Big Labor's taxpayer-funded Occupy Restaurant squad | Human Events

Politicians make promises to labor unions in return for votes and campaign contributions, but the money to fund lifetime pensions for union retirees eventually runs out.

Watch Pennsylvania taxpayers get screwed again. It doesn't help that voters continue to return the same members of the permanent political class to Harrisburg every election.

From a report in Bloomberg by Romy Varghese:

Pennsylvania's two public pensions face a combined shortfall of $41 billion, and their costs will consume 62 percent of fiscal 2014 revenue growth, according to a report from the state budget office.

The State Employees’ Retirement System has 65 percent of assets needed to cover projected liabilities, and the Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System is 69 percent funded, the report said. The plans cover 817,000 people.

Read more about the pension time bomb in Bloomberg.

Taxpayers would benefit tremendously if Pennsylvania amended a Prevailing Wage Act that forces local and county government to pay high union wages for public projects, often sending work to out-of-area firms.

"House Bill 1329 would allow county dollars to be used more effectively for these projects, as well as, reduce the pressure on local property tax dollars. We encourage our state representatives to vote yes on House Bill 1329," according to all three Berks County commissioners, including the board's lone Democrat.

Berks Commissioners endorse House Bill 1329

George F. Will: Liberals' Wisconsin Waterloo - Investors.com

The tide has turned against Big Labor. The taxpayers win one for a change thanks to Gov. Chris Christie.

Humiliating Defeat for NJ Unions - HUMAN EVENTS

Can you spare another $1,400 in taxes every year so public sector workers can enjoy lifetime pensions?

Taxes: Study - $1,400 Tax Hike Needed to Fund US Pensions - CNBC

Study: To Fund Public Pensions, Taxes Must be Raised $1,400 Every Year for 30 Years | The Weekly Standard

It's us agains them - taxpayers vs. public sector unions - and the Big Labor will stop at nothing to continue fleecing taxpayers.

From an editorial in The Pittsburgh Tritube-Review:

Big Labor's incessant bellyaching over having to give up anything -- while cash-strapped state governments have nothing left to give -- has reached a retching new low: a threat from a Michigan union honcho to weaponize government jobs.

Read the full editorial - "Weaponizing' public service: Big labor's threat" - at the newspaper's website.

Unions collected over $8.8 billion in dues last year. Most of it went to union bosses and Democratic politicians instead of helping workers.

Check out this post at RedState.com - One Year's Worth Of Union Dues Could Support 265,447 U.S. Workers For A Year

If unions no longer work to improve the lives of their members, why do they exist?

Ann Coulter has the answer:

Ann Coulter on the vicious cycle: "The high salaries and magnificent benefits paid to government employees are used to fund the public sector unions, which then funnel a portion of that money back to the Democrats, who vote for the pay packages of government workers. The unions function as a pass-through from the taxpayers straight to Democrats running for re-election."

Thanks For Raising My Taxes - What Else Can I Do For You? - HUMAN EVENTS

FRC Action's New Super PAC Launches Radio Ad Campaign In Wisconsin Supreme Court Race

Columnist Lowman Henry examines the out-of-control behavior or labor unions:

Wisconsin is not the only state where leftist thugs have behaved inappropriately. In Idaho an education reform bill that would have eliminated tenure and seniority and allowed more charter schools to be established drew the ire of unions. The superintendent of Idaho's public schools, Tom Luna, who championed the reform plan, had his car vandalized. One protestor even showed up at the home of Luna's mother.Read the full column at the link below:

Uncivil unions: Big labor its own worst enemy - pottsmerc.com

National Poll Shows Support for Wisconsin Governor

From a new column by economist Thomas Sowell exposing some of the biggest myths about today's labor unions:

The biggest myth about labor unions is that unions are for the workers. Unions are for unions, just as corporations are for corporations and politicians are for politicians.

Nothing shows the utter cynicism of the unions and the politicians who do their bidding like the so-called "Employee Free Choice Act" that the Obama administration tried to push through Congress. Employees' free choice as to whether or not to join a union is precisely what that legislation would destroy.

Workers already have a free choice in secret-ballot elections conducted under existing laws. As more and more workers in the private sector have voted to reject having a union represent them, the unions' answer has been to take away secret-ballot elections.

Read the full column at the link below:

Union Myths - HUMAN EVENTS

State Budget Battles | Democrats Unions Set To Lose If Governors Win | The Daily Caller