Revisiting Of Collective Bargaining

1457 Words6 Pages

The case for the revisiting of collective bargaining rights of the union workers and the need for government to respect this right and not strip them of this right. Workers welfare is their right and the government is supposed to do the needful to protect and preserve it for. Union workers have the right to reject any program adopted by the government that serves against their collective interest.

Collective Bargaining

Collective bargaining is the negotiation process that takes place between an employer and a group of employees when certain issues arise. The employees rely on a union member to represent them during the bargaining process, and the negotiations often relate to regulating such issues as working conditions, employee safety, training, …show more content…

A state’s governor or a city’s mayor could be held responsible for the successful operation of the government, with no excuse that the bureaucracy was working against him. But under that system, jobs did not always attract the best people, in part because government workers could be fired for partisan political reasons. The civil service system was intended to put the best-qualified people in government jobs and protect them from unfair labor practices. Over time, though, government employees came to see the advantage of combining civil service protections with unionization: Then they could not be fired except under extreme circumstances, and their political clout (including money from forced union dues) made it possible for them to, in effect, hire their own bosses. This law as it is being threatened by the case below. In 1932, a small group of Wisconsin state workers organized in depression-stricken Madison to “promote, defend and enhance the civil service system,” and to spread the gospel of civil service throughout the country. Their creation, the Wisconsin State Employees Union/Council 24, was soon rechristened the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), and in 1936 it received a charter from the American Federation of Labor (AFL). Public-sector unionism was …show more content…

A press release from the Governor’s office explained that “the budget repair bill gives state and local governments the tools to manage spending reductions through changing some provisions of the state’s collective bargaining laws.” The state’s civil service system, among the strongest in the country, would not be changed, and state and local employees could continue to bargain for base pay. But they would not be able to bargain over other compensation measures.

Other reforms included an end to the collection of union dues by state and local governments; the option for each employee to opt out of paying union dues; a one-year limit on contracts; and a requirement for annual certification of union representation by secret ballot. Under the Governor Walker’s plan, wage increases would not exceed a cap based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) unless the voters agreed through a referendum. In exchange for these reforms, Governor Walker promised not to lay off any state