Shorter Gov. Scott Walker of WIsconsin:
Paraphrased -
“Wisconsin doesn’t have anything to bargain with or about: we have no money for improved pay or retirement, therefore the unions shouldn’t have any bargaining power related to pay or retirement.”
Now, let us add the suppressed premisses -
“Wisconsin doesn’t have anything to bargain with or about right now: unless we obtain new revenues or receive Federal aid we currently have no money for improved pay or retirement, therefore the unions shouldn’t have any bargaining power related to pay or retirement, ever.”
What an ass.
Listen: If you're pro-free market, you're pro-union. Labor hiring firms have a monopsony or a near monopsony on jobs - especially skilled labor jobs. Unions allow wage contracts and negotiations to be held on a firm to firm basis, not a firm to individual basis where a firm can afford to hold out much longer than an individual - that's not freedom. That's not fair use of resources. That exactly the problem that libertarianism cannot prevent: raising the barriers to entry for class mobility.
If the firm goes under because of high labor costs, then that is the fault of the firm for not correctly accounting for the cost of labor - when you account labor too cheaply, of course it's going to impact your profits. The union then has a choice: renegotiate or allow the firm to expire properly and bring in a new firm - if there's demand, then there'll be somebody to supply it. Labor is not a fixed cost, much as hiring firms would like it to be. Labor cost depends on local conditions in effect at the time of the contract and can and should be renegotiated from time to time.
Crossposted from Zyx' Mix
Update: Great comment by Blue Aardvark added another subsumed premise.