Binding Arbitration’s Threat To State And Local Governments

by Ivan Osorio on November 16, 2012 · 0 comments

One reason Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s labor reforms are considered far-reaching — by both supporters and detractors — is the fact that they were structural. Rather than trim around the edges — trim some salaries here, reduce the growth of some benefits there — Walker’s reforms went to the root of the problem by curbing the mechanism used by government employee unions to gain ever more generous benefits for their members: collective bargaining.  Binding arbitration is another favorite structural tool of government unions that state and local governments need to address. Originally conceived as a way to avoid strikes by public safety personnel. The Manhattan Institute’s Steven Malanga explains:  ………..

Thus, for many states, counties, and cities, the upward ratcheting mechanism that keeps driving government worker compensation constantly upward is embedded in law. As my co-authors Don Bellante, David Denholm, and I explain at length in our Cato Institute study, “Vallejo Con Dios: Why Public Sector Unionism Is a Bad Deal for Taxpayers and Representative Government“:   ……To Read More