I am outside the US so I didn’t know this. So… Unions, whose biggest and perhaps only effective weapon against exploitation, the strike, cannot, by law, call for a strike. And it’s a federal offense for federal workers to do so?
The only purpose of police unions is to come out in solidarity when one of their own fucks up. Like if a teacher’s union rallied around the teacher every time they were accused of inappropriate contact with a student. The union would back the teacher and besmirch the student. That’s how law enforcement unions work in the U.S.
I don’t know if this ever happened and I only have experience as a government contractor. I think ICE and CBP might have different rules, but…
The “loophole” to strike is if and only if the union can’t reach an agreement on terms to extend their CBA then there is no legal requirement to not strike. Meaning if the negotiations go sideways and the other side isn’t negotiating in good faith as far as raises, healthcare, PTO, etc then the union members can vote to not accept the CBA. if the CBA ends so does the obligation to not strike.
I know people involved in some of these unions. They still fight for federal workers and are successful at times in assisting them with so many other things. They negotiate contracts and seek more fair workplace practices, they represent workers in disputes, they scrutinize HR and administrative practices, and they bring lawsuits in federal courts.
Yes, they don’t have the teeth of large strikes, but it’s still helping them in the sense of banding together and pooling resources.
Note that I think it being illegal to strike is fundamentally un-constitutional and un-American. But hey, not much of the U.S. is how we feel it should be.
I am outside the US so I didn’t know this. So… Unions, whose biggest and perhaps only effective weapon against exploitation, the strike, cannot, by law, call for a strike. And it’s a federal offense for federal workers to do so?
Wow. Just Wow. Why even have a union?
The last time federal workers went on strike, Reagan fired every air traffic controller. We’re still trying to recover from THAT, 40 years on.
The only purpose of police unions is to come out in solidarity when one of their own fucks up. Like if a teacher’s union rallied around the teacher every time they were accused of inappropriate contact with a student. The union would back the teacher and besmirch the student. That’s how law enforcement unions work in the U.S.
I don’t know if this ever happened and I only have experience as a government contractor. I think ICE and CBP might have different rules, but…
The “loophole” to strike is if and only if the union can’t reach an agreement on terms to extend their CBA then there is no legal requirement to not strike. Meaning if the negotiations go sideways and the other side isn’t negotiating in good faith as far as raises, healthcare, PTO, etc then the union members can vote to not accept the CBA. if the CBA ends so does the obligation to not strike.
I know people involved in some of these unions. They still fight for federal workers and are successful at times in assisting them with so many other things. They negotiate contracts and seek more fair workplace practices, they represent workers in disputes, they scrutinize HR and administrative practices, and they bring lawsuits in federal courts.
Yes, they don’t have the teeth of large strikes, but it’s still helping them in the sense of banding together and pooling resources.
Note that I think it being illegal to strike is fundamentally un-constitutional and un-American. But hey, not much of the U.S. is how we feel it should be.