Politics and Busting
The situation in Wisconsin annoys the hell out of me. The Governor claims that he has to bust the unions to meet his budget. I think he just wants to bust the unions, period. How dare he! The right to bargain collectively is one of the sacred rights of American workers, in my opinion.
Doesn’t this jerk realize that those union members are citizens of his state? They are voters. They are the people who make his government work. Some of them probably helped elect him. If he believes that the current collective bargaining agreement is hurting his ability to meet his budget, then he negotiates. It’s that simple. He works with the union to make things happen and the union has the same obligation to work with him. Busting the union should be out of the question. The whole purpose of collective bargaining in that situation is to prevent exactly what he is trying to do: take away rights. The big, bad government is trampling on the individual citizens in the same way large corporations used to trample on the rights of individual workers back when unions first began.
As a member of a union myself, I know these organizations can be unreasonably stubborn and often are slow to recognize changing realities of the workplaces they represent. The point, however, is to negotiate terms that are fair to both sides. It’s time for the Governor to stop interfering with the rights of citizens and maybe it’s time for that union to rethink some of the terms of the agreement. It is NOT time to deny the rights of citizens.
Doesn’t this jerk realize that those union members are citizens of his state? They are voters. They are the people who make his government work. Some of them probably helped elect him. If he believes that the current collective bargaining agreement is hurting his ability to meet his budget, then he negotiates. It’s that simple. He works with the union to make things happen and the union has the same obligation to work with him. Busting the union should be out of the question. The whole purpose of collective bargaining in that situation is to prevent exactly what he is trying to do: take away rights. The big, bad government is trampling on the individual citizens in the same way large corporations used to trample on the rights of individual workers back when unions first began.
As a member of a union myself, I know these organizations can be unreasonably stubborn and often are slow to recognize changing realities of the workplaces they represent. The point, however, is to negotiate terms that are fair to both sides. It’s time for the Governor to stop interfering with the rights of citizens and maybe it’s time for that union to rethink some of the terms of the agreement. It is NOT time to deny the rights of citizens.
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