The Incomplete Cynic

Michigan HB4465.

criticalconsciousness:

The Republican legislature in Michigan is trying to push through a truly frightening bill.  Basically, House Bill 4465 would punish striking teachers by revoking their license for two years. 

Honestly, there is no domestic issue that disgusts me more than this anti-union propaganda in 2011.  I guess the rich will be happy when 99% of the wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few individuals.  (We’re accelerating in that direction)

I’ll leave you with a few words from Republican Dwight Eisenhower:

“Workers have a right to organize into unions and to bargain collectively with their employers. And a strong, free labor movement is an invigorating and necessary part of our industrial society”

You’re right. If we allow the government to restrict the power of public-sector unions, all wealth in the country will be immediately and irrevocably absorbed by greedy rich folk. I’m glad you’ve pointed that out.

Workers have the right to organize and bargain with their employers. You seem to have forgotten, though (like many others) that in bargaining, both sides have rights. So employers have the right to refuse the contract terms offered by the union. They can propose their own nonnegotiables. In this case, the employer is setting up a consequence for choosing to go on strike: you can’t work here for two years.

The employers can do this because (a) the employees choose whether or not to go on strike with full knowledge of the likely consequence, and (b) they clearly have the upper hand in the situation, because there are more teachers than there are jobs.

If that situation changes, or the teachers are able to hold their members in check so they don’t cross picket lines when the state starts offering the jobs of the striking teachers, they would then have the power to return to the table and have the state eliminate that provision from the contract (or from the state books, in this case). Either way, they have to weigh the costs and benefits of striking and choose for themselves.