Thursday, April 28, 2011

Massachusetts House votes to eliminate collective bargaining on health care

Yesterday the Massachusetts House voted to remove health care from the items that can be negotiated by public-sector unions in Bay State municipalities. The bill moves on to the state Senate. Governor Deval Patrick appears to support the bill.

But where is the national left-wing uproar? What has AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said about the Massachussets bill? Or Jesse Jackson? How about SEIU President Mary Kay Henry?

So far, nothing. Not only was this trio particularly noisy when Govenor Scott Walker's Wisconsin budget-repair bill was being debated in Madison, they traveled to the Badger State to protest it.

Oh...wait, the Massachussets legislature and Governor Patrick are Democrats.

Technorati tags:

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Let us acknowledge the right for all workers to collective bargaining with the limitation that it is a right, but should not be a condition of employment. The results of collective bargaining are often to the detriment of the workers. The UAW got sweetheart deals, and management looking the other way when workers got less and less productive. Result? Check out the nearest lot for Hondas, Nissans and Toyotas, and check out Detroit's dismal streets or available manufacturing space here in Fenton, Missouri.

The public sector is much the same in that the negotiators across the table from the unions are as spineless, perhaps even more corrupt, then those of the Big Three who gave away the store to the UAW. So let us seek legislation that would require public sector contracts be put to the vote of the taxpayers, just as the UAW contracts and member behavior were put to the vote of the car buyer. Unions' and management’s last best offers go on the ballot for a binding vote by the electorate. And, should we feel the politicians charged with representing us are too spineless, or have made too generous an offer to the unions, we need only look down the ballot to find the opportunity to throw them out.