The demonstrations in Wisconsin over Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s plan to roll back the power of public employee unions is being portrayed by many as union busting. But many taxpayers, in Wisconsin and across the United States, are more likely to see it as an overdue effort to rein in the power of public employee unions so that pay and benefits are more in line with those in the private sector.

In recent years, most private sector workers have had to share the burden of rapidly rising health care costs, often contributing hundreds of dollars a month for coverage, while their employers take on additional costs too. But in the public sector, teachers in many school districts have fought against contributing even as little as $40 or $50 a month for health care coverage that costs taxpayers more than $1,000 a month to provide.

Still, public sector employees don’t deserve all of the blame for excessive benefits and wages. Elected officials, including city council members and school boards, share the blame for agreeing to contracts now seen as excessive. Regardless of where the blame is placed, millions of Americans believe public employee unions have pushed things too far.

A Gallup poll taken just over a year ago found public support for unions had dropped to where a majority of citizens felt unions hurt the U.S. economy. This belief works against protesters in Wisconsin, as do union posters and chants comparing Walker to brutal dictators in Libya or Tunisia, where popular uprisings are occurring.

Recent examples of union contract excesses surfaced in New Jersey, where four police officers retired in the small city of Parsippany, claiming unused sick-pay benefits of $900,000.

In Atlantic City, N.J., the city paid $19 million between 2004 and 2009 to active and retiring municipal workers for unused paid leave. The city’s fire chief retired in 2004 with a lump-sum payment of $567,000 for unused sick and vacation time.

There was a time when workers took off work, using sick pay benefits, only when they were actually sick. Today, public sector employees not only have more paid sick days than their private sector counterparts, but the sick days are treated by too many employees as extra vacation days. If a public sector worker’s contract provides for, say, 15 days of sick pay, how many workers take all 15, coincidentally feeling under the weather the exact number of days for which they can be paid to not come to work? Personal time off is important, but abuses erode public support.

Public sector unions are even seeing a loss of support among union members in the private sector. Many private sector workers have accepted wage cuts and reduced benefits, especially when their employers were operating in the red or facing bankruptcy, as in the automotive or airline industries. But public employees, despite states, cites and school districts spending more than they take in, still get wage increases and fight any reduction in benefits.

Private sector union workers know that if they push too far, their employer could fail and all their jobs could be lost. Public sector unions don’t face that same restraint — their employers, states, cities and school districts, can simply raise taxes.

Despite the overheated rhetoric surrounding the demonstrations in Wisconsin, millions of Americans support measures there and in other states, with both Republican and Democratic governors, to roll back some of the costs associated with public employee workers. The heated confrontations in Wisconsin are only the latest to address the public’s desire to see more fairness and shared sacrifice. Simmilar struggles lie ahead in California, New York, Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania and other states.

Many years ago, unions used collective bargaining to provide balance against sometimes-abusive employers. But in recent years, public employee unions have overplayed their hand, abusing their power. The public is finally saying that has to stop.

Making public employees contribute more for health care and pensions and even rolling back some benefits will not solve state, city or school district finances. But it will be the start of making the effort more fair, so that deficit-reduction pain is shared by all.