Wisconsin unions in life or death fight to recall Gov. Walker
By DON McINTOSH
Associate Editor
Feb. 11 marks one year since Wis-
consin’s newly-elected Republican gov-
ernor, Scott Walker, declared war on
public-sector unions. Walker introduced
what he called a “budget repair” bill, but
its aim was to put an end to public em-
ployee unionism in Wisconsin. A year
after it was introduced — and seven
months after it took effect — public em-
ployee unions still exist in Wisconsin,
but they’ve suffered a body blow, and
are fighting to hold on while they mobi-
lize for a life-or-death fight to recall
Walker from office.
Eliminating collective bargaining
was not part of Walker’s 2010 election
campaign. Nor was his election win —
with 52 percent of the vote — a partic-
ularly strong mandate. But at a private
meeting Feb. 7, 2011, Walker an-
nounced to his cabinet that he was
about to follow in the historic footsteps
of his idol Ronald Reagan, who fa-
mously fired striking public employees
in 1981 and broke their aircraft con-
trollers union.
Walker planned for his bill to be
passed within weeks, but it was delayed
when Democratic members of the Wis-
consin State Senate fled to Illinois, leav-
ing the Republican-dominated legisla-
tive chamber without the quorum it
needed to pass budget-related bills.
Meanwhile, a two-week-long people’s
occupation of the Wisconsin state capi-
tol attracted worldwide attention. But
on March 9, Senate Republicans deter-
mined that legally, the bill wasn’t
budget-related after all, which meant
they could pass it without the Democ-
rats present. Unions mounted chal-
lenges in court, but none of those chal-
lenges have succeeded so far. On June
29, the law took effect, as Wisconsin
Act 10.
The only budget-related part of the
so-called “budget repair” bill was a re-
quirement that public employees pay a
greater portion of the cost of their health
and retirement benefits.
Act 10 eliminated
union rights altogether
for university employ-
ees, but left them intact
for police officers and
firefighters. For other
public employees,
strictly speaking, Act
10 didn’t eliminate the
right to collective bar-
gaining; it just rendered
it meaningless.
Under Act 10, in or-
der to engage in collec-
tive bargaining, unions
must be re-certified
every year. To be re-
certified, unions must
pay a fee of $200 to
$2,000, and then get
“yes” votes — not just
from a majority of
those voting, but from a
majority of the work-
place. Non-union
workplaces don’t vote every year
whether to unionize; only unionized
workplaces vote every year whether to
stay union. And Act 10 bars school dis-
tricts and local governments from vol-
untarily recognizing or bargaining with
unions outside of the state framework.
Once a union is re-certified, it may
bargain with an employer — but not
about benefits, work rules, discipline,
safety, or anything else — only about
wages, and then only the base wage.
Not only that, but public employers are
barred from agreeing to raises higher
than inflation without a public vote.
Note that nothing prohibits public em-
ployers from giving higher-than-infla-
tion raises to nonunion employees —
only union employees face the cap.
Act 10 also takes away any leverage
that public employee union workers
could use to make employers agree to a
raise. Under the previous law, the two
sides had an incentive to agree to a rea-
sonable contract, because if they failed
to, the contract would be resolved by
binding arbitration: A neutral arbitrator
would pick the most reasonable offer in
its entirety. Act 10 eliminates binding
arbitration, and at the same time man-
dates that workers be fired if they strike.
With no right to strike and no require-
ment to arbitrate, collective bargaining
is reduced to collective begging.
Finally, under Act 10, no contract
can require any public worker to pay
union dues. In fact, it bars public em-
ployers from deducting union dues
from paychecks, even if employees re-
quest it.
And as if to put the final nail in the
coffin, Walker put an anti-union lawyer
in charge of the Wisconsin Employ-
ment Relations Commission, the
agency that runs the re-certification
elections.
Unsurprisingly, most Wisconsin
unions opted not even to take part in the
new system. Act 10’s implementation
set in motion a rolling series of “un-cer-
tifications.” Union contracts that were
ratified before the law took effect re-
main in force, but the terms of Act 10
take effect when they expire. Because
they could see that coming, many local
unions rushed to get agreements with
cities and counties.
State workers weren’t so lucky:
Their boss was Scott Walker, and his
first act upon taking office had been to
cancel an extension of the state worker
contract. So state employees were the
first group to lose union certification.
AFSCME Council 24 — the Wiscon-
sin State Employees Union — had
22,000 state employee members a year
ago. Not a single one of its units opted
to re-certify.
AFSCME Council 40 — made up
of AFSCME chapters at local govern-
ments — had just under 32,000 mem-
bers a year ago. Now, says Executive
Director Rick Badger, less than 17,000
remain under about 400 contracts that
haven’t yet expired, while about 3,000
more — in the formerly unionized
units — have stepped up to pay dues
(keeping their union membership, but
without a contract). Staff dropped to 27
from 38 a year ago, and agreed to a 20
percent cut in pay and benefits. At
some local governments where the
union and employer had decent rela-
tionships, work rules and conditions
stayed the same after contracts expired.
In Rock County, south of Madison,
commissioners passed elements of the
union contract as ordinance.
The Wisconsin Education Associa-
tion Council (WEAC), an affiliate of
the National Education Association,
had 98,000 members a year ago.
WEAC isn’t releasing current member-
ship figures, but spokesperson
Christina Brey said about a third of the
union’s contracts have expired. Union
staff is down 42, including 22 who
were laid off in October.
Unlike the other unions, many local
WEAC chapters decided to seek re-cer-
tification, in part to send a message to
Walker. In late November and early
December, the Wisconsin Employment
Relations Commission conducted 213
union elections in school districts, and
189 (90 percent) resulted in re-certifi-
cation. In only three cases did the union
fail to get a majority of votes, though
in 21 cases they failed to get the neces-
sary majority of the workplace.
With the street protests of February
and March dying down, the popular
fight shifted to the electoral arena.
Union members and others gathered
signatures to recall state senators who
voted for the bill. Enough were gath-
ered that six state senate Republicans
faced recall, and in August, two of
them lost their seats.
Now, Walker himself faces recall.
Opponents had to wait until he’d been
in office a year, but on Jan. 17, the
group United Wisconsin turned in over
a million signatures — far more than
the 540,000 they needed to trigger re-
call — and all the more remarkable in
that it was an all-volunteer operation.
Now a state agency will have 60 days
to certify signatures before scheduling
a primary six weeks later. A recall elec-
tion could take place as soon as June.
Four more Republican state senators
also face recall, and three of them are
considered vulnerable.
But even in the best case scenario, it
will take time to repeal Act 10. Walker
could be out in June, if voters are pre-
sented with a Democrat they prefer.
But the Wisconsin State Assembly
would still be controlled 59 to 39 by
Republicans until at least the Novem-
ber 2012 election.
Public employee union leaders have
tried to focus on the bright side of the
struggle — a re-animated rank-and-
file, and mass public support of the idea
of collective bargaining. But there’s no
denying that Wisconsin public em-
ployee unions are in a defensive fight, a
fight for their very existence, and a
fight that will have national signifi-
cance.
Machinists District W 24
IBEW Local 48
Teamsters Local 223
AFSCME Local 350
Sheet Metal Workers Local 16
Operating Engineers Local 701
Columbia Pacific Building Trades
NW Oregon Labor Council
“Thank you for helping us support
family-wage, local jobs”
CHARLOTTE LEHAN
Clackamas County Chair
Paid for by Friends of Charlotte Lehan
PAGE 4
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
FEBRUARY 3, 2012