On Wed, Jun 16, 2010 at 10:16 AM, c b <[email protected]> wrote: > A debate between two writers... >
This is a very interesting debate. I wanted to mention here a couple of points that both writers ignore. 1) It is very unfair to conflate all public sector unions. Some like the teachers unions tend to be highly progressive, while others are little more than special interest lobbying groups. In particular the prison guards union is a real disgrace. See for e.g.: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oew-nadelman3-2008nov03,0,3924232.story I believe I have written to PEN-L before about this group. They are scum as far as I am concerned. 2) Cruickshank fails to properly rebut Scheer's claim about over-paid public sector workers. Scheer gives the example of some high-level administrators who gamed the pension system and ended up with $250,000 a year pensions. Cruickshank simply responds to this by saying that it is "the job of public sector unions to advocate for better pay and benefits". That is not a very good response. The correct response should acknowledge that those examples are in fact egregious and deserve to be condemned. How can anyone possibly justify paying a retired fire chief $250k a year (so he can save for the after life?) by taxing communities with median incomes of $30k? The point is that Scheer's examples are cherry-picked and definitely not typical of public sector workers. 3) And re: "In California we're already seeing labor reach out to progressive activists. The kind of labor/netroots coalition that nearly beat Blanche Lincoln can come together in this state in support of progressive candidates and to articulate progressive values and messages to mobilize the public to respond to the right-wing assault on all workers." Shame on the unions that they only now reach out to progressive activists when they are in crisis. How about staying true to progressive values even when times are good for you? -raghu. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
