April 26, 2010 9:08AM # Furor over Government Employees By [David Boaz](https://www.cato.org/people/david-boaz) --- SHARE Concern about the pay, benefits, and performance of government employees seems to be growing. [Chris Edwards’s articles](https://www.cato.org/2010/03/05/federal-pay-gap-reversed/) on how government pay is outpacing private-sector pay have generated [media attention](http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-03-04-federal-pay_N.htm), [cartoons](http://blogs.indystar.com/varvelblog/archives/2009/08/pay.html), and [angry rebuttals](https://www.cato.org/2010/03/15/john-berry-angry-about-federal-pay/) 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](http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/cse/results.html?cx=009657901070115959400%3Aclhmm0eqsve&cof=FORID%3A9&ie=UTF-8&q=greenhut&sa=Search&siteurl=www.washingtonexaminer.com%2Fopinion%2Fcolumns%2FOpEd-Contributor%2FPublic-employees-receive-_unbelievable_-benefits-91530174.html#982) of [newspaper articles](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703699204575017182296077118.html) on the high costs of government unions, also the topic of a recent [Cato Policy Analysis](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=10569). New Jersey unions are [not finding much sympathy](http://www.philly.com/inquirer/home_region/20100406_Organized_labor_losing_ground_in_N_J__legislature.html) 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](http://kausforsenate.com/sbcc/blog_permalink.php?seq=1&id=682) 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](http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/public-employee-of-the-year/n12803?snl=1).” 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? ##### Related Tags [Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics), [Tax and Budget Policy](https://www.cato.org/tax-budget-policy) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).