Public service unions versus the public

The Middle East is not the only place with street protests. The midwest has them, too. Like the great state of Wisconsin.

There are a few differences, naturally. In Arabia, the protesters are for more democracy and against privileged government elites.

In Wisconsin, the protesters are the privileged government elites -public sector unions. And they're protesting against the state's democratically elected government that is desperately trying to balance the budget.

Labour unions are a great innovation, developed by necessity during the Industrial Revolution. Before workplace safety laws were commonplace, it fell to the unions to negotiate protections for coal miners or factory workers.

But labour unions in the 21st century bear no resemblance to those from earlier eras. Today, only 7% of Americans in the private sector choose to unionize. Compare that to 37% of government workers.

Of course, those government workers are not slaving away in coal mines. Typically, they're bureaucrats. The very idea of calling them "labour" unions would sound a touch precious to workers of the past.

Speaking of precious, those government workers have a pretty good deal going. In Wisconsin the average teacher earns $56,500 a year. That's not bad -it's higher than the average household income in the state. But then there's the gravy: According to the Milwaukee school board, the average teacher gets additional benefits and perks bringing their total compensation over $100,000. Not bad for a job with a nice summer and winter break.

Those riches are simply unmoored from reality -- reality that would put a private sector company out of business, or at least demand stellar results for such stellar pay.

Wisconsin hasn't been getting stellar results. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 68% of Grade 4 students and 66% of Grade 8 students in Wisconsin can read at only a "basic" level or lower. Only a small fraction of Wisconsin students earned a "proficient" grade. To be fair, some other states were worse -- in the Deep South, or states with large minority or immigrant populations. So what's rich, white Wisconsin's excuse?

If Wisconsin's government workers were in the private sector, they'd have been laid off. It's still a recession in the U.S. with a national unemployment rate of 9%. But there's no recession when you work for the government. The opposite: You get to pocket the bulk of any "stimulus" spending.

Wisconsin loves government. They haven't voted for a Republican presidential candidate since Reagan. In 2008 they overwhelmingly voted for Barack Obama.

But then the recession really set in. Everyone made cutbacks. Except the government. Obama decided to borrow from China. Wisconsin disagreed, and last November swept the Democrats out of their statehouse.

Governor Scott Walker, a Republican, has proposed to cut government perks to help cover the $3.6 billion deficit. Government workers would still be paid more than their private sector counterparts, but the gap wouldn't be as big. And in the future, government unions could only negotiate wages--not all of those extra gold-plated perks.

Walker has the votes to do it. Polls show 71% of Wisconsinites support his proposal. But Democrat lawmakers have fled the state, to deny Walker the quorum necessary to put his deal to a vote in the legislature.

This is an important showdown. Government workers like to call themselves public servants. But they've shown that when their perks are in question, they serve no one but themselves.