Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

letter to the editor:

Union contract isn’t the problem

I read with interest the July 20 letter from Nicholas Gartner, “Let’s see what the contracts say.”

Gartner suggests that the governor should appoint a committee to break all public employee contracts and start over. Why is it that those who have no idea of how collective bargaining works just automatically think that breaking up a union with fix their problem?

A union’s job is to better the lives of its members and their families. Our elected officials’ jobs are to better the lives of constituents. Who is doing a better job? One of the problems is that when negotiating contracts with any union, the negotiator should not have a horse in the race, meaning that the negotiator should be a independent entity.

As far as Gartner’s concern about the top-heavy bureaucrats with our school districts, breaking a union won’t fix his concerns, because none of the problems he lists is covered in collective bargaining.

Teachers, bus drivers and all of the other individuals who work hard to educate our children should be paid more so we can attract the best, but how many special assistants to the superintendent and other make-believe positions are there?

Join the Discussion:

Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.

Full comments policy