States should reexamine the role of public employee unions and collective bargaining for state employees. The fact is that state and local governments are struggling to pay for all of the overly generous benefits for public employees, benefits that states cannot afford. What some states like Wisconsin are doing is making reasonable changes to reform public-sector unions. This is not “union busting” these local and state governments are not out to break up the unions. They are just making reasonable changes by limiting collective bargaining to make up for soaring deficits. What state and local governments need to do is cut back on these lavish benefits in the face of the economic realities of today.

The cost of these benefits contributes to the budgets deficits that many state governments now face. According to Milton Ezrati, senior economist at Lord Abbot & Co. in a column by Patrice Hill in The Washington Times; “The $3.4 trillion total set aside for public pensions understates the burden for states and taxpayers since the plans collectively are underfunded by as much as $2.5 trillion…The undeniable fact is that most states and municipalities offer more generous pensions than they can afford”. What this means is that state governments like Wisconsin need to make cutbacks or else they will be forced to increase taxes and layoff workers.

One reason for the expensive costs of these benefits is because many public unions give millions of dollars in campaign donations to politicians who support big government. According to The Washington Times, public employees gave $77,722,313 in don