Posted on 07/01/2005 12:29:19 PM PDT by Maceman
Allowing government employees to unionize is a bad idea whose time is long past.
I can understand, though not buy into, the logic of believing that people need labor unions to give them protection against the overwhelming economic and political power of their evil, greedy capitalist overlords.
But even if one buys this argument, that logic breaks down with respect to government employee unions.
I mean, given that government is the source of all good for all the people, what justification is there for believing that government employees would need protection from the power of their benevolent government?
Who are these government employees really bargaining with? The answer is: We the People.
Do these employees need protection from the overwhelming power of We The People? Are WE THE PEOPLE going to screw them over without unions?
Well, I don't know the answer. But I do know that at the negotiating table, right now it's WE THE PEOPLE who are getting it up the tuchus.
Government employees generally have job security, generous and irrevocable benefit packages, enviable vacation allowances, and in many cases are legally exempt from the laws (i.e. Social Security) that the government has imposed on the rest of WE THE PEOPLE.
When it comes to compensation, private sector employees don't do so nearly so well in comparison, mainly because no private commercial enterprise can survive long-term mismanagement and uneconomic cost structures.
But government has no such constraints in a term politically short of ten years, which is to say, from a practical political standpoint, forever.
Moreover, the government employees have practical day to day control of the operational levers that control government power.
The union/government coalition of France is instructive regarding the extent and the tragedy of such power.
So we need to change the template. We need to reframe the proposition that it is the govenrment employees who must be protected from the power of WE THE PEOPLE.
The truth is just the opposite: It is WE THE PEOPLE who need protection from the government employee unions, because THEY are the ones who enjoy the overwhelming economic and political power in our relationship with them.
I am not saying that government employees are not skilled and dedicated people, or that they don't deserve to be fairly compensated for their efforts.
But that is also true of employees in the private sector, and they don't get the same power, perks and job security protections as government employees.
When one looks at the 20th century history of Organized Labor and government, it is clear that government employee unions have successfully exercised often overwhelming influence on the outcomes of elections, and in passing or defeating key legislation outside of their compensation issues.
The power of the NEA to dictate the curriculum in our public schools is Exhibit Numero Uno for my case.
It is time that WE THE PEOPLE begin to reconsider whether government employee unions should enjoy such obvious power and prosperity, or whether we ought not pass legislation to severely limit and eventually eliminate the power of organized labor in government employment.
The transition from what we have now to a union-free government workforce will undoubtedly take a long time and be an incremental process.
But our nation needs to move in this direction, whether in baby steps or giant steps.
Government employee unions are a 20th century relic of a by-gone Progressive era. Their continued operation will not serve well the interests of WE THE PEOPLE in the coming few decades.
If it's any consolation, the Gov't Employees Union I belong to has never done anything to benefit me that I can tell.
It takes your dues money and contributes to cam- I mean issue oriented groups of interest to organized labor.
Well then, why are you a member?
It's a clear conflict of interest, but who cares, right?
I beleive in free association, so if a group of employees wants to get together and try to collectively bargain, they have every right to. So long as their demands are not to excessive, there is a point at which an employer wants to give in to keep the workers happy and not have the cost of them all quitting and haveing to re-train new workers. In essence, I beleive in freedom on both the side of the company and the workers. There should be no laws either for or against unions one way or another.
IMHO Government Unions are unconstitutional as We The People pay their salaries and they can vote as a block against us and for all the above reasons.
Well, actually, they don't take any dues from me. Somebody must be paying them, but it's not me.
I am a federal employee. I have no idea why some federal employees feel they need a union. I've never joined the local at my place, and never will.
Well, right now there an awful lot of laws that favor the interests of the public employee unions.
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I care. I don't think anyone who lives off taxpayers should be allowed to vote, except the military.
Rodney, you are completely and totally wrong. There is nothing 'free' about a union. It is organized thuggery that has no place in our government, our schools, or frankly anywhere in our free nation. Let's be clear about what the union is. It is THE mechanism for Socialist governence and the tool of our enemies.
Like our friends from behind the former Iron Curtain who love Democracy because they have seen the evil tyranny of Communism, I grew up in Union country, and have seen first hand the oppression that it brings. The rotten smell of socialism clings to our unionist leftys as they work to destroy the foundations of our freedom.
Go down to your local free paper rack and pick up a pro-union rag. It will become quite clear to you where their loyalties lie. The author of this article is exactly right. There is NO PLACE FOR UNIONS IN GOVERNMENT EMPLOYMENT!
If I kept my daughter out of school I would be arrested for depriving her of an education. So why can teachers hold her education hostage by striking and not suffer the same fate?
LABOR-MANAGEMENT RELATIONS
5 U.S.C. Chapter 71
SUBCHAPTER I—GENERAL PROVISIONS
Sec. 7101 Findings and purpose
(a) The Congress finds that—
(1) experience in both private and public employment indicates that the statutory protection of the right of employees to organize, bargain collectively, and participate through labor organizations of their own choosing in decisions which affect them—
(A) safeguards the public interest,
(B) contributes to the effective conduct of public business, and
(C) facilitates and encourages the amicable settlements of disputes between employees and their employers involving conditions of employment; and
2) the public interest demands the highest standards of employee performance and the continued development and implementation of modern and progressive work practices to facilitate and improve employee performance and the efficient accomplishment of the operations of the Government. Therefore, labor organizations and collective bargaining in the civil service are in the public interest.
Yep its an ugly ugly circle. Unions pay Democratic politicians campaign contributions. When the Democrats win they give big benefit increases to the government unions. Which then means more money coming into the Democratic party campaigns.
The Democrats then also move to expand the percentage of the population working the government as much as possible. Not only out of their love of communism, but it then is more workers to skim campaign contributions.. and in many cases outright bribes from.
You then also have a growing percentage of the population which is either directly working in the government or who has a spouse or some family member in the government. So anyone who wants to cut the government faces severe hostility from a large percentage of the population. As it is their families livelihood on the line.
No democracy in the world that I know of, is the government getting smaller as a percentage of the economy. It keeps growing out of control.. the only limitation comes eventually when like in old Europe it begins choking the rest of the economy so badly that it can no longer support the increases in wages and benefits to government workers, let alone new government workers.
dude... when govt employee get better medical and retirment bennifits than the AVERAGE working stiff... THAT IS EXCESSIVE in my book!!!
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