Con

Ralph Waldo Emerson was once quoted saying "Truth is beautiful, without doubt; but so are
lies." When we observe labor unions, one can certainly see the beauty. The true question is: Are
we seeing the truth or the lies. Thus we stand for the con on the resolution: On balance,
government employee labor unions have a positive impact on the United States. I now offer the
following definitions to clarify the round.

A union is defined as an organization of employees formed to bargain with the employer.

Positive shall be defined as helpful in the meeting of needs.
Impact is to produce an effect or change in.

Before I continue, I will offer the following observation: In order to remain completely topical, we
must assume that "government employee labor unions" refers to public labor forces, those paid
by government taxes paid by citizens.

Therefore, let us present our first contention which pertains to the tax increase. First
and foremost, we must address the impact labor unions have had on taxpayers.
Government salaries and benefits are more times than not paid for by taxes. As these
unions call for more and more dues, taxes will severely increase.

James Sherk state "

Representing government employees has turned unions into determined supporters of tax
increases and more government spending. Higher taxes mean the government can hire more
workers and pay higher wages. As a result, public-sector unions have become a potent force
lobbying for higher taxes and against spending reductions across America... [In] Minnesota.
AFSCME Council 5 unsuccessfully lobbied state legislators to override Governor Tim Pawlenty’s
veto of a $1 billion tax increase in the spring of 2009. Two Democrats joined all the Republicans
in the state House to uphold the veto. In response AFSCME endorsed a primary challenger to
one of the Democrats. AFSCME is now lobbying state legislators to raise taxes by $3.8 billion. ” 1

To pay these government employees that demand higher wages, the government will not worsen
the deficit, rather, the government is going to increase taxes in states to compensate for the rise
of needs. At the point where unions are the cause of a recurring issue with US citizens, it is
obviously causing more harm than good.

General Motors or, GM is currently $27 billion in debt. According to Forbes.com $13 billion of this
debt was caused by the strong employee labor union. If one single companies employee union
can put them this much in debt, imagine what the whole US governments labor union could do to
our country.

Furthermore, our sub-point B will now present where this tax money goes.

1
Sherk, James. "Majority of Union Members Now Work for the Government." The Heritage Foundation. 22 Jan. 2010. Web.
<http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2010/01/Majority-of-Union-Members-Now-Work-for-the-Government>.
Con

A report by Robert Novy-Marx and Joshua D. Rauh found that government pension funds are
unfunded by about $3.2 trillion. That's an extra $27,000 that each American household will need
to pony up in the decades ahead.
The price tag is so large because more than 80 percent of government workers are still eligible
for old- fashioned defined-benefit retirement programs. State and local governments are making
massive spending promises, and taxpayers will have to pick up the tab. By contrast, such pension
funds are available to just 20 percent of private-sector workers. 2

This puts us into even more financial trouble and begs the question ‘Just how much have the
governmental employees done in the past few years to deserve all these benefits?’ The private
sector employees don’t even receive as much as they do and they earn much less than the
average 40$ per hour government employee.

2
Feulner, Edwin. "Jobs We All Pay For." The Heritage Foundation. 2 Feb. 2010. Web.
<http://www.heritage.org/Research/Commentary/2010/02/Jobs-We-All-Pay-For>