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Mobile SiteIndiana Labor Bosses Defend “Fat Cat” Status
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E-mail PostIf you make more than $200,000 per year, hold on to your pocketbooks because an entire political party thinks you aren’t paying enough taxes yet. Democrats and their litany of leftwing allies such as Big Labor are out to demonize success and penalize those whose income exceeds arbitrary and politically created limits. But in their haste to mock those who make six-figure salaries, and especially those who are so flush with cash they make over $200,000 a year (never mind the countless small businesses this logic ensnares), some of these champions of liberal policies may be shoot themselves in the foot.
The Indianapolis Star is reporting that numerous union officials in Indiana make well into the six-figure range, with a handful even topping out at over $200,000 in salary, not including benefits. This is typical of labor leaders elsewhere, such as Wisconsin. Although a powerful and dominant force in the Democratic Party, and able participants in the despicable dog whistle tactics of class warfare politics, union bosses invariable always find a reason to justify their own self-classified largess.
Unsurprisingly, public sector union leaders rank top among union boss salaries. The Indiana State Teachers Association pays its president, Nate Schnellenberger $237,435 per year, not including an annual housing benefit of $23,000 per year. ISTA’s executive director, Brenda Pike, has equally successful in her job, earning $226,804.
Outside of staring in numerous poor-quality YouTube videos that randomly berate ISTA members for not knowing all that the union is doing, or otherwise provide sleep-inducing rambles on a variety of topics, it is not clear that Schnellenberger has been successful at his job in recent years.
Other well-paid union bosses include David Tharp of the Regional Council of Carpenters, who clears $222,824 each year, and Nancy Guyott, president of the Indiana AFL-CIO, who earns $126,666 every year.
When asked by the Star about their salaries, every union official explained why their income was really very modest when compared with their duties. Comparing their jobs to those of CEOs, with a large amount of responsibility and little down time, the arguments used by the officials sounded suspiciously like those of private sector entrepreneurs. It almost sounds as if these union officials were advocating merit pay with none of them suggesting all officials make the same amount of money regardless of their individual success in union leadership.
Conservatives don’t begrudge success, and these union officials should be congratulated on finding a way to earn good salaries. But before these same union officials go out and shill for politicians who think class warfare is really how America wants to move forward, they should look at their own pocketbook. Penalizing success and arbitrarily imposing cost-benefit limits on the salaries of innovative and hard working job creators never works as a successful economic policy.
Until Indiana’s labor leaders start voluntarily paying more in taxes or cutting their own salaries, their political rhetoric will remain hollow hypocrisy.
This post was tagged under: Featured Post, Indiana Union Protests, ISTA, Union Thugs
