Negotiating rights

By Bruce Darrough

In the 1947 case City of Springfield v. Clouse, the Missouri Supreme Court committed the gravest of judicial sins. It read words into the Missouri Constitution that do not exist in the text.

The case involved collective-bargaining rights for government workers under Article I, Section 29 of the Missouri Constitution. The section says: "That employees shall have the right to organize and to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing." Nowhere is there an exemption for public-sector employees. Following some creative constitutional contortions, the court nonetheless invented one.

As a result, hard-working government employees who provide vital services to the people of Missouri have been deprived of their constitutional right to bargain collectively for 60 years. This arbitrary discrimination against government workers finally ended May 29 when the Missouri Supreme Court revisited the issue in Independence National Education Association v. Independence School District.

The current court reversed Clouse, saying the 1947 court erred in creating an exemption where none exists. In the majority opinion, Chief Justice Michael Wolff wrote: "'Employees' plainly means employees. There is no adjective; there are no words that limit 'employees' to private sector employees. The meaning of section 29 is clear and there is, accordingly, no authority for this Court to read into the Constitution words that are not there."

In the same decision, the court also overturned a 1982 case Sumpter v. City of Moberly, which had allowed governments that voluntarily entered into labor agreements with employee unions to unilaterally break them at any time.

Self-professed conservatives should be applauding the court for its strict constructionist decision. Instead, many predictably are assaulting the ruling as judicial activism. In its June 7 editorial "Public bargaining," the Southeast Missourian predicts dire consequences from the decision. The sky, however, is not falling.

The right of workers to collectively bargain with their employer is just that: a right to bargain. As the court clearly pointed out, employees' right to bargain doesn't obligate public employers to agree to anything, and the state law that prohibits public workers from striking remains in effect.

The ruling simply requires public employers to negotiate with unions in good faith and to keep their promises to employees when a deal is struck. That is simple matter of fairness, which is the foundation of good government.

State Rep. Bruce Darrough of Florissant represents the 75th District in the Missouri House of Representatives, where he is Democratic Labor Caucus chairman.