While state governments and municipalities everywhere are grappling with budget crises, Big Labor is loaming as a larger factor in restricting the ability of government leaders to maneuver in order to keep their ships afloat. From sending members to legislative meetings to threaten representatives, to orchestrating the potential threat of the severance of federal funding, the unions are making flexing their political muscle. This succinct 1-minute video tells the story in California, as does this quote from an Investors Business Daily blog:
California state officials learned last year of SEIU’s pull when, as part of an effort to dig the state out of its enormous deficit, they tried to trim the pay of state health workers. The state officials got a call from the Obama administration telling them to back down, or the $74 million in budget cuts they sought could cost them $6.8 billion in federal stimulus funds. Also on the phone call was Stern. As it happens, many of the state workers were also SEIU members. According to Stern, he was on the call at the White House’s invite.
