Teachers are civil service employees, so what is the need or benefit of a union?  Independent contractors such as the day care providers are not employees of the state, so the so-called union membership is akin to mafia protection rackets.

Yet, when it come to identifying the cause of states' fiscal problems, the direct providers of beneficial services are scapegoated while the leaches in the form of politicians and unions officials rise above the fray... or try to by arguing how noble they are.

Here's the rub: teachers and day care providers have performed their service to the state in a good-faith manner.  The fact that there may be some low performers is no different from any large corporation; caca happens.  Changing the terms and conditions of employment because of the bad behavior of third parties [unethical and amoral union officials and unethical and amoral politicians] is compounding the problem in an unethical and amoral action.