Over the past few days, as things in Wisconsin escalate to atrocious levels and I read the protest signs in the videos on TV with growing irritation and think again that protesting is all well and good as a Constitutional right, but it sure doesn’t bring out the best in the individual, I feel a growing self-induced pressure to develop an educated opinion on the topic. For one thing, I am going to be a teacher. Those are my future colleagues out there and no matter how badly modern-day unions heighten my gag reflex and make me lose faith in American humanity, I would like to understand the situation as it relates to them, and also as it relates to me as a citizen. I also would like to form an educated opinion because I have an interview for a teaching credential program in a few days and Jonathan so kindly brought to my attention that they may ask me about this. Oh great. Chalk one up for absolutely not getting into this school. And thank God I had some interviews before this whole thing started or I would really be in the fire.
My problem is, that as I continue to research this current event, I keep getting hung up on the most basic moral issues I have with the entire process taking place in Madison. I have an enormous problem with people blatantly NOT doing their jobs and being legally ensured that they will not be fired for it. I don’t care who you are or what you do, if you are not doing your job, you shouldn’t be getting paid for it. I read an article once about the government offering agricultural subsidies to some Amish farmers. The farmers agreed to stop growing the crops, but they refused to take the proffered government money. They said that they would not take money for work they did not do. I was fairly young, but I can remember having such a profound respect for the integrity behind the Amishmen’s decision. It has always stuck with me and I think of it from time to time, when questions of work ethic come up in my own life. Though I would not have blamed the farmers for taking the money under those circumstances, I would want to be the type of farmer who did not take the money, despite the burden it might place on me.
The point is that if we want to hold our teachers or any other workers to high standards, if we claim that we want them to be competent and diligent, we must expect a level of professionalism and work ethic. And yet, unions nurture an utter lack of any of these positive characteristics. If people cannot motivate themselves to have these qualities (which, I have to say, I would greatly hope my children’s instructors would be able to do), there should at the very least be a risk in the workforce of losing your job if you lack them. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think people shouldn’t be allowed to protest. But if they want to protest under the circumstances that they are protesting, it should be a choice between going to the picket line and keeping their jobs. If they are adamant enough about their cause; if they truly feel that a vast injustice is being done and it needs to be stopped; if they can afford to hold staunch principles over the need to make a living, they will risk their jobs for the cause. And who knows, if it really is such a terrible wrong being committed, if the conditions really are unbearable, enough people will protest to make it dangerous and unlikely for their employers to actually fire them. This is the basic premise of a protest as it should be. But the inherent risk is a necessary part of the process. Otherwise, picketing simply becomes a platform for whiners.
I also have a problem with people who are in any of the “caring” professions going on strike when they should be with the people who need them. I’m not saying that a teacher’s altruism should outweigh his desire to make a decent living. Trust me, that is the last thing I’m saying; I don’t put a whole lot of faith in the common altruist. But if you want to convince me that teaching is an important profession, necessary for our children and our society and thus deserving of good pay and good benefits, first show me that you care more about your students than your special interest groups, and, more importantly, that you believe that your job is so important and necessary that you would not dream of missing days of work if it is not directly benefiting your students.
Furthermore, when people get into a group like this, it truly brings out the very worst in them. The signs people hold up at these sorts of fiascos are embarrassing at best and ignorant, fallacious, and disgusting at worst. I understand the need to make your voice heard. But then let your voice be intelligent and rational. Strongly support your opinion instead of coming up with angry tag lines that insult opposing opinions without actually proving that yours are superior. Don’t blindly repeat the ranting coming out of a nearby megaphone, like a bunch of Hitler-Jungend. Say something of value and convince people that you are right. If you tell me that it is impossible for a group to cause a stir in this way, I will tell you that you are wrong. What you really mean is that it is easier for a group to cause a stir the other way and I do not think this is a legitimate or convincing reason for doing it.
And don’t even get me started on unions. The modern-day union is as far from the original American unions of its ancestry as I am from Xerxes the Great. The risk of getting your arm ripped off by an unruly, poorly built textile machine is not the same thing as having to work an entire four hours straight without a fifteen minute break. Wake up and smell the coffee, people, just as it is your right to quit a job whenever you want to, it is an employer’s right to fire you anytime he wants to. Does that make life more risky? Certainly. Does it lower your job security? Perhaps. Or maybe it effectively balances out the job market. If you are good at your job; if you are competent and qualified, and financially and professionally “worth it” to your employer, you will get a good job. If you want a raise, because you need it and you think you deserve it, it is up to your employer to decide how “worth it” you actually are. Are you so good that they can’t afford to lose you, even at a heightened cost? Or maybe they can afford to lose you. Then it’s up to you to decide how much you need the raise. Do you need it because you want to take an extra vacation in June? Is that vacation worth the inherent stress and risk in finding another job that will pay better? Or do you need it because you can’t afford to survive without it. If you can’t afford to survive, the inherent stress and risk in finding another job that will pay better is probably worth it. There is a balance here between employer and employee needs. And a company that consistently mistreats employees, through poor working conditions, low pay, or any other way, will lose qualified employees to companies who are willing to take better care of their employees. Maybe if the education system was run this way, we would not have so many problems with the quality of our teachers and our curriculum.
Now enter the almighty Union. Why people who have a good thing (with a few unfortunate side effects) are willing to scrap it all for a bad thing (with a few hundred unfortunate side effects) is beyond me. Capitalism...gone. Democracy...gone. It’s all very inspiring. What used to be an attempt on the part of the working class to avoid being abhorrently taken advantage of, has now become a success on the part of the American privileged to have the “perfect job” (one in which they get an inflated salary, other people paying into their retirement funds, an inability to be fired regardless of competence level, and as much opportunity to get paid for not working – or working poorly – as for working at all) without having to have any qualifications or put forth any effort (besides, of course, the effort it takes to march around carrying pre-made signs and clamoring about unfairness).
So that’s how I feel about the situation in Madison. It has nothing to do with Walker – who I suspect is a jerk – and very little to do with the specific grievances of the specific people picketing in this specific circumstance. It is difficult for me to separate their problem out from the greater more general problem under which they are functioning. Do I want good things for workers? Yes. Do I support peoples’ right to assemble? Absolutely. But I neither support nor respect the manner or the pretenses of these protestors...or indeed of the senators who left the state. Lord help me when I have to join the Teachers’ Union!
-R.E.A.
