Should Public Sector Unions have Collective Bargaining – Yes
The reason this question is being asked is that Republicans in state legislators are trying to use the state of the economy as an excuse for crippling the political support of the Democrats. Nowhere is this more evident than in Wisconsin, where Governor Scott Walker has introduced a “Budget Repair Bill” that would raise state employee contribution to pensions to 5.8%, increase payments to 12.6% of health-care premiums, and limit collective bargaining. In doing so, Gov. Walker has tried to feign a fiscally responsible image while really pushing a political agenda.
The banner under which Gov. Walker is calling for union sacrifices is fiscal responsibility and budgetary necessity. However, that didn't stop Walker from passing 117 million dollars in tax breaks soon after he got into office. Furthermore, the Unions themselves have agreed to the increases in pension pay and medical care premiums as perfectly reasonable under the circumstances. But most impressive of all is the fact that, under a federal labor law, removing the unions’ right to bargain could cost Wisconsin 46.6 million dollars in federal funds. Why hasn’t the legislature dropped the collective bargaining restriction and just passed the budgetary measures? Out of fiscal necessity? No – because this isn’t actually about balancing the budget or asking unions to pay their fair due. It’s about Republicans knocking the unions as hard as they can. When a reporter called into Gov. Walker’s office claiming to be one of the Koch Brothers, whom have given Scott Walker 43,000 dollars in campaign contributions, Walker displayed a deep desire to emulate Ronald Reagan in breaking up the unions. Walker sounded like Sawn Parker from “The Social Network,” exclaiming “this is our moment” to the reporter. The “moment” Walker was referring to is the political assault taking place on unions across the country. Other Republican controlled states like Ohio and Indiana are targeting unions.
What benefit do republicans seek by targeting unions? They seek the elimination of one of the Democrat’s strongest political bases. Many public union members are strong Democratic supporters and vital to both the monetary and the physical support of the party. Teachers, for example, provide valuable political foot soldiers that aren’t afraid to get involved in political action and are respected in their communities. It’s already been demonstrated how well unions can organize for political rallies in Wisconsin. By removing collective bargaining, Republicans would be removing the principle cause for unions’ existence. Without that power, people no longer have an incentive to pay union dues. Without union dues, unions wither and die, along with their financial contributions to political parties and candidates. The attempts to pass this bill in Wisconsin represent an unfair assault of unions and the Democratic Party.
The only unions being targeted are the ones that didn’t support Scott Walker’s political campaign, and they don’t deserve to have their power taken away. Critics of collective barraging for public sector unions claim that it would give employees an unfair hold over their employers that private sector unions don’t have. But isn’t the fact that unions are fighting a Republican legislature that is changing what they pay proof that they don’t control their employers? Furthermore, proof is in the pay. Teachers pay, which is about 4 percent less than that in the private sector. All workers should be allowed to negotiate their working conditions. Policemen, while exempt from the Wisconsin bill, negotiate for workplace related items like body armor. The American people themselves are behind the unions. 61% of Americans oppose a law similar to the “Budget Repair Bill” in Wisconsin.
Scott Walker is engaged in a dirty political battle to end unions and the party he despises, all while claiming fiscal reasonability. As many invoke the name of Reagan and the PATCO strike, remember that Reagan signed a bill to grant municipal and county workers the right to unionize while he was Governor of California.
Resources:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/22/walker-unions-wisconsin-protests_n_826908.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/26/us-usa-wisconsin-koch-idUSTRE71P28W20110226
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-02-22-poll-public-unions-wisconsin_N.htm
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704900004576152320132834818.html
