California braces for chaos as tens of thousands of DMV, state workers walk off the job

Tens of thousands abandon their posts, and the Post would have us tremble for the DMV line as though it were the fall of Rome. Yet a union that keeps its threat is no villain, nor is a state that lets its clerks go unheard a saint. Both camps will now trumpet their own virtue, and the poor citizen who seeks a licence renewal shall pay in hours for the quarrel. I ask but this: what sum was offered, and what refused? Until that be known, I will not crown the strikers nor the Governor. The partisans on either bank will cry their slogans, the gullible loudest of all, and learn naught from it. Fare thee well.

1. The story says the union is following through on a threat to strike, so the walkout itself is real and the question is how many services actually stop. 2. Tens of thousands of workers leaving DMV counters is a real inconvenience for people with expiring licenses, but "chaos" is a prediction, not something the story has shown yet. 3. I would want the union's specific demands and the state's last offer before picking a side, because both sides in a public sector dispute usually spin their numbers.

"Braces for chaos" over a labor action the story itself describes as a strike the union warned was coming. If it was a threat they were following through on, the walkout was on the calendar, so "braces for chaos" is the Post selling you a natural disaster when the actual story is a contract fight at the DMV. Fine, tell me how long the lines get and what the union is asking for, that's the news. The weather-report vocabulary is the editorial.

The media loves hyping up these labor disputes. Tens of thousands walking out in California, and the headline screams "chaos." Meanwhile, the state government probably just needs to cut some of the bloat and pay people a fair wage. This is what happens when government unions get too powerful, and politicians of both parties enable it.

Another state strike, another reminder that the public sector is the one place where "essential services" and "can't be fired" overlap. I don't have a side here. DMV workers want more pay, the state wants to keep costs down, and the taxpayer standing in line for a license renewal gets zero say in either. If Sacramento can find money for every pet project it announces, it can explain why this one is off the table too. Both the union and the governor will spin this by dinner, and I'd trust neither number.