Saturday, March 5, 2011

Polls show most of U.S. favors collective bargaining rights

A recent New York Times/CBS News poll indicates a most of individuals in the United States support the collective bargaining rights of public employee unions. The same vast majority tended to fall on the side of not cutting public employee pay to shrink deficit gaps. The countrywide poll surveyed 984 adults, the majority of whom did not have a union member in the household.

Collective bargaining well-liked by Americans

In order to stop a bill from ending collective bargaining rights, Wisconsin senate members ducked a vote by leaving the state. However, collective bargaining was supported by most of the United States residents that were willing to answer the phone and participate in the New York Times/CBS News poll. A quarter of 984 polled people opposed labor unions while only a third supported them. Deciding on it was hard for the rest. They did not know what to choose.

Public employee unions got support though. They were supported more. The "extreme" deficit recovery things that Republican governors try to do for instance Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and OH Gov. John Kasich were what two to one poll participants objected too. In the poll, pay cuts were sustained by 37 percent and not supported by 56 percent of people. In the collective bargaining rights, the Republicans outnumbered the Democrats and Independents that didn't want it.

Paying too much for government workers, states governor

Concerns that public employees are overpaid or have too large of pension and health insurance plans has been something all governors have been worried about. About 61 percent of responders to the poll suggested that pay was "about right" or "too low" for public employees though. In the response, the idea of whether firefighters, teachers and others should get government benefits was divided. This involves things such as pension collection and early retirement.

'A job that needs to be done’ is all it is

Retired 67-year-old Democratic poll respondent Phil Merritt of Crossville, Tenn., told the New York Times that collective bargaining is essential for U.S. families.

"I feel they do a job that needs to be done. If you work hard, you should be able to have a home, save for retirement and send your kids to college," Merritt said. "Most public employees have to struggle to do those things, and generally both spouses must work."

The Republican viewpoint

There were supporters of the bill making collective bargaining rights disappear. This involved Longview, Texas' Warren Lemma who’s a 56 year old electrical contractor. The money to pay these benefits is not around right now.

"Retirement benefits shouldn’t be taken from those near retirement, but the system should be changed for workers just starting out," Lemma said. "The only way the system will change is to do something about union control, and the only way to do that is to remove collective bargaining."

Both Gallup Poll and USA Today are the same

Safeguarding collective bargaining rights was also on the minds of the majority of respondents to a comparable USA Today/Gallup Poll. There were 33 respondents who were in favor of the collective bargaining rights being abolished. Sixty one percent were against it though. While two-thirds of respondents recognized budget troubles in their states, they were split on how to solve those issues, whether it is through tax hikes or other government spending cuts.

Information from

New York Times

nytimes.com/2011/03/01/us/01poll.html?_r=1&hp

The Caucus NYT blog

thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/28/fewer-voters-from-union-households-in-2010/

USA Today

usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-02-22-poll-public-unions-wisconsin_N.htm

Fascism and its effect on collective bargaining rights

youtube.com/watch?v=7gILmhwwbTg



No comments:

Post a Comment