Public unions huge burden on states

Michael Marlowe:

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Neither conservatives nor liberals disagree that these unions raise wages and employment for their members (i.e., firefighters, teachers and police). But research I recently completed finds a solid empirical relationship between public sector unions’ concentration and the size and cost of state government, suggesting that what’s good for the public sector employee goose might not be good for the taxpayer gander. 

Over the last three decades, union membership in the private sector has fallen precipitously, from 24.2% in 1973 to just under 7% in 2011. Over the same period, public sector union membership jumped by 14 points, from 23% to 37%. 

The different directions of these trend lines have much to do with the nature of public sector employment. For instance, unlike the private sector, public sector wages that exceed an employee’s productivity don’t directly threaten employment — if you need proof of this point, head down to your local DMV office. 

The excess cost of overpaid public employees is deflected onto taxpayers. Many states, including my home state of California, are learning the hard way that there’s a limit to this tax-and-spend cycle.
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Chief Executive magazine publishes an annual survey of 650 CEOs on the best and worst states in which to do business. All 50 states are evaluated on metrics like taxes, regulation, quality of the workforce and living environment (where 1 is best and 50 is worst). 

I compared these rating to public union density, yielding an unsurprising conclusion: Expanding union memberships worsen business climates. 

States where union membership was highest (New York, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Connecticut, Hawaii, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Michigan, Washington and California) averaged 43.4 on the business climate index; the states with the least union concentration (North Dakota, Texas, Idaho, Louisiana, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, Virginia and North Carolina) averaged 13 on the business climate index.
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One of the reasons for the higher cost of public unions is the inherent conflict of interest generated when they donate to get Democrats elected who in turn "negotiate" with the unions for higher wages and benefits.  The real party at interest, the taxpayer is not involved in the conversation.  The Government also collects the dues which are used to support the Democrats who they negotiate with.  They both conspire to screw the tax payer.

Together they have crated a wage and benefit scale which is unsustainable and which is cutting the budget for primary government functions.