Chutzpah, union-style
Two unions asked a Dane County judge Tuesday to declare unconstitutional a law curbing collective bargaining for public workers.
The lawsuit was brought in August by Madison Teachers Inc. and Public Employees Local 61, AFL-CIO, which represents Milwaukee sanitation workers.
In a motion filed Tuesday, they argue the new law … violates the state constitution’s guarantees of freedom of association and equal protection.
Well, color me gobsmacked.
Let’s see: does the new law prevent groups of co-workers from gathering? No.
Does it prevent them from forming..oh, say a club? No.
How about a union? Why, no. All that sturm and drang about Republicans “outlawing unions?” Crap. On a cracker.
Does the new law prevent any worker from asking his/her boss for a raise, or a perk? No. Does it prevent the worker from offering or agreeing to something the boss wants? Again, no.
Does it prevent a group of workers from asking the boss for something, and/or offering something in return? From appointing a single spokesperson to speak for the group?
No. It doesn’t.
What I just described sounds like a union. What it is, though, is: First Amendment rights of speech and assembly, and the implied right to association. The new law doesn’t touch that, because it can’t.
So what does the new law change? It removes statutory requirements. It takes government out of the mix. Employees and employers can, as a result of the new law, negotiate with each other without having to follow reams of bureaucratic rules foisted upon them by government agencies.
That’s it. You want to associate? Associate. You want to unionize and negotiate as a group? Great. You could do it before, and you can still do it now.
Oh, but there is one thing you can’t do. You can’t force your co-workers to join your group and pay dues whether they want to or not.
That’s freedom of association, see. The new law enforces it.
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