On balance government employee labor unions have a positive impact on the United States

thank you for taking this debate, I will know rebut my opponent's case 1. tax increase, while many people might be having trouble paying their taxes these public sector unions truly have no effect on tax increases. These wage increases have always followed some sort of price increase or inflation. If we do not increase consumer purchasing power and keep up with inflation many more people will struggle to make ends meet. 2. Workers taking advantage, this is simply untrue. While unions do offer job security they do not offer immunity to offenses. My opponent gives the example of teachers and the amount of security they have on the job. While teachers enjoy this they are all still subject to the judgement of their administration, and in states like Tennessee where a merit pay system is implemented they are subject to state wide reviews thus eliminating ridiculous job protections. On balance workers do not take advantage of these unions, but utilize them to bridge the gap between employee and employer benefits. 3. Distrust, to this I offer the simple question of when has this occurred. Unionized workers have been on strike and in situations where productivity is lacking, but when one goes deeper into the issue at the heart of the matter lies wage inequalities and discrimination. On the other hand in almost every instance the opposite is found. Where unionization exists a greater amount of productivity exists as well. These benefits proposed by unions offers the incentives to get a job and join. 4. Striking, I briefly covered this in the last point, but to the example of the postal strike, should we simply ask these workers who are serving the nation to be content in unfair situations and less than kosher working situations? The postal workers have a demanding job and when they utilize the democratic process to accomplish a goal then that is a progressive step and a good thing for the U.S. I will now answer my opponent's rebuttal and affirm my original points. I will state again that when these public sector unions fight for wage increase it does not come just to them it comes across the board so that every average American worker can have that pay increase to keep up with the rising prices. These unions cut down on profits, yes but are we really concerned with a million dollar decrease in a billion dollar profit? Unions do not cause budget cuts, my opponent cannot directly attribute any budget cut in the U.S. budget to any union. My opponent goes on to say unions in the public sector leech from the private sector this is again untrue and backs this claim with nothing. People in the U.S. have a choice where to work and if they choose the government it is still a choice. Our government runs many programs and we are in no way communist, to say that our government running things is not a well thought out statement. We again go into the job security issue, I have already addressed the teachers and how they are subject to reviews and can be fired on any reasonable grounds. All unions do is prevent unreasonable and discriminatory actions against employees. My opponent simply states that unions are corrupt and decrease education but provides no example of this ever happening. It is shown in my original case that unions improve education. Unions and factions are inevitable in our society and a part of democracy. Unions hold elections on secret ballots under the EFCA(employee free choice act) for every major decision, such as a strike. This is to ensure each worker has a say. Government employee labor unions do do have a positive impact on the U.S. on balance, which is key to the resolution, because they benefit workers by offering better working conditions and higher wages, facilitate the democratic process by offering workers a louder voice in the over head decisions, and last they contribute to education, which is a vital piece to the prosperity puzzle. For all these reasons I strongly urge your vote in affirmation. Thank You.