Municipal labor unions are at it again in Buffalo, New York.

The unions, the inheritors of cushy contracts and high wages for their members (as well as plush jobs for union officials) are upset because their workers have not been granted wage increases over the past few years.

The unions met the other night and discussed staging a combined citywide strike, crippling the city and endangering the health, welfare, and safety of the city’s residents (including school children), all because they haven’t gotten what they want.

The wage freeze that is in effect in Buffalo is the result of actions by a Municipal Control Board instituted by the State of New York. The Control Board was necessary as Buffalo was so far in the red that it was about to go bankrupt. Buffalo politicians and their union supporters were so lost in the woods that someone had to come in and rescue them.

A dying rust belt city, Buffalo’s population and tax base has steadily decreased since its peak in the 1950’s. Wikipedia has an excellent article about Buffalo. The population chart shown there indicates that a city that once boasted nearly 600,000 residents now tops out at a little more than 280,000 residents.

The problem is that while the city declined, the unions grew. Their wages grew, their slots grew, and the politicians handed over more and more power and money to the unions in exchange for their support. No one had the courage to turn off the faucet.

A friend once told me that Buffalo is the perfection of communism, one-third of the people working for the government, one-third on the public dole, and one third actually working to support the other two-thirds.

The unions, and the politicians who have fed them, are the problem. They need to be reigned in and they need to be brought down. Work together for the city and improve everyone’s life, get rid of the fat, and work a full day for an honest wage. Do you really need a union if you are confident in your ability to work and succeed?

As to the strike proposition, I think there is a term for harming the innocent to get what you want —“ and I think it is called terrorism.

For more on the story, check out the Buffalo News’ series of articles on the story: Unions discussing citywide strike and Strike could hurt workers. An excerpt from the second story appears below:

Meanwhile, a Common Council member who is on leave from his job as a Buffalo public school teacher says unions have blundered by floating the strike trial balloon.

“I understand their frustration,” said North Council Member Joseph Golombek Jr. “But I represent some neighborhoods where the median income is $16,000 a year. If they’re looking for sympathy, they won’t get it in many of my neighborhoods.”

In October 2004, the control board released a study indicating that the average city worker earns 180 percent more than the typical Buffalo resident. Union leaders attacked the study for using distorted numbers and accused the control board of being obsessed with abolishing union contracts.