[Vision2020] Why Not Democracy in the Workplace? (repost)

[Tom Hansen]

Thank you, Nick -

If I may, I would like to provide a link to where these fine people of 
Moscow may download both PDF and audio files of this commentary.

http://www.NickGier.com

Enjoy, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho


>From: nickgier at adelphia.net
>To: vision2020 at moscow.com
>Subject: [Vision2020] Why Not Democracy in the Workplace? (repost)
>Date: Mon, 1 May 2006 11:41:02 -0700
>
>Greetings:
>
>I'm reposting this piece in support of the Moscow police force for their 
>march today, beginning at 2:30 across from the Moscow Recycling Center.  I 
>hope I get a chance to share some of these thoughts at the end of the 
>march.
>
>Mayor Chaney's fear that all city employees may want to join a union is a 
>fear of democracy.  Why can't all workers have a right to choose a union to 
>represent them in negotiations?  Somehow this is a basic American freedom 
>and far too many Americans don't seem to understand anymore.
>
>WHY NOT DEMOCRACY IN THE WORKPLACE?
>
>A POLICE UNION IN MOSCOW
>
>By Nick Gier
>
>The United States has been a leading defender of liberal democracy in the 
>world.  Why is it then that so many Americans appear to reject 
>representative democracy in the workplace?  The Bush administration 
>promotes free trade unions abroad, but does everything in its power to 
>thwart them stateside.
>
>Moscow mayor Marshall Comstock’s recent comments (Moscow-Pullman Daily 
>News, April 25) about a police union reveal this selective anti-democratic 
>sentiment. Contrary to Comstock’s implications, unions are not some 
>mysterious external force; rather, they are, just like any other human 
>institution, made up of hard working men and women in all areas of 
>employment, including medicine, sports, music, and all levels of teaching.
>
>Medieval worker guilds gave us the self-governing principles on which the 
>labor movement is founded. Employees elect their unions according to 
>carefully monitored procedures, and they can “decertify” unions that 
>fail to represent them properly. This process is being carried out right 
>across the border with WSU’s staff employees.
>
>In December of 1981 the Argonaut, the UI student newspaper, the engineering 
>dean declared that "we may as well live in Russia" if unions are recognized 
>in higher education.  The problem is that our governance system was 
>sovietized long ago.  Deans can veto department decisions (the Grishkoff 
>case is a prime example) and presidents can overturn all lower decisions.  
>Ultimately, the unelected State Board of Education (read: Politburo) can do 
>anything that it pleases.  It ignores faculty input, and the disrespect 
>that it has shown to Marilyn Howard, its only elected member, is 
>outrageous.
>
>Comstock can't understand why his police officers want to waste their money 
>on union dues when they are complaining that they don't make enough as it 
>is.  If the UI had gone to a salary scale based on the federal GS system, 
>as the faculty union proposed in 1976, UI professors would now be at the 
>top of their peers rather than at the bottom.  UI administrators, whose 
>salaries have outstripped full professors' by 74 percent since 1982, have 
>always said that peer dominance was their goal, but they have failed 
>miserably in that task.
>
>If we had negotiated a contract with that salary scale, and if we had 
>received raises equivalent to federal workers, today I would make $50,000 
>more annually, out of which I could have easily covered my union dues, paid 
>much more in taxes, gone to many more professional meetings, given much 
>more to charity, and returned much more to the local economy.
>
>Labor history is not taught very well in our schools and management has 
>well honed anti-union disinformation programs, so Americans need to be 
>reminded that unions brought them the 8-hour workday, safe working 
>conditions, paid vacations, health benefits, generous pensions, and 
>progressive socio-economic legislation.  Millions of non-union workers have 
>been 'free riders' as they have enjoyed these benefits for decades.  
>Furthermore, taxpayers ultimately pay for substandard wages because many of 
>these workers fall back on hospital emergency rooms, food stamps, and other 
>forms of public assistance. For example, a study has shown that a 
>200-employee Walmart store costs local agencies about $450,000 a year.
>
>Just as an example, unions led the successful passage of the Family and 
>Medical Leave Act, which has allowed 50 million Americans leave-without-pay 
>to care for their newborns or seriously ill family members.  For decades 
>most European countries, where the labor movement is much stronger, have 
>provided up to three months paid leave for these purposes.  Almost on every 
>socio-economic statistic, countries built by Labor or Social Democratic 
>parties do much better than the U.S.
>
>It is often said that unions are not needed in companies and institutions 
>that are well run and treat their employees fairly.  But this is as absurd 
>as saying that democracy is needed only when tyrants arise.  George W. Bush 
>hates tyrants, and we all know that he is also a political genius, so why 
>don’t we save ourselves a lot of trouble and money and let him stay in 
>office, along with his Republican majority, until they die?
>
>Only employees know what their needs are, and it is presumptuous for any 
>manager to preempt their right to self governance. Mayor Comstock believes 
>that "a union will not benefit [his] officers," but they have already 
>decided otherwise.  Those below the rank of sergeant have voted unanimously 
>to be represented by the Service Employees International Union, the 
>nation’s most successful and fastest growing union.
>
>I challenge the City of Moscow to embrace democracy in the workplace and 
>recognize the police force’s vote for union representation.
>
>  Nick Gier taught philosophy and religion at the UI for 31 years.  He is 
>president of the Idaho Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO.
>
>
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