A recent poll shows Wisconsinites are evenly split over collective bargaining rights. Fifty-three percent of Wisconsinites polled favor restricting bargaining rights for public employees, with 45 percent opposing any restrictions. However, with an almost five percent margin of error, the only certain thing those numbers show is that our state is divided. But here in Madison, we see little of that division due to the cities’ strong liberal base, which is why, here, those results might come as a surprise.

The protests last year brought to light something important about unions here in Wisconsin: There are issues that need fixing. For example, unions can often create incredible inefficiencies in the work place. I spoke with my friend’s dad, a business owner, who told me of many times when union inefficiencies have cost him time and money. The undeniable fact is that there are downsides to unions.

Does this mean we should get rid of them? Of course not. However, if the problems had been dealt with by the unions earlier (i.e. before Walker took office) it would have taken a lot of the power of his argument away, and the chances that he would have successfully dismantled them would have been much less. The inefficiencies should have been dealt with, but weren’t. As a result, it gave Republicans an argument to hide their ulterior motives.

I think most people would agree that Walker’s bill limiting collective bargaining rights will be changed in the future. But it’s worth noting that maybe there will be positive effects of it being in place. Don’t get me wrong, I’d like to see him recalled and the bill repealed, but at the same time, maybe pushing things so far right will cause the changes needed to make unions more economically viable so that the problems won’t develop to a point that would justify dismantling them entirely.

We definitely should not abandon collective bargaining merely because there are inefficiencies that can be fixed. The framers of our country didn’t give up on creating a united country simply because there were some faults in the Articles of Confederation; they fixed those problems and moved on. We shouldn’t raze collective bargaining to the ground; we should merely fix the things that need to be fixed and progress forward. After all, “Forward” is our state motto, isn’t it?

Forty-three percent of those polled said they would like to see Walker’s bill repealed, 34 percent would like to keep it as is, and 18 percent would like to see it amended in some way. While I agree with the 43 percent who would like to see the bill repealed, I also agree with the 18 percent that would like to see it amended. Ideally, I think our state would be best off by repealing the law, and enacting a new, bipartisan effort, to smooth out the bumps unions sometimes hit. But unfortunately, our state and federal government seem to be unable to understand the meaning of bipartisan.

Collective bargaining rights in this state are undeniably undergoing change right now. The most important question to ask is: Could some of it be beneficial? Democrats and union leaders ought to understand that there are facets of collective bargaining that can be perfected, and they should work towards fixing those imperfections. If they did, they would be able to better defend the rightful necessity of the existence of unions in our state.

Reginald Young ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in Legal Studies and Scandinavian Studies.