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A comment on Detroit files for Chapter 9 bankruptcy amid staggering debts . Parent comment

Re:Detroit files for Chapter 9 bankruptcy amid staggering de... by fnordfnordfnord on Thursday July 18, 2013 @05:53PM (#6066803)
LOL, what public sector unions?
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Re:Detroit files for Chapter 9 bankruptcy amid staggering de... by mh- on Thursday July 18, 2013 @06:00PM (#6066845)
In 2009 the U.S. membership of public sector unions surpassed membership of private sector unions for the first time, at 7.9m and 7.4m respectively.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public-sector_trade_union#cite_...

http://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/the-troub...

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Re:Detroit files for Chapter 9 bankruptcy amid staggering de... by fnordfnordfnord on Thursday July 18, 2013 @06:16PM (#6066918)
From your second link "dramatic decline in overall union membership." which is what I meant to imply. Unions are fairly impotent today.
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Re:Detroit files for Chapter 9 bankruptcy amid staggering de... by rayiner on Thursday July 18, 2013 @06:29PM (#6066982)
Unions in general are impotent, but the public unions (teachers, police, etc) are among the only ones that still have a lot of leverage.
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Re:Detroit files for Chapter 9 bankruptcy amid staggering de... by bitwize on Thursday July 18, 2013 @06:11PM (#6066905)
Public-sector unions are the only unions left in the U.S. with much political zorch, more's the pity.
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Re:Detroit files for Chapter 9 bankruptcy amid staggering de... by thatswrong0 on Thursday July 18, 2013 @08:50PM (#6067615)
Why should unions have any political zorch? Why must collective bargaining require any amount of state intervention (besides, obviously, protecting individual liberty and property)?
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