From Helena Worthen:
Why is CWA campaigning to create a federal public sector collective bargaining law? Their campaign message explains:
There is currently no federal law that guarantees public sector workers the freedom to organize or engage in collective bargaining. That’s why we are demanding Congress pass the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act to guarantee that public sector workers in every state have the freedom to stand together and negotiate for fair wages and working conditions.
Almost half of the states in the US do not have public sector collective bargaining (CB). CWA’s campaign is a call for solidarity across our very polarized political spectrum. Along with the support and strength of unions in states where there is public sector collective bargaining, a federal law would enable public sector workers in non-CB states to bargain their way up towards a level where a decent life is possible. It would protect the rights of workers to improve their jobs and work safely. It would also make possible national strategy for the protection of the whole public sector. This is something much-needed that is missing from our current labor relations framework.
The law that enables collective bargaining that most people are familiar with is a federal law, the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) of 1935. The NLRA only covers the private sector. The public sector, which means state, county, city entities, from universities to K-12 to cities to police and prisons, does not come under the NLRA. The right to collective bargaining for workers in this sector is instead left up to the states. This was a concession made at the time to get the NLRA passed. Therefore some states have passed CB laws and some have not. In some cases, public sector collective bargaining is actually prohibited.
Leaving it up to the states to enable or not enable collective bargaining in the public sector has meant that local politics has determined the quality of life experienced by people who live and work in those states. It can be good or bad, but the effect is consistent with other ways local politics impacts the working class in terms of healthcare, public transportation, minimum wage, education, environmental protection and so on.
The absence of a public sector collective bargaining enabling law does not mean that workers in the public sector can’t form unions. Workers can always form unions, simply by organizing one. What they can’t do without a collective bargaining law is expect to bring the employer to the table to bargain and sign a contract.
CWA’s campaign is also not about right-to-work, although states that lack public sector collective bargaining are likely to also be right-to-work states. “Right to work” is a confusing term that just means that a union has to represent members of a workforce whether or not they have actually joined the union and pay dues. Workers in right-to-work states can and do have unions and if they develop sufficient power in the workplace, they can make the employer bargain with them.