As firefighters and police officers are not permitted to strike against the public welfare, so health care workers should also not be permitted to strike. One can imagine the ensuing chaos and destruction that would occur if police and firefighters went on strike. One can also imagine how patients in hospitals and other health care facilities would suffer if their care givers decided en masse not to show up for work.
Yet, about 20,000 health care workers at ten University of California hospitals are planning to walk off their jobs. They are members of Local 3299 of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees union. They plan on striking for two days in an effort to increase their wages and benefits. Just imagine what may happen to patients during those two days!
The University of California has correctly asked the state’s Labor Board to issue a temporary restraining order against the union.
It is remarkable that health care workers would place a higher value on wages and benefits than on human life. One wonders if such people should even be employed by health care facilities.
The Transport Workers Union, seemingly unaware of the big economic picture, has rejected a perfectly reasonable contract proposal offered by American Airlines. The union seems to be unaware that the airline industry is suffering a loss of passengers while having its profits slashed by high oil prices. In addition, AA already provides the highest salaries in the airline industry, plus a highly generous profit-sharing plan. The airline addressed all of the union’s issues and offered generous increases in vacation time, holidays, sick leave, and salaries for all employees represented by the TWU. In addition, it substantially increased the level of profit sharing for employees. Is it any wonder that so many workers in the airline industry are envious of American Airlines employees?
Not willing to say yes to such a generous offer, some union officials rejected the offer before even permitting TWU members to vote on the contract. According to an article in the Dallas Morning News, the members of the TWU Negotiating Committee voted to reject AA’s offer without giving the union’s members an opportunity to vote. Would the members have thoughtfully voted to approve it? Is that what worried the union? The TWU said that the airline put a time limit on voting for the contract. In that case, why not negotiate the time limit, so that that all workers would have an opportunity to vote?
If the airlines are to avoid being permanently grounded, they must be permitted to operate profitably without being shackled by unreasonable union demands.
Democrats believe they can taste victory, and organized labor believes that when the Democrats control both houses of Congress and the Executive branch, they will shout hosannas as the Employee Free Choice Act becomes law. Card Checks, as it is commonly known, will then permit union organizers to do end-runs around secret-ballot elections and sign up one union member after another. This would truly revolutionize the union movement, taking it out of the doldrums and making it a powerful anti-business force at a time when Corporate America is fighting the effects of a stagnant economy.
The Card check concept was a clever idea born of union frustration. The Democrats have signed on to supporting it while criticizing NAFTA. If organized labor were to choose a symbol, at this time, it would be a Cheshire cat, grinning from ear to ear.
In 2003, 2005, and 2007, the Employee Free Choice was defeated. In 2009, union organizers expect to pop champagne corks as it becomes law.
To ensure such a pro-union outcome, the AFL-CIO has earmarked $360-million to elect Democrats this year. Its campaign is called Change to Win. Some union officials are ironically concerned that the NLRB will not be able to keep up with validating all the new unions and union members.
Corporate America is now poised on the edge of a precipice, as is a democratic tradition: the secret ballot.
There was a time when unions were ostensibly concerned with the welfare of their workers. Their focus was invariably on wages and benefits.
Yet, in California, unionized longshoremen called a halt to their work to focus on the war in Iraq. One can only wonder if the State Department took notice of this unusual contribution to America’s foreign policy?
The longshoremen apparently not satisfied with issues that affect their work decided to indulge in a walkout to protest the war. Pity the poor truckers who then arrived to pick up goods that that had been unloaded from ships. Are unionized truckers to be paid by their employers for sitting around unable to load their trucks?
One can only wonder what the ulterior motive of such a walkout was? Could it have been an effort to focus attention on the presidential race? Were the longshoremen reinforcing the message that Barrack Obama will not only renegotiate NAFTA, but also pull our troops out Iraq? If so, unions have wasted the wages paid by employers on political events that have nothing to do with workplace issues.