Mish had a great post today on the problem with collective bargaining, that thing which the Unions in Wisconsin are throwing toddler-style temper tantrums about…

Collective Bargaining neither a Privilege nor a Right

The battle cry from Wisconsin is a union complaint that their “right” to collective bargaining has been taken away. Nothing could be further from the truth. You cannot take away something that does not exist and never did.

Please consider this simple sentence straight from the Declaration of Independence.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Public unions take away those “unalienable rights” via collective bargaining arrangements.

Five Ways Collective Bargaining Tramples Various Unalienable Rights

1. Collective bargaining agreements take away the right of individuals to pursue a career of their dreams void of union affiliation
2. Collective bargaining agreements force individuals into organizations against the free of those members
3. Collective bargaining agreements force union dues out of members who do not even want to belong
4. Collective bargaining agreements dictate what members can and cannot do with their free time.
5. Collective bargaining agreements even dictate what non-members can and cannot do with their free time!

Example of Point Number Four

Union firefighters are frequently prohibited from being volunteer fire department workers for their city.

Example of Point Number Five

Union rules prohibit volunteers from helping schools paint, trim shrubbery, answer phones, clean blackboards, etc. The absurdity of such pro-union, anti-taxpayer arrangements should be self-evident.

Right to Pursue Happiness

Unions have no right to deprive others of their “unalienable right” to pursue happiness.

If it makes people happy to volunteer time, that “unalienable right” must not be stripped away by unions or politicians and their self-serving goals.

The alleged collective bargaining “rights” of unions were attained over the years via tactics of coercion, bribery, fear-mongering, and vote-buying. Regardless of how attained, even in good-faith, politicians have no right to take away “unalienable Rights”.

Unions insist they won the rights to collective bargaining through negotiation. That is as impossible as whites negotiating rights to own blacks or to tell blacks where they can sit on a bus.

There is no right or even privilege that can make people slaves. There is no right or privilege to tell people what they can or cannot do with their free time. There is no right or privilege to collect dues from members forced into an organization against their will. There is no right or privilege that can force someone into a union, otherwise stripping them of the ability to pursue the career of their dreams.

Categories: Gov't Workers & Unions

Tags: Collective Bargaining, Public Employee Unions, Public Unions, Union Dues, Wisconsin