“The Democratic Party is allied with the unions, a marriage of head and heart. Obama has promised to support the “card-check” legislation that the unions see as vital for expanding their membership and bargaining power. The state of American auto manufacturing — an example of union power in action — ought to give him pause. No doubt there is plenty of blame to go around for the mess that the industry is in….But on top of that, the unions raised wages and benefits to insupportable levels, and for years blocked efforts to cut costs and increase efficiency. Worst of all, by anointing themselves co-managers, they reduced the domestic industry’s ability to react promptly to shifts in demand. Is this how the Democratic Party intends to strengthen the economy?” — Clive Crook, writing in National Journal
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I believe that’s six labor-bashing posts in a row. Personally, I have mixed feelings on the subject, but I’m looking forward to a post on how the unions and the minimum wage brought Citibank to its knees.
Well, let me add an anecdotal 7th labor union observation:
My wife and I are teaching at a charter school. Even though it is in fact a public school, the entire staff opted out of union representation and so no one has tenure or union protection. The certified staff makes an average of 10-12 thousand dollars a year more than an identical counterpart at a “regular” public school (with union representation).
Last year one of the teachers was let go. Not because of incompetence but because of a very vocal and public disagreement about the direction of the school. The school board (a charter school has its own board) essentially told the teacher, “This is our school charter (plan) and since you don’t support it and in fact oppose some of it, then you are no longer employed here.” For some of the staff it was a bit disconcerting because they assumed that there was some sort of “unofficial tenure” in force.
For the rest of us, it was a silent celebration that a morale buzzkill was moving on to other places.
Do we live in fear of losing our jobs because of some personal vendettta by the board or principal? No. We are free to implement the charter’s goals in our classrooms in the best way we know possible. That is the reason we were hired. Do we miss the presence of the NEA affiliate orgainization? Not a bit.