MassCOP President Cameron Responds to Boston Globe Op Ed Article


November 27, 2007

Boston Globe

David Beard, Editor

320 Congress Street

Boston, MA  02210-1200

To the Editor:

In a world where even poorly-performing CEOs earn outrageous amounts and government
bureaucracies are top-heavy with managers, Lovett Peters of the Pioneer Institute has a
surprising solution for the Commonwealth’s fiscal problems: cut worker benefits and turn
back the clock on union rights (“Paying the Bills” Op-Ed, Nov. 24, 2007).

After decades of working in inhuman conditions with low pay and few benefits, working
people fought hard to win better conditions, pay and benefits.  Now the Pioneer Institute
wants to use a fiscal shortfall as an excuse to chip away at a whole variety of benefits, both
those achieved through legislation and as the result of mutually-agreed negotiations:
retirement age, health care premiums, police details, and use of union construction workers
on public projects.

When the first target in an attempt to balance the budget is employee benefits, it raises the
question, Is the Pioneer Institute’s goal fixing the budget or hurting workers and undermining
collective bargaining?

Hugh J. Cameron,  President

Mass. Coalition of Police