Collective Bargaining: Are Unions Going Away?

I flipped on the TV yesterday—and saw a mob protesting.

I immediately thought it was Libya, Tunisia, Iran or maybe a leftover shot of Egypt, but I was wrong.

It was WISCONSIN.

Things are coming to a head for cheeseheads—and now that unrest has spread to Ohio and other states that are grappling with how to balance their budgets and deal with HUGE deficits that are in large part due to pension and benefit packages for state employees—deals that in some cases are decades old. Although I have none of the in-depth knowledge to expound on this issue, it seems the Governor of Wisconsin is trying to bust the union that represents the state’s workers.

Here is a video of the protestors—mostly state employees in Wisconsin:




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XlUsoM4ruQ

Concessions need to be made—and the reports I have heard indicate that state workers in Wisconsin have at least agreed in principle to do so. At stake now is a bigger issue: the right for workers to engage in collective bargaining.

Seems to me that abolishing the right to collective bargaining is un-American. And that view comes from someone who is no real fan of labor unions.

My simplistic sequence for the emergence of labor unions goes something like this:

1) Big corporations abused workers for years, subjecting them to horrible wages, dangerous work conditions and obscene hours/workload—because they could.

2) The Labor movement reversed this balance of power, using the strength of numbers and the threat of work slowdowns or strikes to extract better wages and benefits. It worked.

3) Labor Unions, fully realizing their power—became the opposite but equivalent of the big corporations they detested---namely, they exhibited a greed and “no compromise” stance that has since driven the costs of labor to a point where American manufacturing has become uncompetitive in the world marketplace, causing the export of jobs overseas.

4) Smart companies have since created working conditions and benefit packages without coercion from labor to essentially negate the need for representation. These companies have adopted a “partnership-based” approach. Consequently, the private sector has seen union membership drastically decline. However, state and municipal employees and teachers unions have not seen such a precipitous reduction in union membership. A state or city is a monopoly of sorts. There is no incentive for productivity—and no consequences for those who fall short of performance expectations. Unions, in fact, abhor the industrious worker. That person makes everyone else look bad by comparison.

Am I leaving anything major out?

Labor unions—sometimes given credit for the American middle class—are now being seen by many Americans as a refuge for mediocre workers—at an ever-increasing cost.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is no fan of the unions. Trying to get agreement on a pay FREEZE, not reduction, in order to offset a huge deficit, he was told by the union(in his words) to “go to hell”. It is this attitude of digging in one’s heels that is turning American sentiment to become increasingly anti-union.

And that’s too bad.

It’s unfortunate that greedy companies forced the emergence of labor unions. Their past abuse of their workforces has now created an “us versus them” environment that inhibits productivity and increases costs. Christie says that up to 70% of the cost of a police officer in some New Jersey counties is made up of BEFEFITS.

Think about it. 70%! If a police officer’s salary is $40,000 (I have no idea what they are-maybe higher), then each officer costs the county government over $93,000 a year!

Health care, vacation and sick days (and their birthdays, which are a paid holiday negotiated by the union), pension and so on-----these are benefit levels that do not exist in the private sector—but are paid for by taxpayers who largely work in that private sector.

Teacher unions that protect ineffective teachers based only on seniority and lay off young, energetic and competent instructors for the same reason are doing our children a massive disservice. Wielding huge political power—usually benefitting Democratic candidates—they are unwilling to make concessions on the unreasonable packages that previous politicians capitulated to.

The chickens are coming home to roost.

No one knows what will happen in Wisconsin, but in all states where the state workers unions have bestowed upon their members a wage/benefit package that is unsustainable, that day of reckoning is fast approaching.

Collective bargaining?

Absolutely. The Governor of Wisconsin is off-base with his “ends justify the means” approach. However, both sides have to look at the private sector in order to offer their employees a package that is comparable and affordable. Changes need to be made to both the system—and to the attitudes of the participants. Operating from the hole can only exist for so long.

I believe that an independent arbitration board—using marketplace-derived formulas for calculating the value of services, cost of living and comparable costs—should be employed and that their decisions should be binding. This system removes political manipulation , plus the wage/benefit levels that are used for arriving at a fair employment package are both nonpartisan and objective. This system is transparent—and suddenly there is no “victim” in the process.

Is there a state legislature out there will to make this system or something similar a law?

If you’d like my blog in your box, just let me know: tim.moore@citcomm.com