At the state level their influence can be even more fearsome. Mark Baldassare of the Public Policy Institute of California points out that much of the state’s budget is patrolled by unions. The teachers’ unions keep an eye on schools, the CCPOA on prisons and a variety of labor groups on health care.
从州范围来看，他们的影响更为吓人。加利福尼亚州公共政策研究院的 Mark Baldassare 指出，本州大部分预算都由工会来检查。教师工会关注学校，加利福尼亚感化治安官协会关心监狱，各型各色的劳工团体关注卫生保健。
There are three reasons for the public-sector unions’ thriving. First, they can shut things down without suffering much in the way of consequences. Second, they are mostly bright and well-educated. A quarter of America’s public-sector workers have a university degree. Third, they now dominate left-of-centre politics. Some of their ties go back a long way. Britain’s Labor Party, as its name implies, has long been associated with trade unionism. Its current leader, Ed Miliband, owes his position to votes from public-sector unions.
公共部门工会如此盛行的原因有三个。第一，他们能够脱身，而不用承担太多后果。第二，他们中间大部分人聪明，受过良好教育。美国公共部门的工作人员中四分之一的人有大学学位。第三，他们现在在政治中的左翼力量中占主导地位。其中有些关系有很长的历史。正如其名，英国工党和工会组织的关系由来已久。其现任领导 Miliband 把自己得到的位置归功于来自公共部门工会组织的投票。
If the trade unionist Jimmy Hoffa were alive today, he would probably represent civil servant. When Hoffa’s Teamsters were in their prime in 1960, only one in ten American government workers belonged to a union; now 36% do. In 2009 the number of unionists in America’s public sector passed that of their fellow members in the private sector. In Britain, more than half of public-sector workers but only about 15% of private-sector ones are unionized.
如果工会会员Jimmy Hoffa今天还活着，他也许会是公务员的代表。1960年Hoffa的组织 Teamsters 处于全盛时期，美国政府工作人员中只有十分之一的人属于某一个公会；现在这个比率是36%。2009年任职于美国公共部门的工会会员人数超过了任职于私营部门的工会会员人数。在英国，在公共部门的工作人员中半数以上参加了工会，而私营部门的工作人员只有大约15%的人参加了工会组织。
John Donahue at Harvard’s Kennedy School points out that the norms of culture in Western civil services suit those who want to stay put but is bad for high achievers. The only American public-sector workers who earn well above $250,000 a year are university sports coaches and the president of the United States. Bankers’ fat pay packets have attracted much criticism, but a public-sector system that does not reward high achievers may be a much bigger problem for America.
哈佛肯尼迪学院的 John Donahue 指出，西方公务员系统的文化准则适合这些想留在原地过安逸生活的人们，但并不适合那些表现好的人们。任职于美国公共部门的工作人员中，只有大学体育教练和美国总统每年的收入远远高于250,000美元。银行的高收入招致了很多批评，但对于美国来讲，在公共部门体制中，没有给表现好的工作人员足够的回报可能会成为更为严重的问题。
As the cost to everyone else has become clearer, politicians have begun to clamp down. In Wisconsin the unions have rallied thousands of supporters against Scott Walker, the hardline Republican governor. But many within the public sector suffer under the current system, too.
对其他每个人的支出变得更为清晰，政客开始强制执行。在威斯康辛州，工会集结了成千上万的支持者，反对走强硬路线的州长，即共和党人 Scott Walker。但很多任职于公共部门的工作人员也在目前的体制下受罪。
In many rich countries average wages in the state sector are higher than in the private one. But the real gains come in benefits and work practices. Politicians have repeatedly “backloaded” public-sector pay deals, keeping the pay increases modest but adding to holidays and especially pensions that are already generous.
在很多富裕国家，公共部门的平均工资要高于私营部门的平均工资。但是真正的收入来源于利润和工作表现。政客已不停地加强公共部门的工资待遇，工资涨幅不大，但却加长本来就不少的假期，特别是增加本来就很多的养老保险金。
Reform has been vigorously opposed, perhaps most egregiously in education, where charter schools, academies and merit pay all faced drawn-out battles. Even though there is plenty of evidence that the quality of the teachers is the most important variable, teachers’ unions have fought against getting rid of bad ones and promoting good ones.
对于变革的反对一直都很强烈，在教育方面最为惊人。在教育方面，契约学校、专科学校、绩效奖都面临着持久战。尽管有大量证据表明教师的质量是最重要的变量，但教师工会反对解雇不好的教师，提升好教师。
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