By Lee Newcom
While visiting a state agency in Springfield recently I had the opportunity to engage a nice, professional looking, college educated, 30ish worker in conversation. What started with my making pleasant conversation while waiting for a transaction to complete, asking how long he/she had worked there and what was his/her previous job, quickly turned into an astonishing conversation to me, although the employee thought his/her thoughts were completely normal.
(Obviously I am going to keep this so general as to mask any identification of the person).
In a week when Homeland Security has announced that no new airports will be able to use private security screeners and that it is giving approval to allow unionizing TSA employees, the danger of public employees unions and thier profound antagonism to the values of democracy were unwittingly revealed by a young person who seemed to be unaware that there was any other way of thinking.
Let me first say that this conversation was not antagonistic, although as I read what I wrote below, it sounds that way. This was a friendly, matter-of-fact conversation in a gentle tone of voice, done with smiles on both sides.
When I asked what the person's previous job had been, the person answered that he/she had been with another state agency previously and applied for this position when it came open. "Do you like it better here," I asked. "Oh yes, much better. I wanted to move here because the union is better at this agency."
"Why is the union better here," I asked. "I want more flexibility of when I ask for days off. At my other job the boss had to approve and here I just have to write it on the calendar, show it to the the Union business agent and he approves my days off."
The person then told how much he/she mistrusted "management" and didn't think "management" ought to be able to approve days off. I asked if he/she really thought managers are always that bad.
"Absolutely. The workers need protection from management. If we don't have protection, you know, these people are just going to tell us to do things we shouldn't have to do and fire people. We need protection."
"Do you really think other people you work with or all managers are that bad?" I asked.
"Absolutely, you have to have protection. The managers are all going to take advantage of you if you don't have the union. You know these legislators, the ones who say their gonna just cut budgets so everyone loses their job, we have to have the union protection from them. They just want to fire everyone."
I tried to gently suggest that was a false threat, that no one wanted to cut eveyone's job, but some people believe legitimately that we have way too many employees to do the job effectively or that jobs can be done better or more efficiently.
"That's what I mean, if we aren't protected they are going to fire us all. That's what they want."
I tried to suggest again that that was false, that no one advocated firing all state workers. He just looked at me blankly as if it didn't register.
"You know our state is literally bakrupt. We have massive deficits. Don't you think the people have a right to elect new people to cut government to the level we can afford to pay for?"
"No way."
Then the big one. The question and answer that chilled me.
I asked, "Well, you know those legislators are the representatives of the people. The people elected them to vote for the policies they want for our government. So our boss is really the people, who we work for. That's who the legislators represent. Don't you think the people should be respected who fund us through paying taxes and make decisions through the vote?"
"No way. I don't have any respect for the people. The people are the worst of all. No, they shouldn't be able to make that decision. They should just pay the taxes if we need more. They don't know what we do. They have no business telling us what to do."
I was shocked. "You mean you think the ordinary people of our state are that bad, that they don't care about state workers and shouldn't be allowed to make decisions about the state.
"That's right. They don't have any business telling us what to do. The union is there to protect us from that."
This person is a nice, gentle, well educated, well groomed friendly person. This person is also just one of those union brainwashed individuals now pervasive througout government, who cannot think for themselves. Public employee unions are growing at a very rapid rate and the more power they get, the more authority they steal from the people and the more dues they have to elect more legislators to support their ideas.
Unfortunately, many of the Republican elected officials I meet and work with, have no different ideas nor any more conviction to stop the growth of public employees unions than the Democrats.
