The Power of Monopoly Bargaining

There is no more vivid example than this of the power of teacher unions to control the lives of teachers than the strike debacle currently in Denver, Colorado.  Although Colorado is not a Right to Work state, the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation-won Janus Supreme Court decision gives Colorado teachers the freedom to accept or refrain from union membership as they wish.  Yet these same teachers are hide-bound to whatever teacher union officials have in store for them by virtue of their ability to control the monopoly bargaining agreement with the school district.  Blair Miller has the story on thedenverchannel.com.

The Denver Classroom Teacher Association asked the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment Monday not to intervene in the ongoing disagreement between the union and Denver Public Schools over teacher salaries, a response to the request the district made last week.

“Denver teachers believe state intervention in our negotiations with DPS would be futile,” DCTA President Henry Roman said in a statement Monday after the union responded to the state.