When collective bargaining agreements (CBA) were signed into law during the 40’s, I’m not sure the enormous consequences of such were realized to the full. The repercussions, in particular, the public sector workforce, have been felt ever since. Collective bargaining, or as I like to refer to as the more appropriate ‘collective burdening’, has burdened the general public with added costs of everything from postage stamps to bus tickets and includes every service that government provides. In essence, CBA’s monopolized the workforce, allowing only organized labour access to government positions, therefore, government, itself a monopoly, is controlled by it’s staff and can do little to control costs, which escalate every time a new contract is signed and the next step is higher taxes to cover the increases. This cycle has been repeated over & over with no regard to affordability or feasibility, the taxpayer, you & I, have no say in the matter. Organized labour, or unions, are expert at organizing their members to do anything that will further the unions cause, which will in turn, benefit the workers in the form of monetary compensation & benefits that far exceed any comparable position in the private sector. Without a doubt, we owe much to the pioneers of the union movement, which brought about laws that protect us from unscrupulous employers and provided us with a safe working environment and fair pay. The unions of today bear little or no resemblance to the pioneers of the movement. Unions no longer have a cause, other than to maintain membership and dues that are a major source of their income. Unions have become an industry, as corporate as the companies they choose to exploit, their favorite targets being taxpayer funded services. They have corporate structure, staff with 6 figure salaries with offices to match, training and educational facilities to indoctrinate recruits in union philosophy. Unions can organize members to vote for approved candidates who are deemed ‘union friendly’ at election time. Unions, by definition, are philosophically bound to be counterproductive, more members = more union dues= less work per member, what could be more appealing? Unions protect their members, regardless of their work record or behavior, they pay dues…I feel very strongly that CBA legislation should not have included the public sector. My thoughts are that public funds (taxes) should only be used to fund essential services and should be delivered at the most economical cost possible to protect the taxpayer. What we have instead are government services supplied through a third party, that, at contract time, threatens to withdraw it’s labour if it’s demands are not met. We need to eliminate this unnecessary level of cost to ensure that the taxpayer pays wholesale, not retail, for services rendered.
April 6 2009