'This is our opportunity to elect our own bosses'

John Seiler:

“This is our opportunity to elect our own bosses” is an actual quote from California School Employees Association Chapter 224 head Ronda Walen about Measure H in San Juan Capistrano. If you want, the details of Measure H are here, in an editorial I wrote about it in The Orange County Register. The quote was posted on Chapter 224’s Web site, and is still there as of this Blog posting.

You almost never see such honesty from a union official — or any politician, for that matter. Almost always, as in this case, it’s from a low-level official who hasn’t yet learned what to say, and when to shut up.

When I talked to Walen, she justified her position by saying, “In a democracy, we have the right to do that.”

But who gets to “elect our own bosses”? Nobody in the private sector does because, even in the few employee-owned companies, the customer really is the boss, as it is for more traditional businesses owned by stockholders or private parties.

I’ve worked for private companies ever since I got out of the U.S. Army in 1982. I would have loved to bargain with myself over my pay, pension and benefits. But it never works that way. Except in government.

Although it’s every worker’s fantasy, only would a government functionary think it’s realistic to be sitting on both sides of the bargaining table.

This union mentality is the real reason the state is bankrupt. The “bosses” — politicians bought by public-employee unions — caved in to the demands of the public-employee unions. What a nice scam.

As to “democracy,” here’s how it really works. Taxpayers are forced to pay union dues that fund union political campaigns for pro-union politicians and initiatives; and to fight anti-union initiatives. The unions then jack up taxes as high as possible — extorting yet more money from taxpayers. Rinse and repeat.

The scam started in California with the Dills Act, as Anthony Pignataro recounts today.

But the game finally is over. Not because voters are wiser. They’re not. But because the government union “workers” who are their own “bosses” went too far, a reaction as predictable as the salivating of Pavlov’s dog, and there’s no money left, borrowing is not feasible, and tax increases only would drive the few productive Californians from the state.

From now on, whenever union bosses or employees start griping, recall that quote: “This is our opportunity to elect our own bosses.”

Oct. 19, 2010