Posted on 04/16/2011 5:15:21 AM PDT by jimbo123
Gov. Cuomo declared the state "functionally bankrupt" yesterday and warned public-employee unions not to expect any pay hikes over the next three years.
Cuomo, who had called for just a one-year pay freeze, made his comments a day after the leadership of one of the smallest state unions, Council 82, accepted a no-wage-hike contract that requires sharp increases in worker contributions for health care and ends automatic "step" pay increases.
"I think the Council 82 contract is a fair and reasonable contract. I think it recognizes the economic reality that we're in," Cuomo told reporters in Niagara County.
"You can either do a very sophisticated analysis or it's very simple: The state is basically functionally bankrupt . . . so if the public employees think they can get big raises from the state, they can't.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Public servant unions seem like a “good idea” until the government runs out of OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY!
The idea of public employee unions is to funnel money to the unions, not to “help” the employees or provide them with “represenatation”.
Politicians, regardless of party, will pay public employees what they want to, whether or not those employees are members of unions or not- and Cuomo is demonstrating that.
The existance of public employee unions is a negative as it gives politicians a way of avoiding responsibility for their own personnel actions and puts a roadblock for political leaders seeking to eliminate jobs by eliminating departments and bureaus or introducing new ways to accomplish the tasks of government.
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