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Posted by: Kim_Hamilton on 03/07/2011 10:13 AM
Updated by: Kim_Hamilton on 03/07/2011 10:13 AM
Expires: 01/01/2016 12:00 AM
:
Is Collective Bargaining a Right?~By Al Segalla
With the huge public sector retirement dilemma, most of the media and practically all unions now express the collective bargaining process as a “right”. However, the unions themselves used to disapprove of collective bargaining in the public sector. As an example, Arnold Zander, the Wisconsin union organizer who became the first president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, wrote in 1940 that AFSCME saw ....
"less value in the use of contracts and agreements in public service than . . . in private employment." Instead of collective bargaining, he explained, "our local unions find promotion and adoption of civil service legislation . . . the more effective way" to serve the interests of government employees.
Another example, In December 1955, in a New York Times Magazine essay on "Labor's Future," no less a union icon than AFL-CIO President George Meany wrote: "The main function of American trade unions is collective bargaining. It is impossible to bargain collectively with the government."
So it seems, at least in the public sector, there was a wide spread belief that there is no right to collective bargaining.
The question remains, is there a right to collective bargaining at all?
We seem to have two opposing viewpoints.
One is from the socialist or Marxist perspective that holds that the function of society or government is to provide for all the needs of the people, including health care, housing, food etc. So to them, the people have a right to these things as well as “collective bargaining”. In fact, the Soviet Constitution as well as the UN charter reflect this viewpoint. The leftist reasoning sees mankind in a constant struggle between the have’s and have not’s. They see Adam Smith, author of The Wealth of Nations (“The invisible hand”), wrong about the market being best at determining allocation of goods and services. They see the free market using up all natural resources, oppressing labor and destroying the planet. Yet, according to pollution records, the cleanest societies tend to be also the most free, as they have the wealth to invest in better technology.
The other perspective is the free market approach which seems to have a history of success. The legendary FA Hayek, writing in his classic book, The Road to Serfdom, pointed out that one of the fatal flaws of socialism is what he called the “Dilemma of the Commons”. An example of the dilemma is when buffalo were wild (owned in common), they almost vanished, however when they were privately owned, they flourished. The freedom approach holds that all people have three fundamental rights, which are: Life, Liberty and Property and these are natural and not “given” by government. The history of the last hundred years seems to show socialism a failure and the free market a huge success.
“Collective bargaining” would not be such a problem if it were not so coercive. The union has to force its members to join, use the dues for political purposes and threaten the members who do not agree to conform. Then bargaining with the employer is oriented to the group using political power bought with coercive dues. They are, many times, bargaining with their own elected politicians. Agreements such as these seem to have questionable validity and tend to plunder the taxpayer.
On the other hand, there is nothing wrong with employees voluntarily joining together in an association and promoting the interests of the membership.
What is often forgotten is that the employer must attract and keep valuable employees to survive. This means that when higher wages and benefits are needed they must be able to respond quickly. Sometimes lower wages are needed when conditions change. In either case, the employer must be able to deal with the individual employee and vice versa.
A responsible solution to the present crisis must involve ending “collective bargaining” in its current form, recognizing retirement funds as property belonging to the employee and making sure he or she has control of them.
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