Nearly overnight unions became the scapegoat for all of the budget problems in the United States. Ten states are trying to weaken the power of unions and in turn force union members to pay part of their health care and retirement benefits. Naturally union members are fighting back, and making a whole lotta people mad in the mean time. The question arising, is anyone really surprised that the unions are fighting back? After all, isn’t fighting what the unions are all about? In fact weren’t they actually created to fight?
A Brief History of Unions
One might say that unions are as American as apple pie. They have been around since the Civil War during the late 1800’s. The unions were created to promote safe work environments for all employees and a fair wage for everyone. Typically during the Industrial Revolution people who worked for the lowest wages were hired first. Hours were out of control! People often put in 80 hours per week and even children were subjected to the harsh working conditions. Unions entered the stage as a way to communicate between the wealthy owners of the corporations and the large group of poor workers. The unions gained more steam during the years when the railroads were being built. The Railroad Brotherhood helped to span unions across the entire United States. Unions were strong during the early 1900’s. The 1930’s, enter here, the Great Depression would have thought to be the killer for the unions. How would unions stay organized when unemployment was around 25%? Unions did stay afloat and even gained strength during the Great Depression. 1935 marked the year when workers were given the right to collectively bargain. Collective bargaining is the way that workers and their employers negotiate working conditions, wages, health care, safe working conditions, and overtime. Collective bargaining is what some states are trying to take away from their public employees.
Can’t We Just All Get Along?
Probably not. Collective bargaining is what unions have fought for since the Civil War Era. For better or for worse they will stand up for their workers. Governors of many tight budget states are calling these union members greedy. When was the last time you heard the term “Greedy Teacher” before the past few weeks? Chances are not often. The truth of the matter is that most union members are teachers or police officers. I ask you governors, do you really want to take on those who care for your children and protect your streets? These people are undoubtedly pretty important members of your society. Important, yes, but revered? Not right now. These public servants, as they are referred to when they are not fighting massive budget cuts are actually very popular within our societies. They are appreciated because they work for relatively low pay, and do a relatively good job. However, many now are asked to give more. Teachers are the primary focus of the cuts in most states. They are being required to pay as much as 30% of their health care, and also pay part of their retirement benefits. Arguably many private sector workers already do this, but they weren’t promised otherwise before. Interestingly it has been sold to police and teachers that they don’t get a lot of pay, but they do receive good benefits. Now they are being asked to give this up.
Opponents of the unions and collective bargaining are feeling frustrated by the inability to fire bad teachers due to union protection. Fewer than 1% of teachers are fired nationwide each year, suggesting that maybe it is difficult to fire a teacher, especially a unionized teacher. Unionized teachers do make significantly more than teachers in states that do not have strong unions. Angry citizens also point out that higher paid teachers are not achieving higher test scores. Funding education is an interesting beast in this country. It is part Federal, part State funded. Many teachers are represented by unions. In short…it’s complicated, and not about to get any easier. If you google Roosevelt and collective bargaining thousands of hits come up urging that Roosevelt in fact did NOT support collective bargaining for public employees. He only supported it for the private sector jobs. Nonetheless his name is synonymous with unions and collective bargaining. So if he didn’t support collective bargaining for public employees then no one must.
Reactions?
Ultimately I am interested in opinions. I know what my opinion is, but it often wavers. What I know for sure is that eventually Wisconsin will settle this fight. Union members will stop living at the Capitol and teachers will go back to work. The dust will settle and everyone will do their jobs. Society will return to normal…until next year’s budget discussion. The question remains, if you were being asked to give up what the teachers in these ten states are being asked to give up would you fight back or accept that your company is experiencing “budget issues?”
Go to http://thevotereffect.com/ to weigh in on this issue and more. Revolutionizing the way that you interact with your legislators! Check it out now!
Go to http://thevotereffect.com/ to weigh in on this issue and more. Revolutionizing the way that you interact with your legislators! Check it out now!
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