Unions are good for public finances - new research

It may seem to be blindingly obvious to those of us in all levels of the public sector that we generally do an efficient job with a view to minimising costs and keeping the service as good as possible. But this reality has been body slammed by a mantra from Pickles and others before him that we are overpaid, over compensated and that our unions are costing the tax payer a fortune in times of austerity. If only we were like the private sector the austerity high priests claim.

How refreshing then to see well argued research that debunks these destructive and harmful lies, with a vast amount of research and evidence. Work endorsed by the Albert Shanker Institute in the US has shown that public sector workers are evidently under compensated for what they do, that arbitration and mediation do not necessarily produce better outcomes than disputes and most revealingly that innovation and problem solving is at least as successful in the public sector as in the private sector and that bargaining encourages it.

Knowledge is power as they say!

http://shankerblog.org/?p=7479