Collective bargaining for state of Nevada workers

I read with interest Robert Skreba’s Sunday letter “Employee rights” but somehow found it disingenuous. Although I respect Mr. Skreba’s profession as a corrections officer, I felt his motivation for advocating collective bargaining for state workers avoided the real issue.

Mr. Skreba indicates his desire to “give state employees the right to come together as a union to advocate improvements to our jobs and services we provide.” If that were the only goal, I doubt many would disagree. However, I suspect the main reason Mr. Skreba wants to be represented is to have unions bargaining for better wages and benefits.

As we’ve seen, the fiscal hole politicians have dug over the years has left many governments near bankruptcy. Union representation for state employees allows politicians to continue digging instead of addressing the potential consequences and finally deciding to throw the shovels away.