To Wisconsin Union Leaders and Employees: Say What?

I just heard a Wisconsin union leader tell the governor there that he can't fire any Wisconsin public employees because it's "his job" to, instead, make/ensure jobs for them. Say what? I thought it was his job to keep the state from going bankrupt. He "owes" NO ONE a job. A job ANYWHERE is a privilege, not a right! You work ANYWHERE AT YOUR EMPLOYER'S PLEASURE!

I've ALWAYS understood that I held a given job at my employer's pleasure. In high tech, it was common knowledge that our employer could terminate us AT ANY TIME and he/she wasn't even required to give a reason. That's the way things should be run, including government. If ANY company or government entity is having such financial troubles that they're on the verge of going bankrupt, it is NOT their "responsibility" to "make" or "preserve" jobs for people just because it will be hard on them. Same for government. They don't "owe" ANYONE a job. If ANY company has become bloated by pay and benefits that are rendering the company unprofitable, the senior management in fact has a responsibility(!) to execute whatever cutbacks are necessary to keep the company afloat. In fact, a company doesn't even have to become UNprofitable for this to happen. Two or three quarters of decreasing profits are enough justification for a layoff.

To expect ANY employer, public OR private, to keep you employed when he can't afford to is IRRATIONAL. No employer ... NO EMPLOYER ... has ANY SUCH "OBLIGATION". When an employer thinks he can no longer afford to keep you employed, he has the right AND obligation to terminate you ... with or without 'cause'. His greater obligation is to ensure the survival of the entity. His greater obligation is to ensure the effectiveness of the entity, NOT to ensure you keep your job.

I was layed off four times in my career even when I had an excellent work record. The need to lay off a given person doesn't necessarily have ANY relationship to how good a job he's doing. OFTEN, good employees get terminated in layoffs too ... because the company MUST cut back to that extent for fiscally responsible reasons. It doesn't even matter if it was mismanagement of the entity by the current management that created the need for layoffs. Their screwups are paid for by everyone who gets terminated. It's life. Life can be unfair even when you don't personally 'deserve' it. Get over it already!

ALL the above applies EQUALLY to benefits that are GRANTED by the employer. Few if any benefits are "rights". The employer is under NO OBLIGATION to continue providing a given benefit if he can no longer afford it. Many Americans have decided they can no longer afford to pay off their mortgages or other debt and just walk away from them. How is it okay for them to walk out on an obligation to pay someone but employers who have NO obligation to keep employees can't terminate them? There are even companies advertising on TV that you have a "right"(!) to pay back only 1/10 of your debt and all you need to do is contact a lawyer to make it happen. NO YOU DON'T!!! YOU think you don't have to honor an obligation to pay people what you DO owe them but employers cannot terminate you when they have NO obligation to keep you on-board? Huh?

If you don't like someone else having that kind of control over your employment, then find a different job or, even better, start your own business. Otherwise, learn to live with unfairness in employment that you may not even deserve. It happens. Life isn't always fair. Oh, and stop with the whining already.