Public employees are bad neighbors

I saw the news stories about the public sector unions demanding tax increases. In my opinion they all have personal agendas.

We have a huge disconnect between the private sector and the public sector. I worked for a company that has reduced their U.S. employees by 35,000 over the last 5 years. And each year their earnings have increased. 35 percent of their revenues come from the U.S, but their U.S. head count is only 25 percent.

I think I saw that the Illinois losses to layoffs in this recession are about 460,000 to 480,000 jobs. The public sector losses have been much smaller.

The public sector has no understanding of how much the private sector is being damaged due to outsourcing and offshoring and downsizing. And the private sector is not really getting salary increases. Many are getting salary reductions or fewer work hours.

You cannot have public sector jobs without a strong private sector. I am very disappointed that I have never heard one word from any of the public sector groups in the Northwest suburbs about the losses in private sector jobs. Where is the public sector?

The private sector has borne the brunt of this recession. The public sector solution is to tax them more. Private sector employees are losing their pensions and continuously see yearly increases for their medical costs.

We do not need any more layoffs. The public sector can help just by freezing salary increases and contributing more for their benefits. But time after time, I see the stories in the newspapers that the unions refuse.

If we are good neighbors, we help each other. The private sector has sacrificed. When is the public sector going to be good neighbors?

Dillivan Bailey

Mount Prospect