Comments about ‘Bill would limit collective bargaining for public employees’

This is a great idea and mirrors the hugely successful efforts in Wisconsin to rein in the excessive power of public employee unions.

The teachers unions and state workers will all protest against it and tell us how it will make them starve and it is unfair, yada, yada yada.

However, it is vital for taxpayers to keep state expenses low, and that includes all the very costly perks that public employees have been able to get for themeselves over the years. Benefits often cost more than wages, and retirement plans can be lavish budget busters racking up huge future costs but not funded by any current funds. Those sorts of deals must be ended, probably not for current recipients, but certainly open to cuts so that future employee costs are kept under control.

Government, and government employees must be seen as servants of the entire taxpaying public citizenry, not a pampered, elite protected ruling class, entitled to tax everyone else into poverty.

Pass this bill now!

Workplace safety issues? What is this, 1920? Workplace safety is already highly regulated by the Feds. The only point of allowing it in collective bargaining is to add one more straw to the taxpayer camel.

Working conditions are pretty much the same. Oh, sure, without the specification of overtime restrictions you will be just like the rest of the world, but economic pressure is just as effecitive at controlling excessive overtime as union contracts are.

What ALL unions need to recognize is that it is the systemic abuse of the collective bargaining system that has led to such widespread disgust. Although restricting talking points to just wages and salary is a start, I don't see that it will really solve all of the problems inherent in a collectivist system. But we have to start somewhere.

The two comments already posted here are completely off topic as to the proposed legislation. First, employees would still have the ability to bargain salaries and health care benefits. Next, retirement benefits are not bargained but rather are through the state retirement system, which was change 2 years ago to reduce benefits to lower costs.

I don't see how allowing employees to collaboratively work with employers on safe working conditions would bust state or local budgets.

this is simply an anti-union, anti-employee bill that is counter to wha the vast majority of Utahns want according to the polling data referenced in the article.

Not politically motivated and just good public policy- I needed a good laugh on a Friday morning