Collective Bargaining
Essay by people • February 5, 2012 • Essay • 445 Words (2 Pages) • 1,763 Views
Collective bargaining is when public employees can get together and negotiate with their employers on the terms of their working conditions. Employees are often represented in bargaining by a union or other labor organization. Collective bargaining is governed by federal laws, and judicial decisions. The republican governor of Wisconsin and other leaders in other states would like to eliminate the collective bargaining by unions. Democrats in the states say that the Republicans are union busting and I agree. Collective bargaining allows workers to negotiate working conditions, helps them bargain on wages so they can keep up with the cost of living in America, and allows workers to ask for legitimate rights.
By eliminating collective bargaining Walker is taking away public employees working conditions leaving them with no say on how their lives will be impacted on the decisions the government will try and make. Without the rights to negotiate public workers will be forced to follow whatever the federal government wants them to do without the right to counter offer or make suggestions.
Cost of living keeps going up in America with the economy and gas prices. Public employers like teachers have a set salary, prices continue to go up and teachers are left to fend for themselves. With collective bargaining unions are able to negotiate how much they should be paid and when bounces and raises are necessary. Teachers depend on the government to take care of insurance and things of that nature, so with Walker trying to make cuts and take away collective bargaining he will be cutting out insurance for teachers and not giving them raises. No one can live off of those standards with this type of economy and with the prices of gas.
Having unions are a basic right that workers have lobbied for since the 1800s. By trying to take unions away, everything that people have worked for will be flushed down the drain. Unions are essential for public employees to have their rights and to maintain a balance of power between the federal government and employees.
Walker says that by doing the cuts and getting rid of unions for the public workers it would save a lot of money in the future. Republicans are trying to cut collective bargaining completely and not leave any room for negotiations. This would be a very bad deal for union workers all over.
Collective bargaining is needed for keeping the balance of power between employees and employers. It's a basic right that hard working people have worked for since big businesses have started. Workers should have a say on how things will affect their lives and what is going to happen in the long run.
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