In Herman Cain’s interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel — the same interview in which he fumbled his answer about Libya — he also had some trouble on the issue of collective bargaining for public employees, which the new wave of Republican governors have been cracking down on:
On the issue of collective bargaining, Cain said he supported the right of public employees to bargain collectively.
“But not collective hijacking. What I mean by that, if they have gotten so much for so many years and it’s going to bankrupt the state, I don’t think that’s good. It appears that in some instances, they really don’t care.”
…
Cain also appeared to be unclear on the issue of collective bargaining as it involves federal employees. Asked if he thought federal employees should have the ability to bargain collectively, Cain said: “They already have it, don’t they?”
Told they didn’t, he said, “They have unions.”
The American Federation of Government Employees, which represents 600,000 federal government workers in 65 agencies, says that most federal employees don’t have collective bargaining over pay and benefits.
They do have collective bargaining rights over working conditions.
