California Insider

Here's today's column, on several proposals to squeeze the middlemen out of workers compensation.

Today’s news that American Airlines flight attendants voted to accept 15 percent pay cuts is a vivid reminder about the difference between private sector and public sector unions. The flight attendants knew that without their concessions their employer was headed to bankruptcy. That could have meant even deeper pay cuts, or widespread layoffs, or even the end of the firm and the loss of all their jobs. In the public sector, however, the unions and their members have few such reservations. They can demand ever-higher wages and benefits and once they get them, refuse to accept any concessions in tough times. The consequences are generally not their concern. Witness the negotiations, if one can call them that, ongoing between the gov and the state employee unions. The unions have generally said they will give back nothing. And why should they? They have almost nothing to lose by standing firm.