Public Sector Unions: Public Sector

public sector: The effort by governments to curtail or eliminate public sector labour rights comes from two sources. One is the 2008 global recession that has had a significant impact on governments at all levels. Fearing credit downgrades and knowing that their budgets will be fixed or decreased, governments know that they need to make radical changes to labour agreements and workers rights in order to save money, according to The Chronicle Herald. Of course, the reactions to Wisconsins Bill 11 were widespread, as protesters from both the left and the right took to the streets in confrontations with police over the sweeping changes to labour relations imposed by the bill and Canadas public sector is entering into a crisis state with its labour relations processes. For far too long, Canadians have watched their governments enter into bad agreements at a high price to taxpayers, and now that various levels of government can no longer afford the deals they have signed in the past, the labour rights of public sector employees are being altered, in many cases without appropriate consultation or justification. A second source governments have not highlighted is the lesson learned from the 2011 situation in Wisconsin. Due to a very serious budgetary shortfall, the state government passed Bill 11, which removed public sector unions from being able to bargain collectively over pensions and health care, limited pay raises, ended the automatic collection of union dues, and forced unions to certify annually, among other draconian things. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.