Editing 76-14-A4 (section)

= Public Servants =

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=== Transcript ===
Franklin Delano Roosevelt said, -- QUOTE -- "A strike of public employees
manifests nothing less than an intent on their part to prevent or obstruct the
operations of government until their demands are satisfied. Such action, looking
toward the paralysis of government by those who have sworn to support it, is
unthinkable and intolerable." -- UNQUOTE.

F.D.R. summed it up pretty well. His words mean that those who choose
government employment become a part of the government establishment and are sworn
to uphold it. Their employers are not their immediate superiors, or even the
elected representatives of the people. Their true employers are the people.
No amount of rhetoric or reciting of cliches, such as "second-class citizen",
can change the fact that there is a fundamental difference between private and
public employment.

In the fiscal year that ended in October, 1975, some 316,000 government
workers, at all levels, engaged in unauthorized and illegal work stoppages a
total of 490 times. They struck for a total of almost two and one-half million
work days in that one year, generally over wages and hours. Tragically, the
worst offenders were professional educators, those we trust to implant standards
of conduct, concepts of trust and responsibility in tomorrow's citizens.

There are almost 10 million full-time state and local employees and more than
half now belong to employee organizations. Some, refusing to join such
organizations, have been forced to contribute dues to the organization they
refuse to join.

In my own state, the citizens of California have an opportunity to do something
about this situation. Teachers, disturbed by a change in the law which gave
teacher unions the right to bargain for non-members, have formed a "Committee
for Individual Rights." This committee is circulating petitions to put a
proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot in 1978.

So far, they have attracted an impressive array of endorsements from office
holders, chambers of commerce and other organizations such as the Professional
Educator's Group, National Association of Professional Educators and the Secondary
Elementary Teacher's Organization.

Their proposed amendment would make it, -- QUOTE -- "Unlawful for any public
employee or any employee organization, directly or indirectly, to induce,
instigate, encourage, authorize, ratify or participate in a strike against any
public employer." -- UNQUOTE.

The measure continues spelling out what enforcement of this prohibition would
entail, -- QUOTE -- "Any violation by a public employee shall result in mandatory
dismissal and in the loss of tenure or seniority, and in the event that such
employee has both tenure and seniority, the loss of both." UNQUOTE. Anyone
dismissed for striking could not be reinstated, but would have to take his, or
her, chances of being rehired as a new employee.

The amendment frees each employee from obligation to be represented by an
organization as a prerequisite to employment. It also states that dues or fees
cannot be imposed as a condition for hiring, nor can there be an assessment of
such fees for political purposes. I'll assure you the National Education
Association will come out against this proposal.

But, I hope my fellow Californians will rally-round and help provide the
half-million signatures needed to put this on the ballot. It is time for the
citizenry of all the 50 states to declare that public employees cannot strike.

This is Ronald Reagan.

Thanks for listening.
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=== Details ===
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<TR><TD WIDTH="150">Batch Number</TD><TD WIDTH="150">{{PAGENAME}}</TD></TR>
<TD>Production Date</TD><TD>05/25/[[Radio1977|1977]]</TD></TR>
<TD>Book/Page</TD><TD>[[Radio_Commentary_Books#Reagan:_In_His_Own_Hand|RihoH-298]]</TD></TR>
<TD>Audio</TD><TD>Yes</TD></TR>
<TD>Youtube?</TD><TD>No</TD></TR>
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===Added Notes===

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