Showing posts with label teachers' unions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label teachers' unions. Show all posts

Sunday, April 20, 2014

Initial Reaction to Scott Walker's Public Sector Union Reform Proposals #2: Two Weeks In

Written on February 28th, 2011



   I think it's a valid point that public-sector unions have more leverage than private-sector unions because government is more likely to have a monopoly in the provision of services than in the market.

   Getting rid of collective bargaining rights for certain types of jobs is one way to address this problem.

   Another solution, and I think, a more libertarian solution, would be to undermine the government monopolies in the provision of such services.

   The only way to solve Wisconsin's union problem without destroying the unions themselves (keeping in mind that UW faculty and state health workers would lose their collective bargaining rights) is to encourage competition in the provision of those services which are typically provided by government.

   Make it easier for children to attend private schools, use private security agents as prison guards, repeal laws making it illegal for anyone to remove trash or recycling from people's homes except government employees.

   In other words, use the free market to solve the problem. I think getting rid of certain professions' collective bargaining rights is anti-libertarian, whereas continuing to allow them to retain such rights would be libertarian.


   If you've decided that competition is the best solution to all problems, you can't give Republicans a monopoly over political economy, you have to level the playing field for all parties involved, and may the best ideology win.


To see my first reaction, visit:
For more entries on social services, public planning, and welfare, please visit:
http://www.aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2014/05/taxpayer-funded-benefits-for.html

For more entries on unions and collective bargaining, please visit:
http://www.aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2014/04/on-monopoly-and-scott-walker-recall.html

For more entries on Wisconsin politics, please visit:
http://www.aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2014/04/is-scott-walker-fascist.html

For more entries on Wisconsin politics, please visit:
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Initial Reaction to Scott Walker's Public Sector Union Reform Proposals #1: Two Days In

Written on February 16th, 2011
Edited in April 2014



- Public employee unions could negotiate on wages: YES
- Public employee unions could not negotiate on health benefits or vacations: NO
- Public employee unions would have to negotiate every year, and wages would be frozen until a new contract is made: NO (I am open to the idea of making negotiations take place more often, but going from once every four years to annually seems drastic)
- Annual secret ballot on whether public employees want to stay unionized: YES
- Public employee unions could not get salary increases above the consumer price index except if approved by public referendum: NO
- Public employees would pay 5.8% more for their pensions and 12.6% for their health coverage: YES
- The State of Wisconsin would stop collecting dues for the public employee unions: NO
- Home health care and family child care workers would no longer have the authority to collectively bargain: NO
- UW Hospitals and Clinics employees and UW faculty and academic staff would no longer have the authority to collectively bargain: NO
- Public employees could opt out of union dues-paying if they wish: YES
- Wisconsin would not become a right-to-work state for all areas of employment: NO
- State and local employees would have the right to refuse to join unions: YES
- Use the National Guard to suppress strikes which disrupt state services such as prisons: YES
- Fire 6,000 state employees if the measure does not pass: NO
- Fire the striking teachers and the missing Democratic legislators: No Opinion



If I were running Wisconsin:

- All union collective bargaining would be free, open-ended, and frequent

- All types of employees would retain the authority to collectively bargain

- Public employee unions would have the responsibility to collect their own dues without help from the state government

- Individual employees would be free to choose whether to join unions and pay dues to them, joining a union would never be a precondition for employment, and refusal to join a union would never be a legitimate reason to fire an employee; arguments about free-rider problems are invalid because the notion that increased benefits are inherently good can be questioned - increased benefits can impede incentive to hire

- Prison employee strikes and strikes in situations in which strikes could undermine public safety would be suppressed by the National Guard if necessary
To see my next reaction, visit:
For more entries on social services, public planning, and welfare, please visit:
http://www.aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2014/05/taxpayer-funded-benefits-for.html

For more entries on unions and collective bargaining, please visit:
http://www.aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2014/04/on-monopoly-and-scott-walker-recall.html

For more entries on Wisconsin politics, please visit:
at No comments:
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