Pressure Grows to End Binding Arbitration with Government Unions
Pressure
Grows to End Binding Arbitration with Government Unions
People from
coast to coast apparently are coming to realize the harm to taxpayers that can
be caused by allowing binding arbitration with government employee unions.
On November
7, 2006 the voters of Santa Clara, California rejected a ballot measure, by 56
to 44 percent, that would have imposed binding arbitration on contract
negotiation impasses with public safety unions.
In an
October 26 editorial opposing the measure, the San Jose Mercury News
noted, "Binding arbitration nearly always is bad for cities. It takes
control of the budget away from elected representatives and hands it to an
independent arbitrator, who looks at numbers but not the broader good of a
community."