The Perils of Public Sector Unions

http://www.futureofcapitalism.com/2010/03/the-perils-of-public-sector-unions

Amity Shlaes has a column on Bloomberg News that, among other things, reminds readers that FDR was hostile to public-sector unionism:

In 1937, a year when industrial unions were striking furiously, FDR penned a letter to the head of the National Federation of Federal Employees, arguing that when the question regarded pay, hours and grievances, civil servants ought to be no different from those in the private sector. But collective bargaining, FDR wrote, was an exception. It couldn't, he said, "be transplanted into the public service." He particularly disapproved of "militant tactics" and reminded Luther Steward, president of the organization, that his own association's charter banned strikes.

by Editor  |  Mar 2, 2010 at 3:40 pm receive the latest by email: subscribe to the free futureofcapitalism.com mailing list