Weekly Opinion Editorial
UNIONS WILL NOT GO GENTLY INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT!
by Steve Fair
On
the November ballot in the state of Michigan
is a proposal called ‘Protect our jobs.”
In a process not unlike Oklahoma’s
initiative petition process, the unions in Michigan gathered sufficient voters’ signatures
to get the state question on the ballot.
If Proposition #2 is approved, it would prevent Michigan from considering right-to-work
legislation. It would also guarantee
public employees the right to collective bargaining.
*****
On
the Protect our Jobs website, (http://protectourjobs.com/)there are seven things enumerated the proposal
would do if approved. One would prohibit
employers from retaliating against their employees for exercising their rights
to organize or join a labor union. With
the exception of one, the other six are currently a violation of federal labor
law . The one that is not federal law is
the guaranteeing of ‘public employees’ the right to collective bargain.
*****
“Protect
our jobs” is a reaction by labor unions to what happened in Wisconsin last year when Republican Governor
Scott Walker signed a bill that eliminated collective bargaining for public
workers in his state. Last week, a
county judge in Madison, Wisconsin overturned the law. In his opinion, Judge Juan Colas also said
the law violates the equal protection clause by creating separate classes of
workers who are treated differently and unequally. This ruling was not unexpected and Governor
Walker has already stated it will be appealed.
*****
Kristine
Michaelson, an RN and a member of the Michigan Nurse’s union is an advocate for
public employee’s unions and says on the POJ’s website; “Collective bargaining is what built this country and collective
bargaining is what has obtained a lot of benefits for people that they don’t
even realize. The 15-minute break – that is not a law; that has been
negotiated. People died to have the weekends off, they died for the 8-hour day.
And a lot of these things that have been fought for many, many years ago are
being lost and just taken away in the blink of an eye.”
*****
Humm!
Did our founding fathers and other ‘heros proved in liberating strife’ die for
the fifteen minute break as Nurse. Michaelson states? To even address the absurdity of the
statement seems a waste of time, but the rights in the U.S. Constitution do not
include the guarantee of a job to every person.
The
Constitution doesn’t guarantee any American the right to a job that pays you
what you think you are worth. It
guarantees Americans the liberty and opportunity to place their skills into the
marketplace where they are brought and sold.
*****
As
a wise man once told me, “We all work for ourselves. If we don’t like our job
or the wages, we can always quit and find someone who will pay for our
services.” No truer words were ever
spoken. I realize that is a lot easier
said than done. Most people stay in
their dead-end jobs because of fear. They are unwilling to take the risk of not
having a job. Some employers take
advantage of those people and underpay them. But the truth is, those tyrannical short-sighted
employers ultimately reap what they sow in lost productivity.
*****
Mistreating
of employees was the reason came into existence. In the late nineteen century, employers were
mistreating workers(long hours/low wages) and there was no government
oversight- no federal labor laws. Disgruntled employees organized and
negotiated with their bosses for better wages and working conditions- including
the 15 minute break. Initially labor unions
made a difference and working conditions and wages improved. But unions have long since outlived their
usefulness. Most of the gains unions
helped workers achieve during their inception are now federal law. Many large unions now exist only to protect
lazy member workers who are the least productive from getting fired.
*****
But
big labor will not go down without a fight.
Now, their battleground is to work to protect public employees, who are
already protected by federal law and who work for the taxpayer. They fight
right-to-work laws- which give the worker the choice as to whether they join
a union or not. Unions know that without
mandatory compulsion membership, they would die. They use union dues to support the liberal left agenda and give overwhelmingly to Democrats.
*****
Governor Mitt Romney says, “Workers
should have the right to join unions. But unions should not be forced upon
workers. And unions should not have the power to take money our of their
members' paychecks to buy the support of politicians that are favored by the
union bosses.”
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