Possible 2012 GOP Hopeful Tim Pawlenty Slams Public-Sector Unions
With an eye on running for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota took aim at public employee unions in an opinion piece that ran in Mondays Wall Street Journal.
Federal employees receive an average of $123,049 annually in pay and benefits, twice the average of the private sector, noted Pawlenty. And across the country, at every level of government, the pattern is the same: Unionized public employees are making more money, receiving more generous benefits, and enjoying greater job security than the working families forced to pay for it with ever-higher taxes, deficits and debt.
Pawlenty polished up his conservative credentials and sought to show a difference between traditional unions and ones of government employees.
The moral case for unions -- protecting working families from exploitation -- does not apply to public employment, insisted Pawlenty. Government employees today are among the most protected, well-paid employees in the country. Ironically, public-sector unions have become the exploiters, and working families once again need someone to stand up for them.
Pawlenty, who is releasing a book next month and will promote it in Iowa, New Hampshire and Florida, ended with a call to action.
If we're going to stop the government unions' silent coup, conservative reformers around the country must fight this challenge head-on, wrote Pawlenty. The choice between big government and everyday Americans isn't a hard one.
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