The Real Reason the Republican Party Hates Public Unions

     I wrote this article on April 15, 2012. I felt that it was important to reprint it in these remaining days before the recall election in Wisconsin:

     I knew it was just a matter of time before someone, like Governor Scott Walker (R-WI), acting on behalf of corporate America, would target and try to dismantle the professional public unions. The question in my mind was never “Why are the public unions going to be dismantled?” It was always “When are they going to be dismantled?” So now that the question of “when?” has been answered, I think it’s time to discuss the “reasons why.”

     Professional public unions or the unions that represent law enforcement officers, fire fighters, nurses, teachers, social workers . . . are organizations that speak for the men and women, who see the impacts of government policies – everyday!

While the governor, who slashed entitlements, sees increased savings; the teachers in his state see greater numbers of students coming to school poorly clothed and hungry; the nurses in his state  notice that more children and members of the elderly population are freezing to death in the winter and dying from the heat in the summer. The state’s fire fighters, who are now responding to more apartment fires, are aware that an increasing number of buildings do not have functional fire alarms, or sprinkler systems that are working. And the state’s law enforcement officers are seeing a dramatic increase in a myriad of miseries: murder, child abuse, spouse abuse, drug trafficking, drug addiction, robbery . . . while the social workers are noticing the lack of oversight – less building inspectors to insure that the heating, plumbing, and air conditioning are working in the apartment buildings, less trash pick-up to ensure a healthy safe environment for the children. . .
     These experiences tend to make professional public workers  dangerous political opposers to the republican policies : First, they vote for candidates who pledge to improve these social conditions. Second, they write, speak, and participate in the types of activities that increase public awareness. And finally, but most importantly, they use their collective bargaining power to bring about  improvements to the social conditions of children, parents, and families.

In a literal sense, law enforcement officers, fire fighters, nurses, teachers, social workers . . . and their professional unions have been most instrumental in creating and keeping the small safety net that exists for middle class and working class Americas. In the process of doing so, however, they helped the public to become aware of the adverse effect of corporate greed.

So small wonder, then, why republican public officials, like Scott Walker, who speaks for corporate America, are trying desperately to silence them by reducing their numbers, destroying their morale, making them the pejorative, and dismantling them!


by
James A. Porter