Club holds debate on collective bargaining

The husband of former secretary of state Bekki Cook said in a debate that state Sen. Peter Kinder's lawsuit challenging Gov. Bob Holden's collective-bargaining order is frivolous and was filed for political reasons.

Kinder dismissed the accusation and called the governor's executive order "appalling and very dangerous for the state."

John Cook, a Cape Girardeau lawyer and a Democrat, debated Republican Kinder on collective bargaining at a meeting of the Rotary Club of Cape Girardeau Monday.

Collective bargaining for public employees has been a hot topic since June, when Holden granted through executive order the right for thousands of state workers to use collective bargaining to settle disputes over wages, benefits and working conditions.

Kinder, of Cape Girardeau, said he would like to remind Holden that he was elected governor of Missouri, not king.

Kinder said collective bargaining is a recipe for strike, division and little else, but his main complaint is that Holden made the order in secret with only three other people involved. The order was developed in December but not announced publicly or signed until June after lawmakers had adjourned for the year, he said.

Kinder cited a 1952 U.S. Supreme Court case, Youngstown Co. vs. Sawyer, to back his stand. When President Harry Truman issued an executive order directing the secretary of commerce to seize and operate most of the steel mills to avert a nationwide strike, which he believed would jeopardize national defense, the Supreme Court decided it was not authorized by the Constitution or laws of the United States, and it could not stand.

Kinder said the same thing has happened in Missouri under Holden.

"The Supreme Court upheld separation of powers then," Kinder said, "and I think the Missouri Supreme Court will uphold my case as well."

Kinder, along with Democratic state Rep. Quincy Troupe of St. Louis, the Missouri Municipal League and several others, filed the lawsuit Sept. 24 in Cole County Circuit Court seeking to overturn the governor's order as unconstitutional.

"Remember the constitution?" Kinder asked Cook. "I take my constitution all together."

'Going nowhere'

Cook called Kinder's lawsuit a political gesture because Kinder believes collective bargaining is wrong. "He knows his lawsuit is going nowhere," Cook said.

Cook defended Holden's order, stating there already is a state statute that allows collective bargaining in Missouri. He said the executive order puts teeth into the statute.

"Even though it is in the state constitution," he said, "even though there is a specific state statute for it, there was no penalty provision on it, so agencies ignored the law."

Cook said collective bargaining allows a federal arbitrator to decide when agreements can't be reached between employers and employees. He said it would improve education through better teachers, better pay and better work conditions.

Kinder said the state would see teacher strikes like those in Illinois, which practices collective bargaining.

"Don't be fooled about the strike clause," Kinder warned. "Look at examples from Michigan and New Jersey, states that have gone down this road."

hkronmueller@semissourian.com

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