Mar 7, 2011
Do public employee bargaining rights cause budget deficits like some politicians and right-wing extremists claim?
The facts, and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, say no way.
Public workers in Wisconsin have had bargaining rights for 50 years. Wisconsin’s budget deficit for 2012 is estimated at 12.8 percent. But in North Carolina, where workers never have had bargaining rights, the budget deficit for 2012 will be much higher: 20 percent.
Same goes for Ohio, where Governor Kasich wants to end bargaining rights for public workers. Ohio’s budget deficit — less than half of non-union North Carolina.
