Collective Bargaining Is a Privilege, Not A Right

Over the last several weeks, you’ve probably heard a lot of people screaming in news coverage about how Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is trying to take away the public employee unions’ “right” to collective bargaining. This is interesting. We have a number of rights – you know, those “unalienable” ones, given to us by the Creator. Rights are not something that can be granted to us by other people; they can only be abridged by others.  Governments are established to protect us from these infringements upon our natural rights.

Collective bargaining is not a right. It is a privilege, granted by one party to another for the purpose of accomplishing some goal.

There is a big difference between rights and privileges. Americans have the right to vote. The state, barring a felony conviction, cannot take that right away. Driving, on the hand, is privilege. The state can refuse you the privilege of driving for a myriad of reasons including failure to pass a test showing you know the rules of the road or failing to purchase auto insurance.

Similarly the freedom of association is a right shared by all Americans and protected by the First Amendment. In contrast, collective bargaining is a special power occasionally granted to some unions. In upholding North Carolina’s ban on government union collective bargaining, a federal court wrote in Atkins vs. City of Charlotte: “All citizens have the right to associate in groups to advocate their special interests to the government. It is something entirely different to grant any one interest group special status and access to the decision making process.”

Union members in Wisconsin and elsewhere can scream from the rafters that their “rights” are being taken away, but they’re confused.  They aren’t losing their “right” to collective bargaining, because they never had it. It is a privilege, granted by the citizens through the legislative process. The citizens, having awakened to the fact that the privilege has been abused, have chosen at the ballot box to rein in the privilege. The irresponsible and cowardly actions of some Democrat State Senators is preventing it from happening, but only for now.  If it doesn’t happen in Wisconsin, it will happen somewhere else where the citizens are tired of being taken advantage of.

via Collective Bargaining Is Not A Right | The Foundry: Conservative Policy News..