I am amazed at how many working stiffs are banding together with big business to destroy collective bargaining for the average working Joe and Jane. The powers that be have done a good job convincing folks that collective bargaining that is responsible for budget deficits in many states. The powers that be who are doing all of this convincing are some of the same folks, along with their rented politicians, who created the global financial meltdown that depleted the pension and 401k investments held by many cities and states. Yes, many cities and states invested heavily in the market and lost tons of money when the market went bust. Some of us have forgotten this; I don't know how, but we have.
It is amazing to see how the richest groups and corporations have pit workers against each other. I listen to call in shows and hear people complaining about their tax dollars going to pay bloated public sector union benefits. Some callers go so far as to say that those union workers should not get pensions because said callers do not get such benefits. ( What??!! Talk about crabs in a barrel!). We will complain about our tax dollars when it comes to our neighbors; we will even go so far as to deny them the opportunity to collective bargain. However, we not as vociferous and determined to end collective bargaining for the rich. Think about it. We, the little folks, union and non union workers are now paying off the reckless gambling debts of financial monopolies, and we NEVER demanded that they give up anything!!
All over this country states are telling the little people that we have to give up something; we have to sacrifice. So folks are giving up percentages of their pensions, heath care benefits, and wage increases, and many have done so as a collective.
What did the banksters give up? A few weeks after the bailout we were all jumping up and down because the banksters were still receiving their extravagant bonuses. Did not the banksters collective bargain? Of course they did. AIG did not come in front of congress to ask for money alone. Neither did Citibank, Bank of America, nor J.P. Morgan Chase. They knew better. No one would have entertained them had they come individually. Their recklessness would have cost them their businesses--as it should according to capitalism.
No, they came as a collective to bargain because they knew they stood a much better chance of getting what they wanted. GM, Ford, and Chrysler used collective bargaining as well. No one asked these multi-billion dollar entities (persons *sigh*) to give up anything. They weren't asked to liquidate any assets that many of them hold worldwide to bail themselves out.
So the have's do not have to sacrifice; they do not have to suffer the consequences of their actions, but this is not the case for the have nots: the average working Joe and Jane. No, we have to sacrifice and make concessions and submit our first born to corporate serfdom for generations to come. And yet, we blame our neighbors' use of collective bargaining for our ills and want a stop to it.
I don't care how you feel about unions. The issue of collective bargaining goes beyond unions. What is being considered (or attacked) is whether or not average working class citizens can negotiate or bargain as a collective with a powerful, and/or multi-million or billion dollar entity if they wish to do so.
Unions are not the only instances where Americans come together as a collective to bargain and negotiate. What about class action lawsuits where multiple injured parties come together to seek redress from an injury or death caused by a company's product or service? How long do you think the average working person would be able to successfully sue a large corporation for restitution on his own? I betcha not long.
In fact, we have recently seen the the U.S. Supreme Court place such limitations on class action suits that some political pundits are sounding a death knell for such suits.
(Google: ATT vs. Concepcion as well as Dukes vs. Walmart)
Neighborhood associations, block associations, community organizations, professional associations, trade associations, tenant associations, PTAs, these are all instances of people who bargain and negotiate as a collective. It doesn't matter that these organizations are not necessarily always negotiating salaries, health benefits, or safe working conditions. The point is is that they work as a collective because there is strength in numbers.
So some of us may want to rethink this zeal to end collective bargaining for unions, because it is likely that unions will not be the only ones deprived of such a valuable and useful tool.
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