In States without Collective Bargaining Workers Get a Raw Deal

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/mike-friends-blog/in-states-without-collective-bargaining

March 14th, 2011 7:50 PM

By Leah Fried

As northern states like Wisconsin seek to eliminate collective bargaining rights for public service workers we should examine what it’s like to work in states that don’t have this basic human right. While right wing pundits declare how great it is to work without collective bargaining, the reality is workers and working class communities are getting a raw deal.

You Can’t F ight City Hall- Unless You Have a Union

With states looking to balance their budgets in the wake of a Wall Street triggered recession, the path of least resistance is take aways from regular working folk and the services we depend on like schools, hospitals and road maintenance. It’s the second round of taxpayer bailout for business. Corporate America is well unionized with Chamber of Commerce and Industry Associations lobbying hard and cutting deals in their interest. Yet those public employees without collective bargaining rights are completely alone- by law!

The right to bargain a contract goes beyond fighting poverty among state workers. We know that a union contract means a better wage. For example, there are currently 11 states that ban collective bargaining for teachers; in those states that allow collective bargaining for teachers salaries are 9.5% higher. But it also provides a roadblock to the corporate takeover of government services and service cuts to vulnerable communities who otherwise have no voice. Privatization is a top goal of corporations who look at spending on schools, hospitals, and road maintenance and see easy profit. The government spending on schools alone reached $562 billion in 2007. Without public employee contracts requiring equality in treatment who will prevent discriminatory budget cuts like we’ve seen in North Carolina -- a state without collective bargaining rights? In North Carolina the state has gone after communities of color disproportionately -- cutting jobs and services. Hospitals that serve and employ a majority-white population have seen far fewer cuts than hospitals that are majority-African American by a ratio of 2:1.

Bans on Collective Bargaining Violate International Law

In 1959 an all white state legislature passed North Carolina’s General Statue 95-98 which makes it illegal for state and local governments to enter into collective bargaining agreements with workers. It was at the height of the Jim Crow south that this basic human right was stripped of public employees in North Carolina. The law was enacted under the right to work law supported by southern segregationists.

FULL story at link.