On Picket Duty
At the start of the school year, in Bethel, Washington, the local teachers’ union went on strike.
Isn’t the word “strike” a funny word for not showing up to work? It’s such an active word. When I don’t show up for work, it’s not usually because I’m being active.
The word is also violent. I don’t have the right to strike you in the face. You don’t have the right to strike me with a bowling pin. Our very liberties don’t allow aggression.
Now, barring some legal, binding contract, everyone has a right not to show up to work. And employers should have the right to not pay those who don’t show up.
And, while the strike lasted, this was a case where a contract hadn’t been signed. Why not just start hiring non-union teachers?
I don’t belong to a union, as you can guess. But I do employ union workers. After all, as a citizen, I’m a shareholder in our government. More and more, it is in government that we find unionized workers.
But I’m not a Washingtonian, so it wasn’t my biz to tell Bethel’s teachers to start looking for other jobs.
I can quote the state’s Attorney General, though: “In Washington, state and local public employees do not have a legally protected right to strike. No such right existed at common law, and none has been granted by statute.”
The strike lasted only three days. During that time, the school website emblazoned a “schools closed” notice, adding, “athletics to continue.”
Ah, well, at least essential services were preserved.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
