Should Legislature's employees be unionized?

[TexasTowelie]

Last edited Mon Jan 29, 2018, 10:15 AM - Edit history (1)

Four-plus decades ago, the Legislature and Jerry Brown, then in the first stages of his two-part governorship, decreed that public employees had the right to join unions and bargain for salaries and other working conditions.

The argument for extending collective bargaining rights to state and local government workers, including teachers, was that they should have the same rights as other wage earners.

It was and is, however, a questionable rationale, because public employees differ markedly from those in the private sector.

For one thing, they already had civil service status, which was not changed when collective bargaining was enacted.

Read more: http://napavalleyregister.com/news/opinion/columnists/dan-walters/dan-walters-should-legislature-s-employees-be-unionized/article_5175b763-9d2e-57fc-90e3-c58e84db6275.html

[JayhawkSD]

1. Only in California.

The man gives several reasons why unionization of public sector workers is questionable, and then says that those who work directly for legislators should be added to the ranks of public sector unions.

Regardless of whether or not one agrees with his opening that public sector unions are not a good idea, saying that something is not good is a poor way to argue for expanding it. "This is not a good idea, so lets make it bigger."

Unfortunately, in California, this is usually a winning argument.