Public employee unions out for themselves not for the respective publics they serve
End the conflict of interest by ending the unions
It is the best of times for public employee unions.
It is the worst of times for the respective publics they purport to serve.
According to Philip K. Howard’s new book, Not Accountable: Rethinking the Constitutionality of Public Employee Unions, public employee unions spend $1-3 billion annually to influence the politics that determine the terms and conditions of public employment. No other special interest group is within shouting distance.
The purpose of public employee unions is not to advance public welfare. It is to optimize the employment benefits and compensation of its members collectively. The more benefits and pay for members exceeds the work demanded, the more the public employee union succeeds and attracts additional members.
Without exception, employee unions of all sorts—public and private-ostracize excellence or extraordinary performance that casts tacit aspersion on the vast majority of the mediocre or indolent who dominate union politics. Merit pay is the rare exception. Pay based on seniority, simpliciter, is the rule.
The result is sub-optimal government performance. Compare the overwhelmingly non-unionized FEDEX with the overwhelmingly unionized United States Postal Service. Enter any FEDEX store and you are attended to with alacrity and competence. Enter the typical post office and protracted waiting and dawdling are the order of the day.
The Constitution, without more, guarantees public employees a square deal. They cannot be fired or hired based on political affiliation. They may not be fired for speech that does not impair performance of their official duties. In Rankin v. McPherson (1987), the Supreme Court held that a public employee could not be discharged for asserting, after hearing of the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan, “if they go for him again, I hope they get him.”
Finally, the government has an incentive to offer fair wages and other terms and conditions of public employment to attract talented applicants. Otherwise, government will attract only drones or the indolent which will give it a bad name and jeopardize incumbency.
Public employee unions should be prohibited because of their conflict of interest. On the one hand, they have a duty of loyalty to their members. On the other hand, they have a duty of loyalty to the public. The twin loyalties are irreconcilable. The conflict can be avoided only by banning public employee unions altogether.