Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Even Richard Nixon Recognized, Expanded Public Employees' Collective Bargaining Rights

Memo to Scott Walker:

Even Richard Nixon seemed to know how to end a messy management-labor issue.

He helped settle the historic 1970 federal postal workers strike - - an illegal strike, at that - - and agreed to a grant to workers of the right to bargain wages, benefits and working conditions:
"The strike ended when union officials, including NALC President James Rademacher, convinced the strikers that union officials would secure their best interests through negotiations and that strikers should return to work.
"In response to this show of good faith, the Nixon Administration and the postal unions agreed on an immediate and retroactive pay hike, with another increase to follow after the completion of postal reorganization.
"The Postal Reorganization Act of 1970, included Postmaster General Blount’s provisions.(6) These provisions included an independent financing authority, removal of the postal system from the political realm in an effort to ensure management continuity, and the guarantee of collective bargaining for postal unions.
"The Act created a corporate structured agency, the United States Postal Service (USPS) and gave postal unions the right to negotiate on wages, benefits, and working conditions. The Act was signed into law by President Nixon on August 12, 1970.(7)"
I can predict the comments.

Nixon. That RINO!

1 comment:

  1. walker's considering planting troublemakers among the protesters was absolutely nixonian. shades of gordon liddy and chuck colson.

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