WSJ item of interest
Neil Rossen
should be borne in mind for our town.
APRIL 1, 2010.Cash-Poor Cities Take On Unions
By CONOR DOUGHERTY
LOS ANGELES—Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa once organized for a teacher's
union here, and later ran a branch of the American Federation of
Government Employees. That makes him an unlikely advocate for cutting
the benefits of the city's workers.
Politicians in cash-strapped municipalities are pushing for budget
cuts that are forcing confrontations with politically powerful public
unions. Conor Dougherty discusses on the News Hub.
.
But with the city facing a budget deficit that could drain its
reserves by summer, Mayor Villaraigosa wants to re-open contract talks
with 45,000 cops, firefighters, librarians and other city employees in
hopes of persuading them to contribute more to their pensions and
health-care costs. His deputy chief of staff, Matt Szabo, puts it
bluntly: "Unions have priced themselves out of a job."
Nationwide, politicians looking for budget cuts are confronting
politically powerful unions that represent state and local government
employees—15% of U.S. workers and organized labor's biggest
stronghold.
In Memphis, the city's health-care committee recently recommended
raising current and retired employees' health-insurance premiums by as
much as 15%. And Toledo's city council last week wrung $3.1 million in
concessions from its firefighters' union as part of a measure to close
its budget gap.