http://www.hoover.org/publications/defining-ideas/article/138386
January 22, 2013
Unions vs. Our Kids
by
Richard A. Epstein (Peter and Kirsten Bedford Senior Fellow and member of the Property Rights, Freedom, and Prosperity Task Force)
In New York City, bus drivers go on strike at the expense of children with disabilities.
People who spend any time in New York City are quick to inure themselves to the vicissitudes of everyday life. But even the hard-of-heart have found it difficult to respond to the personal accounts of the thousands of families that have been dislocated by the decision of Local 1181 of the Amalgamated Transit Union to initiate
a school bus strikethis past Wednesday. Some 8,800 drivers and matrons, whose incomes average about $35,000 per year, went on strike, shutting down about 70 percent of the City’s 7,700 school bus routes.
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In dealing with this issue, the common response is to treat the system of collective bargaining as a social given and then to make anguished pleas for the parties to come back to the bargaining table on this, as on so many other issues. But a more sober look at the overall consequences of this strike indicates that a much more radical cure is needed to deal with the situation.
The institution of collective bargaining has much more traction in the industrial sector, where strikes were intended to shut down mines and factories. In these settings, both parties can take steps to minimize the effects of long lay-offs. Thus, in the run-up to the strikes, plants can run at full bore, allowing the firm to store inventory, while workers fatten their wallets to prepare for the lean days ahead.
