Furor over Government Employees

Concern about the pay, benefits, and performance of government employees seems to be growing. Chris Edwards's articles on how government pay is outpacing private-sector pay have generated media attention, cartoons, and angry rebuttals from the head of the federal Office of Personnel Management. Steven Greenhut has a new book, Plunder! How Public Employee Unions Are Raiding Treasuries, Controlling Our Lives and Bankrupting the Nation, and is writing lots of newspaper articles on the high costs of government unions, also the topic of a recent Cato Policy Analysis. New Jersey unions are not finding much sympathy as they try to hold on to their raises, benefits, pensions, and work rules in the face of Gov. Chris Christie's attempt to cut the budget. Liberal journalist Mickey Kaus is running for the U.S. Senate, trying to warn California's voters and the Democratic Party about the excessive power and destructive influence of public employee unions.

And now Saturday Night Live. The zeitgeist-riding comedy show had a truly harsh sketch this weekend about the "Public Employee of the Year Awards." It touched every element of popular resentment toward government workers: "people with government jobs are just like workers everywhere -- except for the lifetime job security, guaranteed annual raises, early retirement on generous pensions, and full medical coverage with no deductibles, office visit fees, or copayments" -- "retirement on full disability" by an obviously young and healthy worker -- "Surliest and Least Cooperative State Employee" -- "3200 hours [a year] on the job, all of it overtime" -- New York school janitors living in Florida -- employees with two current jobs and full disability -- an entire workday at the DMV without serving a single customer -- no-work contracts --  surprisingly early closings -- and "he's on break."

Time for unions to start worrying?