Utah Bans Collective Bargaining For Public Employees

 

 

Musing About Utah Banning Collective Bargaining For Public Employees

 

 

I was researching interesting news that affects working men and women and came across the article by Reuters where Utah has officially banned public employees from collective bargaining.

 

What Does This Mean?

 

According to Reuters:

 

“Federal law protects the collective bargaining rights of workers in the private sector, but determining labor law for public employees is up to the states.”

 

This means that so-called “elected officials” (I use that term loosely; FAR too many serve corporations and pay lip service to constituents) can draft a bill at any U.S. state, pass it up to the governor, and should he/she sign it, and ban collective bargaining – or, if you prefer, to make it illegal to come together for better working conditions and/or wages.

Yes, you read that right.

We are talking about police officers, firefighters, teachers, transit workers, and other public employees.

It doesn’t matter whether the vast majority of those employees want to be represented by a union (they do). It doesn’t matter if they protest (they did), whether they demand better, or what they think. It would seem what politicians want is the only thing that matters.

Colorado Politics reported that,

 

“Its GOP sponsors argued it was needed to allow employers to engage directly with all employees, instead of communicating through a union representative.”

 

THAT is a massive load of crap – not to mention a slick way of phrasing what they want.

Here, let me translate that for you: We don’t want you to collectively come together. We want to divide and distract. We don’t want to be held accountable; we merely want to say, “Get back to work, or else.”

 

Related: Read What is a Collective Bargaining Agreement – and Why is it Important?

 

What Could Happen Next?

 

For my part, I don’t want to continue with “What will happen next?” – not only is that old hat, but just about any other news outlet will follow that exact script, telling us what the next steps will be with a ban on collective bargaining. Instead, I’d like to posit, “What could happen?”

For example, what if EVERY SINGLE firefighter, police officer, teacher, and others represented by a union and covered by a collective bargaining agreement decided to strike? What if they decided to let the government know just how important their jobs were by not doing them? What if they all decided this punitive legislation curbing their freedom to associate and negotiate collectively is worth sitting out to send a message?

And that message?

 

“No army can withstand the strength of an idea whose time has come.”

– Victor Hugo

 

And that idea? Simple: We’ve had enough. We will not tolerate it anymore.

What will the legislature do? Try to force everyone back to work?

How?

Try to have people arrested? Again I ask: How? Moreover, to what end?

I’d like to see this showdown take place and watch as corporate oligarchy representatives are handed a seismic defeat – a gigantic shot across the bow, as it were.

The sooner we realize “elected officials” do not care about everyday American citizens, we will have a more realistic starting point. What’s more, we aren’t talking about just the citizens of Utah now; this applies to the entire United States. Our government does not represent us – the citizens, the voters, the constituents – it serves corporate interests. One need only look at the massive wealth inequality we have and the bills that advance corporate causes to understand that.

If EVERYONE decided enough was enough, then they’d realize just how much power the people have. If only people understood that if ever there was a time and reason to stand together and demand the government work for us – or, put another way, for the American people to have solidarity – it’s now.