Should Public Sector Employees Have the Right to Unionize?

2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION SITE

Last updated on: 5/4/2020 8:25:30 AM PST

The National Labor Relations Act, signed in 1935 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, gave many private sector employees the right to form labor unions and engage in collective bargaining. Since the act excluded public sector (government) employees, about 21 million government employees currently have no federal right to unionize. FDR allegedly believed that private sector employees were more in need of union protection because they were more likely to be exploited by for-profit companies.

Source: Alexia Fernández Campbell, "Government Workers Don't Have a Federal Right to Unionize. Democrats Want to Change That.," vox.com. June 25, 2020

Pro

Biden

Hawkins

Con

Jorgensen

Trump

Not Clear or Not Found

Pro (Yes)

Pro

Biden
Democrat

"States have decimated the rights of public sector workers who, unlike private sector workers, do not have federal protections ensuring their freedom to organize and collectively bargain...

Provide a federal guarantee for public sector employees to bargain for better pay and benefits and the working conditions they deserve. Public sector unions provide the voice that workers – including educators, social workers, firefighters, and police officers – need to ensure they can serve their communities. And, public sector unions have been and continue to be an essential pathway to the middle class for workers of color and women, who disproportionately work in the public sector... As president, Biden will establish a federal right to union organizing and collective bargaining for all public sector employees, and make it easier for those employees who serve our communities to both join a union and bargain."

Source: Joe Biden, "The Biden Plan for Strengthening Worker Organizing, Collective Bargaining, and Unions," joebiden.com (accessed Apr. 27, 2020)

Pro

Hawkins
Green

"Yes."

Source: Email from Kevin Zeese with the Hawkins campaign, July 2, 2020

Con (No)

Con

Jorgensen
Libertarian

"I support the right of private sector unions to organize, I strongly oppose public sector unions and mandatory participation. Taxpayers have virtually no say in government union contracts for which they are forced to pay."

Source: Communication from the Jorgensen campaign to ProCon.org on Aug. 26, 2020

Con

Trump
Republican

"The national security interests of the United States require expedient and efficient decisionmaking. When new missions emerge or existing ones evolve, the Department of Defense requires maximum flexibility to respond to threats to carry out its mission of protecting the American people. This flexibility requires that military and civilian leadership manage their organizations to cultivate a lethal, agile force adaptive to new technologies and posture changes. Where collective bargaining is incompatible with these organizations' missions, the Department of Defense should not be forced to sacrifice its national security mission and, instead, seek relief through third parties and administrative fora."

Source: White House, "Presidential Memorandum for the Secretary of Defense: Delegation of Certain Authority under the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute," whitehouse.gov, Jan. 29, 2020

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