Wes Gullett calls for an end to taxpayer subsidies for labor activity

September 21, 2011

PHOENIX – On the heels of an investigation released by the Goldwater Institute today, Mayoral candidate Wes Gullett says if elected, he will end the practice of using taxpayer dollars to subsidize union activities. And he’s calling for greater transparency and oversight to stop these abuses from happening again.

“This is just more evidence of why we need top to bottom reform in city government,” Gullett said. “The status quo isn’t working because of career-politicians like Greg Stanton. I’ll stand up for the taxpayers and end this kind of abuse. Greg Stanton is the poster child of the influence public-employee unions wield on elected officials and politicians. Greg Stanton has been endorsed by every one of the unions who are negotiating these outrageous contracts because he supported these abuses during his nine years on the city council and he’ll continue to support these abuses.”

According to the Goldwater report, “collective bargaining agreements with seven labor organizations require the city to pay union officers and provide members with thousands of additional hours to conduct union business instead of doing their government jobs.” The report finds that “public-employee unions still wield outsized influence on elected officials – and they are using that power to feather their own nests.”

The practice is costing Phoenix taxpayers roughly $3.7 million a year, and city employees are being released for more than 73,000 hours to conduct unions business – not the peoples’ business.