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Health & Fitness

Labor Day Weekend

State Representative Candidate Aldon Hynes shares his views on collective bargaining and working together as part of a reflection on Labor Day

For my friends who are counting on consumers reviving the economy, it is a weekend to go shopping.  To my friends in the labor movement, it is a time to remember struggles for better working conditions, the forty hour work week, and an end to child labor.  For others, it is a time for festivals at church, picnics or barbecues with the family, and heading back to school.

For politicians, it is a time of campaigning.  I'm working on events, contacting voters and honing my positions on various issues.  It seems like every day, I get a half dozen new candidate questionnaires from various organizations.  They are good in that they help me think about the issues.  Unfortunately, too often, the responses do not become public.  So, I'm trying to distill some of my responses into blog posts.

Since it is labor day weekend, it seems like a good time to talk about collective bargaining.  The first question in Uniformed Professional Fire Fighters Association's questionnaire says, "In 2008, the General Assembly introduced legislation (SB 685 AN ACT CONCERNING THE CREATION OF A STATE MUNICIPAL FINANCE ASSISTANCE COMMISSION, 2008 Session) that would give extraordinary powers to Special Review Boards when impaneled to assist municipalities in distress.  This bill legalized the abrogation of collective bargaining agreements and the curtailment of collective bargaining as possible remedies for these situations.  Would you:  SPONSOR - SUPPORT - OPPOSE legislation that permits this type of treatment of workers.

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I also received a questionnaire from ConnCan.  Their questions were less pointed, for example asking if I agreed with this statement:  "School administrators and teachers should be held accountable for classroom performance and student achievement".  Personally, I can't imagine people not agreeing with this statement.  However, it says nothing about what should happen legislatively.  How do we determine classroom performance and student achievement?  Legislation that bases such a determination solely on standardized tests would be misguided.  Legislation that doesn't consider how others, besides teachers and administrators, are accountable to a student's achievement would also be misguided, and legislation that would abrogate collective bargaining agreements or curtail collective bargaining would likewise be misguided.

You see,when we are dealing with key issues that affect our life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, we need people to work together.  We need firefighters working together to save a structure.  One firefighter, by himself, cannot put out a three alarm fire.  We need teachers, administrators, parents and members of the community to work together so that our students can be as successful as possible.

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Collective bargaining is one way in which firefighters, teachers, and others work together.  Collective bargaining should be viewed as part of our first amendment right to peaceably assemble, and for those working in government jobs, it should be viewed as part of the first amendment right to petition the government for redress of grievances.  

Granted, there may be times when those bargaining, either for employees or for employers,  are not doing so in good faith, yet that does not mean we should curtail collective bargaining.

So, this weekend, I'll do my campaigning, and I'll stay on message about the importance of all of us working together for the sake of all Americans.  

Happy Labor Day.

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