Recommended: Storm Clouds Ahead: Why Conflict with Public Unions Will Continue

The Manhattan Institute has put out an interesting issue paper, Storm Clouds Ahead: Why Conflict with Public Unions Will Continue.  The author argues that faced with public union pension costs that have grown so large that they are crowding out everything else in the state budgets, states really have only three viable options: (1) change and restrict the union's bargaining power, (2) austerity by reducing  services and laying off people, or (3) concessions (give in to the unions) and raise taxes.

Ohio citizens just overturned Ohio's attempt to  try route (1), but there is no free lunch, so they will now be faced with austerity and reduced services and/or higher taxes. There just isn't any other option available.  Of course neither austerity and layoffs, nor higher taxes will be popular, nor will they do anything to make Ohio more competitive in the world markets.

Public unions, of course, have every incentive to keep fighting for more for their members, even if it eventually wipes out their jobs, as has already happened in many private industries (think American steel plants, or American shipbuilding), or bankrupts their states (think California and New York). But it is suicidal in the long term, both for the union members and for the states.