N.J. public employee unions are used as scapegoats during difficult economy, budget crisis

By Bob Braun/Star-Ledger Columnist
May 06, 2010, 5:00AM

TRENTON -- Unions, even public employee unions, are not the devil’s spawn. Like corporations, they serve the interests of a community. Corporations want to maximize money invested by shareholders and protect their interests. Unions exist to maximize the income and protect the interests of represented employees.

In fact, the law requires both to act that way. Be selfish for those who rely on them.

So how did public unions become targets of so much venom? Come to be seen as the primary, if not sole, cause of New Jersey’s fiscal crisis? Even compared to "drug dealers" who use children like "drug mules"?

"Governors throughout the nation are struggling with the worst recession since the Great Depression," says Susan Schurman, a professor at Rutgers University’s School of Management and Labor Relations. "We haven’t seen anything on this scale in our lifetimes. Still, there is special emotion here in New Jersey."

http://blog.nj.com/njv_bob_braun/2010/05/public_employee_unions_used_as.html