For starters, I want to say that I think that having employer associations is a good thing. You want to have coordinated systems of bargaining because you want to have coordinated standards across the board. It's not a good system to have each employer trying to cut its own deal with the union.
The problem is not the existence of the BCMEA per se; the problem is who's at the table and who has the actual power to make decisions.
If you have an employer association that actually has real decision-making power and is familiar with the facts on the ground and has the power to enter into negotiations with the goal of reaching an agreement, then that's a healthy thing.
The problem in the case of the BCMEA is, as we heard previously from Mr. Ashton and others, that they're not sending people with decision-making power to the table. That, as I said earlier, is because the incentive structure is such that they don't have an incentive to reach an agreement at the bargaining table, so they just need people who serve as placeholders essentially. That undermines the overall collective bargaining process.