Should State Employees have Collective Bargaining Rights – Yes
All employees should have collective bargaining rights, whether they have state, government or private employers. The most common definition of collective bargaining is discussion between an employer and a trade union before a decision is made pertaining to conditions of work.We have come a long way since the time when employees were used and abused by their employers, or I hope we have. In the early years of the industrial revolution, when work previously done in the home began to be housed in factories, employers tempted workers away from rural areas to towns, with promises of wages and homes. However the reality for many of these workers was long hours, low pay, squalid housing and general misery.There was little or nothing those employees could do about their situation, and the need to improve conditions led to the development of trade unions which began to have the bargaining power to bring about change.In the 21st century the level of need which led to the early trade unions has largely been met, certainly in the western world, although the treatment of employees in some areas of the world still leaves a lot to be desired. One of the principles which have developed in the work place is the right to collective bargaining, meaning that employers do not have the right to impose anything on their workforce without prior discussion.The whole concept of trade unionism smacks, with some people, of socialism and near communism, but this is a question of fair and reasonable treatment of a workforce by an employer. Without collective bargaining rights, an employer can impose any conditions and any salary upon employees.In some work places there is non-union labour, but employees still retain the right under collective bargaining agreements to have a say in what goes on.Examples of collective bargaining rights being removed relate to employers or governments with extreme attitudes. During the 1980s in England, for example, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, an arch opponent of unions and their rights, decided to remove the collective bargaining rights of all teachers. This came after years in which teachers had seen their salaries fall lower and lower in comparison with other professions, and at a time when pressure was being brought to increase their work load.Teachers were understandably angry and frustrated, and were not willing to accept a derisory pay rise, so their collective bargaining rights were removed so that conditions and salary could be imposed. This is not a fair or reasonable way to treat any workforce.If an employer feels, for whatever reason, that working practices need to be changed, perhaps an alteration in working hours, or in salary, or in holiday rights, or whatever, then the employees have a right to have their side of the discussion heard and considered. To refuse this is a breach of basic human rights and no employee in any country should be expected to work in such a situation.There are countries of the world in which employees have few or no rights at all. Do we wish our country - the USA, UK, Australia, for example, to go down this road. All people have basic human rights. Collective bargaining represents basic human rights in the workplace. All employees deserve this.
