When Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin pushed a bill that would curtail collective bargaining rights for government workers, he excluded police and firefighters.
In 2012 Michigan’s Gov. Rick Snyder signed a “right to work for less” bill to eliminate the requirement that workers contribute dues to the unions that represent them, whether or not they are members. Firefighters and police unions were exempt.
Gov. Bruce Rauner of Illinois is currently proposing $2 billion in cuts to government workers’ pensions–except for police and firefighters.
The usual reason given is that these people put their lives on the line. OK, here’s a list of work-related fatalities per 100,000 workers in 2013:
Logging workers, 91.3
Aircraft pilots and flight engineers, 50.6
Refuse and recyclable material collectors, 33.0
Truck transportation, 24.0
Electrical powerline installers and repairers, 33.0
Construction laborers, 17.7
Taxi drivers and chauffeurs, 15.7
Grounds maintenance workers, 12.6
Waste management and remediation, 10.7
Police and sheriff’s patrol officers, 10.6
Athletes, coaches, umpires, and related, 8.9
Firefighters 8.2
Perhaps the exception has more to do with politics? Perhaps these Republican governors are complete hypocrites? Perhaps this has everything to do with elections, and nothing to do with principle? Ya think?
The figures on fatality rates are taken from Noam Scheiber, “New Labor Rules for Public Sector Workers Don’t Apply to All, NYT, 20 March 2015, p. B-1, B2.
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