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In some industries, governments are monopolies or near-monopolies. Take education. In order to even the negotiation, labor is given a monopoly as well. Not say

• ChrisBland 13y ago
  Not to start a debate on public sector unionization here but the negotiations are not 'even' in public unions - the union holds all the power. In a private enterprise the two sides are equal, if labor demands too much the business and shut its door and remove their capitol from the marketplace, alternatively if the business demands too much the union can take their labor out of the market (a strike) and the business will suffer. So they have some incentive to work together for a solution. In public sector, there is no one representing the capital side of the equation. You can't just shut down or relocate the TSA because of union demands like you can close a business. We still have to fly, we still have to have police men on the streets and firemen responding to calls. The gvt can continue to spend recklessly and borrow to cover deficits. (See Detroit) while private sector business will eventually run out of money and both capital and labor will be reduced to 0. The union can spend a ton of money to get the people elected who will promise them the work-rules and benefits they want because the politician won't be around when the bills finally come due. Imagine if everyone in your company gave a few % of their salary to influence the hiring of your next CFO, or VP of HR and would only back candidates that would promise to increase pay. That is the power that the public sector unions have which leads to an imbalance in negotiations.