Free Republic

Just when you thought yesterday’s dismal jobs numbers couldn’t get any worse -- they did. According to CNSNews.com, nearly seventy-five percent of all civilian jobs created since the beginning of last summer are in the public sector: Seventy-three percent of the new civilian jobs created in the United States over the last five months are in government, according to official data published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In June, a total of 142,415,000 people were employed in the U.S, according to the BLS, including 19,938,000 who were employed by federal, state and local governments. By November, according to data...

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, said Wednesday that Congress needs to be more concerned about public-sector jobs than private-sector jobs. "It's very clear that private-sector jobs have been doing just fine; it's the public-sector jobs where we've lost huge numbers, and that's what this legislation is all about," Reid said while promoting President Obama’s jobs bill. But James Hohman, assistant director for fiscal policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, disagrees. He said private-sector jobs have been hit harder than public-sector jobs since the recession started in December 2007. The private sector has lost 6.3 million jobs,...

Basically, Everyone Hates Public Sector Workers Now Joe Weisenthal Jun. 7, 2010, 7:45 AM NJ Governor Chris Chrisite giving a schoolteacher what-forImage: YouTube There's no question that stories about the pay of public sector workers (especially the unionized ones) resonate intensely with folks. During a time when everyone's talking about austerity, and state and city governments face widespread solvency concerns, it's a great time to take pot shots at those who work for the government. And as POLITICO notes, everyone's taking part in the sport: Republicans around the nation have cheered New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, whose shouting match over...

Lawyer's love of labor Richard Loccke laughs sheepishly when he's told what other lawyers say about his demeanor at the bargaining table. "I've never intimidated anybody," he says in his standard baritone. "I've never exploited anyone." As a labor lawyer who has thrived in the rough-and-tumble backrooms of collective bargaining for more than 30 years, Loccke knows full well what he brings to negotiations. His tenacious bargaining skills, mastery of the state's arbitration laws and vast client list have had an enormous impact on police salaries and municipal budgets, his friends, clients and critics say. "Rich is the best police...