By snoadmin
Created centuries ago to fight for the rights, safety and well being of workers in all industries, unions have made a big difference in how today’s employees are treated in the United States. Unions not only promote efficient performance by joining labor and management forces together, but it also assures a respectable salary, along with other reimbursements such as health and pension benefits. And these are only a few of the advantages of labor unions.
However, in response to the recent proposal to wane collective bargaining rights made by several state governors — Gov. David Walker of Wisconsin, to be more specific — more people are beginning to question whether or not unions have become too potent in our society today.
Now, along with the pros that come with having unions, comes also a fair amount of cons. Unions tend to rely on the private sector for select services, which often obligates the private sector to be ― for example ― technologically up to par with union expectations.Also, management freedom is sometimes largely curtailed as a result of the agreements made between public unions and their employers. But, is this incentive enough to strip unions of their long established rights? Maybe Walker has reason in his general idea that unions could be limited, but ― if it is deemed necessary ― unions should be limited only slightly. Walker’s recent efforts in Wisconsin to weaken collective bargaining are nothing but senseless and inconsistent acts that are being delivered irresponsibly.
A University of Wisconsin political science Professor David Canon stated, “I think it’d be fair to categorize the proposal as an overreach. Maybe the biggest reason for that claim is the fact that he didn’t campaign on this.” Canon went on to assert that if Walker proclaimed his censure toward unions during his campaign, he probably wouldn’t have been elected to begin with.
After reviewing the latest USA Today-Gallup poll regarding collective bargaining, it’s evident that Canon had a point. According to the poll, 78 percent of Democrats, 62 percent of independents and 54 percent of Republicans opposed the idea of weakening collective bargaining. What is most surprising here is that among the Republicans polled, a little over half oppose Walker’s move.
Walker’s contentious proposal wasn’t the only thing that enraged the demonstrators of Wisconsin, but so did the inconsistency of his proposal. Walker claims the weakening of collective bargaining is merely to reduce the state deficit, but he failed to acknowledge that some of the major public unions of Wisconsin have agreed to cut 6 to 8 percent of their pay “by diverting more of their paychecks to pay for health care and pension plans,” as stated in a New York Times article. Even if this offer does not meet Walker’s expectations, it is a step closer to negotiation and agreement with public unions, and thus, it should be recognized.
Democrat state senators have fled Wisconsin in order to avoid the vote leaving their voices unheard. Republicans represent the majority of Wisconsin’s legislature, with 60 Republicans compared to 38 Democrats in the state Assembly, and 19 Republicans compared to 14 Democrats in the state Senate. However, according to the New York Times, “If Democrats do not return by Tuesday, taxpayers would lose an option to save [$165 million] through a ‘refinancing.'” However, the fact that taxpayers could lose the $165 million if the vote is avoided was never mentioned in Walker’s bill.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, Walker announced he would begin to lay off 1,500 employees later this week seeing as the Democrat senators failed to appear for the vote yesterday. But, regardless of Walker’s irrational and overreaching proposal against something that once drastically enhanced the workplace in the U.S., we urge Democrats to return to Wisconsin and carry out the vote in order to avoid either of these possibilities. If those opposed to Walker’s motion continue their protests, they will be heard eventually.
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