Bob Southard lives in the southern part of NH and is a small business owner:
I was listening to a local talk show while driving in my car the other day and the conversation was about public employees, unions and “collective bargaining”. One misinformed caller to talk about Republicans attacking the practice of Collective Bargaining.
The host, being a nice, polite man, probably missed an opportunity to point out the simple truth to a misguided caller:
“The problem is there is no "collective bargaining." Public sector unions are a client of a Democratic bureaucracy that wants their vote. The taxpayer – the "employer" – isn’t a player in the bargaining process.”
I took the above quote from a blog post here: There is no such animal as collective bargaining when it comes to public employees and unions. Period!
I always knew that FDR (no conservative himself) warned about allowing public employees to unionize. Even George Meaney, the first President of the AFL-CIO warned stridently about this. Here’s an excerpt of FDR’s own written words:
"… Meticulous attention should be paid to the special relationships and obligations of public servants to the public itself and to the government. All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service. It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations … The very nature and purposes of Government make it impossible for … officials … to bind the employer … The employer is the whole people, who speak by means of laws enacted by their representatives …”
"Particularly, I want to emphasize my conviction that militant tactics have no place in the functions of any organization of government employees. Upon employees in the federal service rests the obligation to serve the whole people … This obligation is paramount … A strike of public employees manifests nothing less than an intent … to prevent or obstruct … Government … Such action, looking toward the paralysis of Government … is unthinkable and intolerable."
This is at the heart of whether we are going to continue as a strong and vital democracy fighting for individual liberty or sink into financial chaos. There IS no more pressing issue at work all across America today and I know you sense this. Please let your listeners know what FDR and the AFL-CIO’s first President knew about public employee unions.
They will destroy us from within if we sit silently and do nothing.
