The Heretic

Need for change

A few years ago, back when I was a bleeding heart, I would’ve been cheering the unions on in their battle against the governors who are trying to reform the public sector. Those days are over. There are plenty of good, hard-working public employees; I work with many of them. Overall, though, it is so difficult to terminate public employees that the incentive to work hard and work well is nowhere to be found. When an employee in the private sector does a poor job, they are terminated. When an empoyee in the public sector does a poor job, they get paid time off. If a company can’t afford to pay pensions as they stand, people come to the table. This isn’t about conservative-driven class warfare; low income citizens deserve quality, efficient, cost-effective service from their government.

Baltimore’s tax base is dominated by public employees. When you tax someone you employ, you are operating at a loss. Then, you have to compensate by shutting down fire houses and rec centers. That doesn’t help the poor. Something needs to change.