OVERHEARD AT LUNCH; BRACE YOURSELVES UNIONS

Last week I met a friend for lunch at a little place in Washington, D.C. and overheard some very troubling chatter from an adjacent table.  Given the city is overrun with Congressional members, staffers, lobbyists, and other wanna-be policy wonks, loose lips are everywhere, especially with a White House transition in the offing. The three nearby chatty characters in question were talking about Trump’s team considering a proposal to furlough almost all IRS agents to give the country a one-year holiday from deep state audits.

Under this scheme some would be retained to handle the telephone calls that are not answered now, but the rest will not be recalled until IRS leaders are “aligned” with the White House vision. (That is when I got worried because lots of plain folks, columnists, and Congressional types will love the idea of moving the IRS employees once known as “jack-booted” thugs on to the phones to help poor old J.Q. Citizen. It will give the scheme a veneer of policy genius rather than the gift to millionaires that is really is.) They also talked about the shortage of accountants in the private sector that could be relieved by out-of-work IRS Agents and other fed accountants. Who knew there was a shortage of accountants? Not me.

I pass this on because it is a good example of the strange, never-before-heard-of stuff that  unions are likely to encounter early in the next Presidential administration. It will cost them dues income, members, lots of union activists, and the union’s reputation. The power to grieve and bargain will mean little against threats like this. Unions will need to raise their game in terms seeking allies in a hostile Congress, among equally bewildered interest groups, and the media.  Are you ready?