Opinion: Democrats unfairly circumvent the system in Wisconsin public union votes
I’m confused over the ethics involved in the controversy over legislation, now underway in several states, that will weaken or eliminate collective bargaining rights of public unions.
Union officials support the move of Democrats in Wisconsin, who somehow feel justified in circumventing the political process they took an oath to uphold. Now I’m sure there were opponents to the legislation that gave public unions the right to collectively bargain back in 1961. Did those opponents avoid the “table?” Apparently they did not.
It seems public unions, which spent more than 100 million dollars in a failed attempt to get Democrats elected to office, are now willing to support the corruption of the very system that made collective bargaining possible. In effect, public unions are OK with taking the table away if it suits their needs.
Democrats in Wisconsin also feel it’s OK to take that table away from the electorate. In fact, Democrats are willing to shut down the whole Wisconsin state government in their efforts to circumvent, what might now be inappropriately called, the Democratic process of government.
I don’t think newly, and might I add fairly, elected Republican officials are taking the proverbial “table” away from public unions, I just think the “tables” have been turned. That’s the way our political system works. The same political system provides the right of public unions and their supporters to voice their opposition and engage in discourse and protest to persuade others to join their cause.
But when elected officials start interfering with the rights of citizens by not showing up to the “table” to fulfill their fiduciary responsibilities they took an oath to uphold, that’s a problem much bigger than just eliminating collective bargaining. Frank G. Dalimonte Ann Arbor
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