Dear Source:
I would address JJ Estemac's diatribe about the public sector needing to be liberated as follows. Collective bargaining requires agreement by both union and management. Therefore, railing against one side, unions in the case of Estemac, ignores shortcomings of the other side. No argument is ever one-sided.
That said, I wish to address how, given the current state of the law concerning classified public employees, responsible and efficient running of government can be achieved within the limits negotiated and set by law.
If employees are not doing their jobs, I blame management for not taking steps to make sure employees know what is required and for holding them accountable for doing their jobs correctly and efficiently. Progressive discipline can result in good job performance, or if that is not achieved, should be used to terminate the employee.
In order for this system of progressive discipline to work, supervisors and managers have to do their jobs, that is they have to supervise, document what is not done right, bring it promptly to the attention of the offending employee, impose discipline when necessary, terminate if discipline does not work. That means supervisors and managers can't be lazy and rail endlessly about the "system."
It takes two, Mr. Estemac, and the long history of unions winning rights for the rank and file who, prior to the era of unions, had no one to speak for them may have resulted in abuses, but historically, those abuses pale in comparison to the abuses of unscrupulous employers. Because of unscrupulous employers, we have our labor laws and we have unions and we have collective bargaining agreements, and we have civil service laws. I'm glad we do.
Now, if everyone would do their jobs and abide by those agreements and laws, the private sector and government would operate much more efficiently. But don't blame unions any more than others would blame poor management.
A badly run government is everyone's fault.
Dena Langdon
St. Thomas
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