“The Most Dangerous Person in the World”

Those who “underestimated the political power of the [public employee] unions … were mistaken.” That’s the conclusion of a New York Times Magazine cover story on teachers union leader Randi Weingarten. Union power and money were largely responsible for the recent election of Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson, a prominent union leader. Public union power caused former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to call Weingarten “the most dangerous person in the world.”
 
But The New York Times omits the punch line—public unions not only influence who gets elected, but then sit down at the collective bargaining table and negotiate exactly how schools and public agencies are managed. Union political power is just a lever for the unions’ ultimate goal—to control the operating machinery of government. Herein lies the main constitutional defect: Democracy can’t work when the president, governors, and mayors lack basic managerial authority, such as over accountability and work rules. 
 
Statutes from the 1960s that gave public employee unions collective bargaining powers were based on a flawed assumption that public union bargaining would be like trade union bargaining. But, as Philip Howard explains in this TIMEcolumn, a business would fail or move if the union demanded inefficient work rules. Government can’t move, so voters are stuck with 50 years of accumulated union controls that cause grotesque inefficiencies and public failure.  
 
It seems likely public union controls will be a battle line in the 2024 presidential debates. Political scientist Donald Kettl sketches the forces coming together behind new visions for public management, including the constitutional challenges proposed in Not Accountable. Stay tuned.

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