Unions

Well I have a few thoughts about unions.  Unions are great if they serve their purpose, but most never remain that way.  Unions were started to protect the rights of workers, but in this day and age the Labor Board is tasked with just that.  So what are the unions doing?  Take WI for example.  The union there is up in arms because the government wants to take away the teacher's collective barganing "rights".  More specifically the teachers are being told that, like other states, that they will have to pay into their retirement, and health insurance.  Is this so bad?  In the private sector the vast majority of workers have to do just that.  If I am wrong please give me some facts so that I can correct myself.  The simple act of paying a small percentage of your wages to support yourself in retirement can save thousands of dollars on a state budget per year.  Here are some simple numbers.

40,000 teachers paying $1, yes I said One dollar, per month towards retirement essentially saves the state $40,000 a month on retirement costs. That is $480,000 per year.  This isn't rocket science.  So now you up those numbers to roghly 6%.  We will just say that the average teachers sallery is $32,994.11 per year, just throwing a number out there.  That is roughly $1,979.70 per year per employee paid into retirement.  Multiply that by the 40,000 state employees. That is a staggering $79,188,000 per year saved by the state government.  That $1979.70 would be pre tax of course and doesn't take into consideration other deductions.  Now can any teacher out there tell me that roughly $2,000 per year will break your bank?