First, public sector employees don’t deserve special rights everyone else doesn’t have. Second, public sector unions present unique problems privat sector unions do not. If a private sector union pushes too hard, the company goes out of business and everyone is out of work. If a public sector union pushes too hard, nothing happens—it can hold critical government services (often monopoly services) hostage until it gets whatever terms it wants.
If MTA were a private company, it would have gone bankrupt long ago. But we accept that public services should sometimes be subsidized at the public expense. That subsidy should go toward making the service cheaper and more available to the public. But public sector unions capture some of that subsidy to get higher pay and benefits for public sector workers than those workers would get in a private company.
If MTA were a private company, it would have gone bankrupt long ago. But we accept that public services should sometimes be subsidized at the public expense. That subsidy should go toward making the service cheaper and more available to the public. But public sector unions capture some of that subsidy to get higher pay and benefits for public sector workers than those workers would get in a private company.