Right to strike
Unfortunately, the workplace, be it
"public" or "private," has remained a
bastion of sovereignty by a privileged
managerial elite. Even a cursory reading of
American labor history makes clear that
without the ongoing struggle of. labor
organizations to secure countervailing
power against this managerial privilege,
American workers would be denied the
rights of free speech, free association, and
the necessary control over working conditions. Workers in the public sector should
not be expected to remain second-class
citizens simply because of their occupational identity. The "profound" differences between
private and public management that Bergren
cites are actually rather shallow. Public
sector managers are trained and enjoined by
their superiors to extract from their employees the maximum productivity for the
minimum cost in wages and other compensations. Furthermore, as Weil points out,
teachers' contract disputes with management often focus on questions of quality
education for students. In fact, teachers have
frequently shown more concern for establishing optimal learning conditions than have school managers. We are in the midst of an apparently
unbreakable inflationary spiral. The responsibility for this spiral lies with the managerial elite and not with the average public sector worker whose annual income often falls
short of the "moderate standard" set by the
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Teachers
and other public employees are caught up in
a struggle to provide a decent living for their
families and quality services for their
students/clients. Success in that struggle
depends upon legally guaranteed collective
bargaining with the legally safeguarded right to strike.
EDITORS: I want to express my appreciation for the April Illinois Issues' thoughtful
debate on teachers' right to strike. Mr. Weirs
reminder that " no Illinois statute prohibits
strikes by teachers" stands in sharp contrast
to Mr. Bergren's straitjacket approach to
citizen's rights, i.e. "There is nothing in the
United States or Illinois constitutions
giving any citizen the right to strike."
Apparently, Bergren feels that any actions
beyond these narrow confines can be
legitimately suppressed. This is in direct
contradiction to the Ninth Amendment to
the U.S. Constitution, which reads: "The
enumeration in the Constitution, of certain
rights, shall not be construed to deny or
disparage others retained by the people."
July 1977 / Illinois Issues / 23