Scare the constituency into submission! Being a former civil servant, our wages weren't as high as the private sector, but the benefits were better than most. When you were hired on, you were told you'd never get rich here, but the benefits are great. Now, the wages haven't gone up in 5 yrs, & the benefits have gotten CONSIDERATELY worse. Now they pay a portion of their health care, have deductibles, higher co-pays, less choice of Dr.'s, etc.. According to political types down here, the problem is the retirees. All their pensions, benefits, etc.. cost more than the current staff. Maybe so, but that's TOTAL BULLSH!T! You sign a contract that guarantees whatever it guarantees, & who the F do they think they are, changing the terms, after we've retired! We fullfilled our part of the collective bargain, now that it's their turn, they can't afford it! Our former school board president is rotting in jail right now for corruption, embezzlement, racketeering, + a host of other sealed indictments. He turn rat, & fingered all his cronies for shortened sentence. Gee, I wonder why they don't have the money to pay us? I'm sure it's only a matter of time before they find a way to screw me too! When I lived in Fla. back in the '80's a bunch of Canadians used to tell me about taxes & collector cars. I thought it sucked then! Bet you wish you had those tax laws again! The rich keep getting richer, the poor keep getting poorer. My luck, it'd be against the law, & I'll be rotting in jail next to my old board president! lol