Right to Strike. Free Essay

In a society that persistently insists on increased services from its government, work stoppages from the public service have increased dramatically. Public sector workers are involved in a myriad of public service jobs, and yet they are the largest group of workers who lack labor rights. Public sector workers hold a strategic position in the labor market because many of the services they provide are critical to society's functioning. Thus, the government fears public worker strikes and prohibits them by law (Beckett, 2018). Essential federal workers such as police officers and firefighters are forbidden from striking. It could harm public safety, which comes first above any right of public workers to strike (Keefe, 2016). The National Labor Relations Act protects workers' right to strike but prohibits government workers and public service workers from ever striking (Keefe, 2016). All public service workers should be allowed to strike and fight for their employment rights, similar to private sector employees.

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The fact that the National Labor Relations Act protects private-sector workers' right to strike; a similar thing should be done for the public-sector employees. Public-sector workers significantly earn less compared to private-sector workers, yet the private-sector employee is allowed to strike. A federal employee is paid by the public to perform vital operations and specific functions that are significant to the well-being, safety, and health of all citizens (Beckett, 2018). Strikes fight for the same things in both the public and the private sectors; better wages, benefits, and even a better working environment. In some cases, citizens and public service workers' interests align, for instance, when city workers strike because they are short-staffed, resulting in long waits by the citizens; the public normally ends up supporting the strike. Public workers must be allowed to strike for them to fight ineffective policies against their rights, such as excessive cost-cutting and performance-enhancing measures.

Public sector employees should be allowed to bargain for better remunerations and better working conditions through strikes. The law should be amended, specifically the National Labor Relations Act to give equal rights to public sector workers for their services. Strikes are primarily used as a last resort tactic by public sector workers in extreme circumstances as they are expensive, and unions face the dangers of public disapproval. The public worker should be given a federally protected right to strike. If public-sector employees are not given the right to strike parity with private-sector employees, attraction to join the workforce in the public service sector will slowly diminish.

References

Beckett, B. (2018, August 13). Public sector workers should have the right to strike. Jacobin. https://jacobinmag.com/2018/08/taylor-law-strike-nixon-public-sector

Keefe, J. (2015, October 16). Laws enabling public-sector collective bargaining have not led to excessive public-sector pay. Economic Policy Institute. https://www.epi.org/publication/laws-enabling-public-sector-collective-bargaining-have-not-led-to-excessive-public-sector-pay/