09-05-2025
EDITORIAL: What's the point of having rights if we don't exercise them?
May 9—Labor negotiations are usually confined to the negotiating table, and for a very good reason.
When both sides are talking in a serious way, they generally can find avenues to agreement. That's why it's called collective bargaining, a process driven by a mutual goal and the willingness to compromise to get there.
But negotiations between Champaign County officials and union employees have taken a slightly different approach.
Union leaders and members have appeared before the county board and in public to demand a more generous offers, apparently in the hope that management will feel public pressure and offer more in terms of salary and benefits.
Public speech is A-OK, but this is an argument that will be resolved at the bargaining table and not in public.
Why?
Because most people are not familiar with the issues — What do employees really want? How much does management have to give? — they'll sit it out, perhaps paying some attention but mostly living life in the usual fashion.
Whatever their instincts, they don't feel like they have a dog in the fight. They do, of course, because ordinary people pay the taxes that support county government. But it's hard to draw a direct line between a wage agreement and property taxes.
Not long after county employees engaged in their public display, there was a similar effort at the City Building in Champaign.
An anti-Israel contingent protested in front of the municipal building and later before the city council to complain about the Israel/Hamas war in Gaza.
The protesters want the city to condemn Israel, a spokesman complaining that city officials have responded disrespectfully with "one year of silence."
Again, this is a speech issue with a questionable goal, much like one earlier that went on before the Urbana City Council.
It's been pointless to note, as Champaign Mayor Deb Feinen has repeatedly, that city councils in Champaign-Urbana have nothing to do with a war between Israel and Hamas, and even if the city wanted to exercise some influence over it, it lacks the authority to do so.
In their hearts, the anti-Israel contingent has to know that.
So what is going on?
The answer is as simple as it is clear.
Members of these groups are — rightly or wrongly — aggrieved to the point of wanting to have their say in public.
The U.S. Constitution grants people individual rights to speak out, and they are exercising that privilege.
Their ends may not be attainable, but the means are well within American traditions.
