Grand River Transit

[ijmorlan]

That being said, I don't know what you mean by public sector vs. private sector. I think unionized employees are generally in a better position than non-unionized workers, but I don't begrudge them the right to fight for better conditions. Everyone is underpaid today...well..with a small (say 1% ish) exception. It doesn't matter that they're doing better than people who are truly at the mercy of capitalist overloads so to speak.

Public sector means government and government funded organizations. Private sector means business. In the public sector in a democratic system, the owners are the people at large, as represented by the elected government. In the private sector, the owners are whichever individual owners or public shareholders happen to own the shares of the company (or are operating the unincorporated firm).

In the private sector, if the unions ask for too much and the managers give it to them, the business goes bankrupt. So managers have a real incentive to see to the business’ interests, and the unions can bargain vigorously but ultimately have to understand that there is only so much available. The union equalizes power between private interests.

In the public sector, if the unions ask for too much and managers give it to them, taxes go up and up and up. There is no effective mechanism for the populace to control the situation. An example is firefighter compensation (including pension), which I understand is absurdly high, to the point that every vacancy has hundreds or thousands of applicants. There is no reason why the entire populace should be taxed higher to pay above-market compensation to public employees. On the other hand, we shouldn’t expect to get highly skilled labour for cheap; I’ve seen it suggested that some public servants should be paid more so that better candidates can be attracted to the jobs.