22 states have right to work laws which prohibit state workers from forming unions and from collective bargaining. The states include Texas, Arizona, Michigan and Mississippi - all of which have budget problems.
There is no logical connection between taking away the right to collective bargaining and balancing a state budget. The only justification Wisconsin's Scott Walker, Ohio's John Kasich and other newly elected TP/GOP governors have for their current battle is an ideological justification. The most conservative members of the right want to break unions in the US. Public Service unions (SEUI for example) are the largest contributors to the Democratic Party and unions are historically,not sympathetic to Libertarian and corporatist philosophy.
The TP/GOP supports their efforts in part by repeating the mantra 'why should state workers get what you don't get, a right to bargain' Well, why shouldn't employees across the board have a greater voice in the terms of their employment? At-will employment when practiced egregiously allows for the termination of an employee for no reason at all. Corporatists, Libertarians and others on the far right are surely not sympathetic to alternative forms of corporate governance which would include broad representation of employees and citizens on corporate boards. These styles of governance are the norm in Germany and Japan - countries whose employment rates suffered far less in the recession then the US.
Yesterday I sent this message to Governor Kasich; "Before you trample on the rights of the state employee citizens of the State of Ohio consider these words of Abraham Lincoln: "Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration." To request concessions in compensation during troubled times is not unreasonable. To make that request when you have raised the wages of your cabinet AND when you want to end workers' right to collective bargaining is disgusting.
The salarymen and women of America must join their peers employed by states in protesting for their own employment rights.
There is no logical connection between taking away the right to collective bargaining and balancing a state budget. The only justification Wisconsin's Scott Walker, Ohio's John Kasich and other newly elected TP/GOP governors have for their current battle is an ideological justification. The most conservative members of the right want to break unions in the US. Public Service unions (SEUI for example) are the largest contributors to the Democratic Party and unions are historically,not sympathetic to Libertarian and corporatist philosophy.
The TP/GOP supports their efforts in part by repeating the mantra 'why should state workers get what you don't get, a right to bargain' Well, why shouldn't employees across the board have a greater voice in the terms of their employment? At-will employment when practiced egregiously allows for the termination of an employee for no reason at all. Corporatists, Libertarians and others on the far right are surely not sympathetic to alternative forms of corporate governance which would include broad representation of employees and citizens on corporate boards. These styles of governance are the norm in Germany and Japan - countries whose employment rates suffered far less in the recession then the US.
Yesterday I sent this message to Governor Kasich; "Before you trample on the rights of the state employee citizens of the State of Ohio consider these words of Abraham Lincoln: "Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration." To request concessions in compensation during troubled times is not unreasonable. To make that request when you have raised the wages of your cabinet AND when you want to end workers' right to collective bargaining is disgusting.
The salarymen and women of America must join their peers employed by states in protesting for their own employment rights.
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