Why We Need Unions
February 19th, 2011
On the surface, it sounds appealing: force government employees to chip in more towards their health insurance and retirement funds in order to slash out-of-control spending in these trying times. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker claims that it’s all part of a promise to voters to trim the budget and cut the fat. But what’s really at stake in the bill pushed by Walker is collective bargaining rights, and without those, unions are basically powerless.
These rights allow employees to form a powerful coalition when negotiating fair terms with employers. Without them, each employee would have to negotiate terms on a one-on-one basis. That might be okay if you’re an employee who is working in the private sector where raises and other benefits are either based on performance or at the discretion of the employer. But in this case, it is public employees and what’s at stake is so much more. Collective bargaining rights on the part of unions are responsible for those employee rights that many of us who are not in a union take for granted: 40-hour work weeks, paid overtime, paid sick leave, paid vacation and holidays, safe working environments, and the right to file for workers compensation should we get injured on the job.
Doing away with collective bargaining rights would also lay the groundwork for the disbandment of unions, which is always in an employer’s favor. For example, unions would no longer be able to charge union dues, but rather would have to rely on yearly votes in order to stay organized. Government and public workers would also be denied cost-of-living raises based on inflation, leaving this up to the voters instead.
As leverage to get what he wants, Gov. Walker has promised not to layoff state employees — if they cooperate and agree to pay up to half of the costs of their pensions, a higher percentage of their health care costs, and forgo their collective bargaining rights. But if the protests don’t stop and the employees don’t get back to work, he intends to lay off more than 6,000 state workers. Gov. Walker claims that Wisconsin’s budget is $3.6 billion in the hole and that this bill will save taxpayers $300 million over the next two years, but there may be other motivations at work.
For one thing, Republicans have never liked unions, their stance being that one ought to be grateful just to have a job. And this bill will greatly weaken the power of unions. Without collective bargaining rights, a union is basically impotent.
For another, unions overwhelmingly support Democrats. Without union dues, there is no money, and that’s one way to underfund Democratic candidates.
In addition, police, state troopers and firefighters — groups that tend to vote overwhelmingly Republican and who backed Gov. Walker in the election – are not part of this targeted bill. But teachers, once a grossly underpaid group until teacher unions and who are often a target of Republicans, are. And so are other local, county and state employees.
According to the Wisconsin State Journal, Gov. Walker’s claims of a budget crunch may be more fluff than substance. The paper contends that Wisconsin has a budget surplus this year, and Walker is merely spending lavishly on special interest groups who are allies of his administration in order to create a budget crisis and push through his agenda. This fear mongering on the governor’s part may be politically short-sighted in the long run, however, given the wave of protests from teachers and other public employees. What the Republicans win today when it comes to labor, may cost them in the voting booth tomorrow.
Tough times call for tough decisions. Sometimes you have to tighten your belt and this might be one of those times. If public employees have to do without raises and pay more towards their pension fund and health care, then this may be a period in our history when we must all come together for the greater good.
But no public employee should be forced to abandon their collective bargaining rights. Without them, we could go back to the days when teachers could barely make ends meet, employees had to work in unsafe conditions, and no one was entitled to workers compensation as a result of an employer’s neglectfulness.
In addition, unions are good for the middle class who carry this country. Even without this proposed law of Gov. Walker’s, unions have fallen out of favor in recent years, resulting in shrinking wages for the middle class, while the rich keep getting richer. According to Gerald McEntee, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, “Plans are being put into place to silence workers, lower their wages, cut their benefits and increase the likelihood that they will suffer injuries and fatalities at work. It is happening at a breakneck pace and too little attention is being paid.”
It is predicted that Gov. Walker will win in his battle with public employees in Wisconsin. And his victory will embolden other Republican governors who also plan to target the collective bargaining rights of their states’ public workers. But just as in Egypt, the protests in Wisconsin also promise to spread to other states, as evidenced in Columbus, Ohio.
Unions may lose this battle — today. But they may not lose the war. Alarmed by the growing anti-union sentiment, many unions plan to spend big bucks on ads to educate the public on the role of unions and how gains for unions ultimately result in gains for all employees, both in the private and public sectors.
Until then, we can expect our schools, our children, and our government services to pay the price of a diminished workforce.