The Numbers Behind The Protest In Wisconsin

Ed Morrissey at Hot Air posted an article yesterday about the numbers behind the protests by the Teachers' Union in Wisconsin. 

The article reports:

"Some have called for Walker to reconsider his push to remove pensions and benefits from collective bargaining with public-employee unions as a compromise, but Gary Gross recalls a Patrick McIlheran column from December that explains exactly why Wisconsin needs to push for PEU reform now.   The MSJ columnist wrote about the big stake that the Wisconsin Education Association has in forcing individual school districts to negotiate benefits -- because they can demand that their own WEA Trust have a monopoly on health insurance:"

The numbers tell the story.  WEA Trust plans average $1,665 a month for family, the state insurance programs cost an average of $1,466. 

The article reports:

"Milton was paying $48,301 more in premiums for every month that it couldn't switch from WEA Trust to a pair of plans from Madison-based Dean Health and Janesville-based MercyCare that it said were comparable."

"...And it saved a bundle for a district saddled with "bleak local economic conditions," as its arbitration case put it. It is losing students and, thus, state aid. The area is losing population. The district needed to control premiums, and the arbitrator agreed.

The question is why it had to go to arbitration at all. The answer is that in Wisconsin, school districts can't change health carriers - even if they keep benefits the same - without negotiating. And teachers unions have been very partial to keeping WEA Trust."

Essentially, the unions had tied the hands of the people running the state who were trying to limit the cost of running the state. 

Mr. Morrissey concludes:

"The refusal to collect union dues probably fuels the union opposition most, as it will strangle their political operation in Wisconsin.  But for the WEA in particular, the loss of their near-monopoly on health insurance in the public sector will do the next-highest level of damage to union finances.  Just remember that when people tell you that the cause for which they're fighting isn't about money, it usually is."

Governor Walker has been accused of union-busting.  There is nothing wrong with unions, but when unions get out of control and are bankrupting the state, they need to be reined in.