It’s time to put an end to collective bargaining

Professor Emeritus of Adrian College, Paul de Lespinasse, Ph.D., makes a strong argument for abolishing public sector bargaining in the Portland (Oregon) Statesman Journal Online. His remarks were prompted by talk of a teacher strike in the Portland School District.

Although we can take satisfaction from Portland’s narrow escape, we need to think about the legal framework within which the possibility of a school strike developed. As Medford shows, escapes don’t always happen.  the National Labor Relations Act, enacted during the New Deal, authorized collective bargaining only with private employers. The legislation presumed an inequality of bargaining power between individual workers and big corporations; by joining forces behind a sole bargaining agent, workers would get better treatment. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who advocated this legislation, opposed covering government employees and considered strikes against democratic government an abomination.