Ken Miller’s column (TNT, 11-5) identified real problems we face in dealing with public sector unions, but his solutions are not realistic. All of them depend on the willingness of elected officers to stand up to the demands of the employee unions, and the system is built in a way that makes it unlikely they will do so.

There are systemic flaws in the way the system works. First, unlike the private sector, where the employer is spending his or her own money, our public officials are spending someone else’s money.

Second, public officials do not have to worry …

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Re: “Deal would give back 3 percent wage cuts” (TNT, 9-16).

Gov. Chris Gregoire had negotiated the “restoration” of a 3 percent wage cut with state employee unions. This increase was granted even though unemployment remains high, the economic forecast has not improved, and inflation and the cost of living have not increased.

But there’s no doubt that union contributions to Jay Inslee’s campaign will increase and that, if elected, he will return the favor by granting even higher wages and benefits to state employees regardless of the state’s economic performance.

Private sector taxpayers are double losers in this game …

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Does it makes any difference whether we vote Democrat or Republican? Really?

Neither left nor right offer real solutions. The left demands bloated union contracts and entitlement programs, but America no longer produces enough to sustain them. The right promotes unregulated corporatism, which kills miners, pollutes oceans, promotes bank fraud and speculates with middle-class savings. Both sides promise a revival of past prosperity.

But in 1950, America was the world’s only industry. European and Japanese economies were ruined; Chinese and Third World technology was nonexistent. Wall Street accumulated unprecedented wealth from American workers, who were without competition, while labor unions …

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The article (TNT, 6-14) about organized labor by Harold Meyerson is spot on. The decline of unions and the middle class are inextricably linked, as his article so clearly states.

Some “unions” are thriving in this environment, such as the Business Roundtable, the National Association of Manufacturers and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Their goal of eliminating organized labor has made good progress for several decades. High unemployment rates are good for business; they are flooded with résumés, and only the few are chosen.

Of all economically developed nations, the U.S. has the greatest percentage of low-wage workers. That …

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In his June 13 column, Richard S. Davis cites a Marquette University Law School study that showed 75 percent of Wisconsin voters favored “requiring public employees to contribute to their own pensions and pay more for health insurance.”

I can’t speak for Wisconsin or any other state except Washington, but public employees in this state do contribute to their pensions – substantially. To say otherwise is simply untrue. We also contribute to our health insurance premiums and have out-of-pocket expenses when we are hospitalized or see the doctor.

Certainly I’m grateful that I have health insurance and wish this …

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Celebrating “The beginning of the end for public-sector unions,” Charles Krauthammer’s column (TNT, 6-8) demonstrates he knows as little about history as he does politics and economics.

The first recorded strike of organized “public-sector” workers took place in the Valley of Kings more than 2,000 years ago. The union city workers of Rome walked out on a general strike in the first century.

I could go on, but the point is “public-sector unions” have been around far longer than Krauthammer’s reference and will no doubt long outlast his prediction of pending collapse.

What Krauthammer and his right-wing cronies fail …

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Re: “Public unions meet their ultimate employers: Voters” (editorial, 6-7).

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker was caught several times on tape regarding his intent to break the state’s public employee unions. One conversation revealed his cozy collusion with the billionaire Republican Koch brothers to break the unions. Another conversation involved his secretive attempt to pit private and public unions against each other to destroy them both – divide and conquer.

Walker deliberately concealed his intent to break the unions when he ran for office.

Why do the Kochs and Walker want to break all the unions? Because breaking the unions …

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Re: “Public unions meet their ultimate employers: Voters” (editorial, 6-7).

I would suggest that, since voters are indeed the employers of public employees, long-term retirement contracts negotiated between the state and/or local governments and public employee unions be submitted to the voters for approval.

These benefit contracts commit the public to large financial liabilities that last for decades. They involve a significant percentage of public debt. The situation is no different from the public debt incurred for bond issues that routinely are voted up or down by the public. Why not let the voters have their say for the …

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