"Collective Bargaining is not a Right"

~by Deloras Vind

Collective bargaining for public employees is not a right. Collective bargaining is a privilege, a benefit, a collection of work rules, it is a special power granted by the legislature to some government unions. These rules are often negotiated to the detriment of taxpayers who are being swindled by a system in which their interests come second. The unions use coerced dues and over priced health insurance moneys to elect officials who in turn grant the unions even more power.

A few examples of the insanity of collective bargaining benefits to Wisconsin public employees:

1. On a state level, the Department of Corrections allows correctional workers who call in sick to collect overtime if they work a shift on the exact same day. Cost to Wisconsin taxpayers $4.8 million.

2. Management is not allowed to schedule workers based on operational needs. Unions require notice and approval prior to employee scheduling changes. Government cannot explore privatization of functions that could save taxpayers money.

3. Many school districts participate in WEA trust which is a union run cadillac health insurance plan. Union leadership benefits from members participating in this over priced plan. Wisconsin school districts could save up to up to $68 million per year by changing to the State plan. Even more could be saved if districts shopped around per flexibility of the Budget Repair Bill.

4. Employment based on seniority rather than performance. Employees laid off may bump less senior employees. Several years ago, bumping led to five employees moving into different positions at the Trempealeau County Courthouse, each having to learn new jobs. This decreases government efficiency to the community and increases costs.

5. Retirement is based on average of last three years pay. Employees game the system by working overtime, adding state programs to base wage, etc to stack retirement benefits.

Gov. Scott Walker’s budget repair bill does not infringe on public employees right to associate and lobby government. It does give public employees freedom to choose not to join a union and be able keep their job at the same time. It tells government unions to collect their own union dues instead of using the power of the state to withhold them directly from employee paychecks. It stops the entitlement mentality of collective bargaining and restores sanity to government for the taxpayer.