Instead of realizing that these tough economic times are hard on everyone, the union representing the police officers of New Jersey opted to not even try and work something out with the state. Due to that and the terrible financial state that New Jersey is in, the state had to cut 13% of its police force to help reduce its debt that is quite large.
When unions were first organized, they were a great thing... there were many people that were getting screwed by management/ownership. Over the years though a lot of the unions have become too big and massive. Look how the UAW helped put GM and Chrysler near the brink of going out of business. Granted that the near failure of the companies wasn't just the UAW's fault, the companies did plenty themselves to put them in the position. But still, looking at the pay and benefits that the UAW workers received from the companies there is an obvious connection.
If I was a cop in New Jersey and was one of those that was let go, i'd be pissed.
Dave, the unions in general have been shooting themselves in their own greedy feet for decades now. They are getting more and more wake-up calls every year now, some to the point where the unions are being totally disbanded. For some it's good, others are debatable, depending on where. As for the UAW and Teamsters, they are the prime example of what was once a good, gone totally Mad, imho.
Permalink Reply by Dave on December 6, 2010 at 12:28pm
A lot of the problems many states are having are the sweetheart pension deals that the unions managed to make. In some cases, the people receiving the pensions are bringing in 2 of 3 times what they actually made when they were working. While that is a great deal for the recipient, if it causes the states to go bankrupt in effect, it might end up to where the recipient gets nothing at all.
A good example of poor decision making by a union is the situatuion with Metalworks here in Ludington. They played the wrong cards at the wrong time and went on strike when the economy was heading south and all of the strikers, except those who left the picket line to go back to work, are now uneomployed union memebers.