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<div align="center"><font face="Times New Roman, Times">Greetings
Visionaries:<br>
I'm surprised no one has picked up on the police union issue. Here
is my response, which I hope a local newspaper will publish.<br><br>
<b>WHY NOT</b> <b>DEMOCRACY IN THE WORKPLACE?<br>
A POLICE UNION IN MOSCOW<br>
</b>By Nick Gier<br>
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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. <br>
Moscow mayor Marshall Comstock’s recent comments (<i>Moscow-Pullman Daily
News</i>, 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. <br>
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.<br>
In December of 1981 the <i>Argonaut</i>, 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. The disrespect that it has shown to Marilyn Howard, its
only elected member, is outrageous.<br>
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
have been 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. <br>
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. <br>
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. <br>
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.<br>
It is often said that unions are not needed in companies and institutions
that are run well 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 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?<br>
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 Union
International, the nation’s most successful and fastest growing
union.<br>
I challenge Mayor Comstock to embrace democracy in the workplace and
recognize the police force’s vote for union representation. <br><br>
Nick Gier taught philosophy and religion at the UI for 31 years. He
is president of the Idaho Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO.<br>
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