No, I didn't sign up for disrespect and lies. Regardless, even this is better than the alternative I had before (years working as a permatemp, no yearly raise above 2%, even with outstanding ratings). At least now I can vent my ire at the boss without getting fired.

Of course you did. You signed up for an explicitly adversarial relationship with your employer.

Are municipal governments adversarial with the state? Some states think so, and go about banning municipalities from passing particular kinds of laws. And some municipalities also think so, and pass particular laws contrary to state law. But I think most people don't think this way about their municipal government and the state government.

I signed up to have a level of representative government intermediate between me and the employer. I didn't sign up because this was an adversarial intermediation. In fact I'm happier when it isn't. I'm more than okay working toward the common good, I just want this common good decided between the parties through negotiation, not handed down from on high. And I want this common good negotiation equally available to all employees, not just those with the most personal clout.

Citizens and municipal and state governments are not in an employment relationship and are not remotely comparable to one.

> I'm more than okay working toward the common good, I just want this common good decided between the parties through negotiation, not handed down from on high.

What you’ve just described is an inherently adversarial relationship with an employer by virtue of your desire to co-opt ownership and authority over their business.

Negotiating individually for a pay increase is also adversarial. More money for me means less money for my employer, our interests are in direct contradiction.

This reminds be of a mysogynistic argument I once heard:

When wife gets a job she signs up for an adverserial relationship with her husband

How is that relevant to this discussion?

Do you feel the same way about police unions and the tax paying public?

Yes. Public unions are adversarial to the tax payer. They advocate for their personal benefit at the expense of other tax payers.

I think it’s disingenuous to paint a decision in the framework you agreed upon as “disrespect and lies.”

Of the things that I posted, this is what I'm calling a lie: "Management said that all raises, even this special out-of-cycle one, was subject to negotiation. Even though our bargained contract stated that out-of-cycle raises could happen without negotiation."