Kudos to Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman for his Negotiating Stance with the Public Sector Unions -- Fire Everyone, Rehire Those Willing to Work

Las Vegas faces a $70 million budget shortfall with wages and benefits of public sector employees comprising a huge percentage of the total. Mayor Oscar Goodman asked union members to forgo scheduled pay raises and instead take 8% cuts in salary over the next two years.

Predictably, the unions haven't been running to City Hall to cut a deal. But given what's been commonplace in the beleaguered private sector, the mayor's proposal is hardly out of line.

Otherwise, city officials say they're prepared to fire 146 workers if some concessions aren't in place by June 1, when the new fiscal year begins. And Mayor Goodman took it a step further on Wednesday, and threatened to fire the lot of them -- the entire municipal bureaucracy -- and then rehire those who are willing to come back at reduced hours.

...Well here's a clue for you [Union bosses]. If you really want to save jobs and do what's best for your members, you'll realize that the city can't remain solvent if it doesn't get a handle on compensation costs. If it takes a "bully" to force government union leaders to understand that struggling taxpayers are neither willing nor able to ensure that city workers make it through this recession unscathed, so be it.

Mayor Goodman deserves praise for his courageous attempts to rein in his city's out-of-control public sector unions. His proposal is fitting and worthy of wide publicity. Other municipalities -- struggling over wayward budgets in stormy economic weather -- should take the cue.