Money for Nothing: City taxpayers foot the bill for union work

Goldwater Institute ^ | September 21, 2011 | Mark Flatten

[inkling]

Phoenix taxpayers spend millions of dollars to pay full salary and benefits for city employees to work exclusively for labor unions, a Goldwater Institute investigation found.

Collective bargaining agreements with seven labor organizations require the city to pay union officers and provide members with thousands of additional hours to conduct union business instead of doing their government jobs.

The total cost to Phoenix taxpayers is about $3.7 million per year, based on payroll records supplied by the city. In all, more than 73,000 hours of annual release time for city workers to conduct union business at taxpayers’ expense are permitted in the agreements.

The top officials in all of the unions have regular jobs with the city. But buried in the labor agreements are a series of provisions for those employees to be released from their regular duties to perform union work.

For top officers, the typical amount of annual release time is 2,080 hours, a full year of work based on 52 weeks at 40 hours each. They continue to draw full pay and benefits, just as if they were showing up for their regular jobs. But they are released from their regular duties to conduct undefined union business.

Union officials say the time is a good investment that leads to a more productive workforce. Critics say it amounts to an illegal gift of taxpayer money.

“It’s shocking,” said Phoenix City Councilman Sal DiCiccio, who has battled with unions that represent city workers over employee pay and his efforts to trim spending. “Taxpayers should not be funding union activities. It should all come out of union dues.”

[Don Corleone]

While I do not agree with it this is not uncommon in any collective screwing agreement.

[roaddog727]

Yeah, but do the get their chicks for free?

[donna]

The federal government, too:

Official Time: Good Value for the Taxpayer?

Testimony Before the
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
United States House of Representatives

June 1, 2011

The federal government directly subsidizes federal employee unions, using public money to support private ends. Congress requires federal managers to permit employees to perform union duties, such as processing grievances, on the clock during duty hours. Federal unions could pay for business agents to negotiate new collective bargaining agreements out of their members’ dues. Instead, taxpayers pay federal employees to do so. This “official time” cost the treasury $129 million in 2009.
(snip)
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Testimony/2011/06/Official-Time-Good-Value-for-the-Taxpayer

[libertarian neocon]

How is this any different than embezzlement?

[boop]

OK, so not only do our tax dollars go directly to union members, so that they can lobby for democrat politicians, but we also pay for the LOBBYING too?

[t2buckeye]

This is NOT uncommon in union contracts, however, I think that taxpayers are unaware (to this point) about how much money and productivity is lost because of such arrangements. Teachers in the union leadership get periods of the day off to do union business; hence, they don’t have duties like other teachers are don’t teach as many classes.Now even union members (this is the case at our school anyway) are rebelling against the amount of dues and abuse of money by the state and local unions.