Collective Bargaining For Government Unions

Blog editor
It seems to me that with all that is taking place with public labor unions, we need to start a conversation on how we got here and how we can solve the problem.  From Wisconsin to New Jersey, unions are protesting their state governments cuts relating to benefits.The labor  movement viewed unions as a vehicle to get workers more of the profits they  helped create. However government workers do not generate profits. They merely negotiate for more benefits, higher pay, that is to be paid with our tax dollars.
 Government collective bargaining means voters do not have the final say on public policy. Instead, their elected officials negotiate spending and policy decisions with the unions.  Unions  contribute heavily to their candidates of choice to further their political interests. The same candidates also represent their local constituents, who don't have the same buying power as the unions. They lies the problem with government-based unions. Unions hold the upper hand because they contribute larger amounts than the individual can. This is not democratic.
 Through the 1950s, unions  agreed that collective bargaining had no place in government. In 1959,  Wisconsin began to allow collective bargaining  in government. Now unions can insist on laws that serve their interest at the expense of the common good.
 In New Jersey, the average  public worker earns about $60,000 a year and contributes about $900 of that toward health care, regardless of their plan. Under the new system that same worker would contribute about $2056 for single coverage and $3230 for a family plan. They would also be asked to increase their pension contributions by 1% of their salary. This bill is now in the works and is opposed by the unions. 
  Things seem to be heating up as Communications Workers of America vice president Chris Shelton referred Thursday to the governor as "Adolph Christie" and to the Democratic leaders of the Legislature as Nazi generals. Shelton addressed 3500 union members in Trenton protesting legislation supported by Christie and the Legislatures Democratic leadership.
 Teachers union contracts make it next to impossible to root out and awards excellent teachers or fire failing ones. Union contracts give government employees gold-plated benefits at the cost of higher taxes and less spending on other priorities. There is no legitimate reason for public-sector unions to exist, especially when they work against the best interest of the American people.
 At some point, the unions will have to understand that in a time with budgets being cut from local, state, federal and personal, sacrifices will have to be made by all persons involved. This just does not mean only the taxpayers, both private sector and individuals, make all the sacrifices. We have to get our house in order.


Samuel Burns


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FDR warned against collective bargaining for government unions (read his 1937 letter)
August 16, 1937 | Franklin Delano Roosevelt


My dear Mr. Steward:
As I am unable to accept your kind invitation to be present on the occasion of the Twentieth Jubilee Convention of the National Federation of Federal Employees, I am taking this method of sending greetings and a message.
Reading your letter of July 14, 1937, I was especially interested in the timeliness of your remark that the manner in which the activities of your organization have been carried on during the past two decades "has been in complete consonance with the best traditions of public employee relationships." Organizations of Government employees have a logical place in Government affairs.
The desire of Government employees for fair and adequate pay, reasonable hours of work, safe and suitable working conditions, development of opportunities for advancement, facilities for fair and impartial consideration and review of grievances, and other objectives of a proper employee relations policy, is basically no different from that of employees in private industry. Organization on their part to present their views on such matters is both natural and logical, but meticulous attention should be paid to the special relationships and obligations of public servants to the public itself and to the Government.
All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service. It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations when applied to public personnel management. The very nature and purposes of Government make it impossible for administrative officials to represent fully or to bind the employer in mutual discussions with Government employee organizations. The employer is the whole people, who speak by means of laws enacted by their representatives in Congress. Accordingly, administrative officials and employees alike are governed and guided, and in many instances restricted, by laws which establish policies, procedures, or rules in personnel matters.
Particularly, I want to emphasize my conviction that militant tactics have no place in the functions of any organization of Government employees. Upon employees in the Federal service rests the obligation to serve the whole people, whose interests and welfare require orderliness and continuity in the conduct of Government activities. This obligation is paramount. Since their own services have to do with the functioning of the Government, a strike of public employees manifests nothing less than an intent on their part to prevent or obstruct the operations of Government until their demands are satisfied. Such action, looking toward the paralysis of Government by those who have sworn to support it, is unthinkable and intolerable. It is, therefore, with a feeling of gratification that I have noted in the constitution of the National Federation of Federal Employees the provision that "under no circumstances shall this Federation engage in or support strikes against the United States Government." successful.
I congratulate the National Federation of Federal Employees the twentieth anniversary of its founding and trust that the convention will, in every way, be successful.
Very Sincerely Yours,
(FDR)