, is right in one aspect: Her budget won’t work for them.

 

It will work for taxpayers as Gov. Rell looks for $298 million in union concessions. Other governors have much the same quest. Ohio’s governor is looking for $250 million in conces­sions. California’s governor, with the blessing of the state Supreme Court, will furlough 238,000 employees two days each month to battle a $42 billion deficit.

If the unions do not cooperate, the Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations proposes those state and local public-sector jobs be put to bid, thereby giving the unemployed private-sector worker an opportunity to submit a resume, references and salary requirements for the job.

 

The federation also encourages CEOs of the 169 towns to follow Gov.   Rell’s lead by adopting local budgets with no property-tax increases while seeking givebacks from local unions.

 

The federation applauds and sup­ports Gov. Rell in her proposal for no tax increase and will continue to pur­sue a cap on local property taxes; ad­ditional reforms of binding arbitration and prevailing-wage laws; a require­ment of towns, boards of education and the state to put their checkbook registers online; citizen audits; an op­portunity for early graduation for high school students; school vouchers and more.    - Susan Kniep (fctopresident@aol.com), president of the Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations, is a former mayor of East Hartford.