While it may be a pleasant thought for many of us, and the failed attempt to recall Scott Walker notwithstanding, I think it may be more than a bit premature, even foolish, to start sounding the death knell for public sector unions. While it is being trumpeted by many that they have finally reached their high water mark, I think we might want to let the dust settle and look toward the national election before making any such claims. Because one victory in one battle does not equate to a victory in a much bigger, and very important, war. And you can take it to the bank that while the unions may be wounded, they are very far from being dead. And like a wounded animal, this latest episode may have only served to make them all the more dangerous when it come to the very crucial election that now looms just over the horizon. We must now be all the more wary as the next election draws closer. These people are never to be underestimated.
Because of how long this thing went on, I'm sure most of us got to be pretty familiar with what seemed to be a what can only be described as being a disgusting smear campaign that was waged, nearly nonstop, against Gov. Scott Walker. He was accused of all manner of idiotic claim imaginable including, apparently, of even fathering an illegitimate love child. None of which had much of an impact in the end. The governor’s recall victory, I think, now sends a very clear message that should resonate all across the nation: The fiscal cancer devouring state budgets can now be said to have a cure, and it is he who has found it. The costly defeat for the entrenched union interests that tried to oust Walker in retribution for challenging their power was marked by Barry’s refusal to lend his weight to the campaign out of a fear of being stained by defeat. We’ll see how well this strategy of opportunistic detachment plays out in the fall as Barry reaches out to unions for support.
Ironically enough, it was Wisconsin, back in 1959, that became the first state to allow collective bargaining by government employees. The projected cost of supporting Baby Boomer union retirees now threatens to bankrupt the state, as it does many others. This time around, as he did back in 2010 when he initially ran for governor, Scott Walker ran for office promising change. He promised to make the tough decisions that were needed to fix Wisconsin. The fiscal medicine he is administering since may have been bitter, but it looks like it is now actually starting to work. The state budget has been balanced without raising taxes. The unemployment rate has been dropping and is now below the national average. Property taxes are down. Fraudulent sick leave policies—which allowed employees to call in sick and then work the next shift for overtime pay, have been ended. The government has stopped forcibly collecting union dues from workers’ paychecks.
But best of all, the myth that, somehow, unions are to be considered as being invincible and that union bosses represent their members’ interests has now been exposed as the lie we always knew that it was. Now that union dues are voluntary, tens of thousands of union members have already stopped paying them. Membership in the Wisconsin chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union (AFSCME) has plummeted, having now dropped by over half. Membership in the state’s American Federation of Teachers (AFT) is also down by over a third. Given unions’ influential role in most elections, the national implications of this trend could be said to be, at least potentially, pretty devastating. If we are to ever have any hope of digging our way out of the fiscal mess that we are now in, these unions are going to have to be curbed. They can no longer be allowed to run roughshod over their members.
Walker’s message is as simple as it is clear: The key to bringing balance back to public sector labor relations and balance state budgets is to break the iron triangle of closed-shop mandatory unionization, compulsory dues collection, and oversized campaign donations to politicians that promise to do the unions’ bidding. If other governors take his cue and take up the cause, that giant sucking sound you hear will be the air coming out of union bosses’ bloated political action budgets. The work in Wisconsin is far from being complete. The controversial law exempted police and firefighters, a political concession to get the legislation passed. Federal courts have zeroed in on this anomaly, striking down certain sections of the law because they do not treat workers equally. This needs to be repaired— by rescinding the exemption for public safety workers. With the recall election behind him, Walker may be sufficiently emboldened to do just that.
The power of private sector unions was long ago broken by many heavily unionized companies going bankrupt. While this was painful for both workers and shareholders, the economy motored on as nimbler non-union competitors picked up the slack. This approach is problematic for the public sector because bankrupt state and local governments cannot be replaced by competitors waiting in the wings. Yes, citizens can always vote with their feet, emptying out cities like Detroit, leaving the blighted wreckage behind. But isn’t Walker’s targeted fiscal retrenchment less painful than scorched-earth abandonment? Chicago machine candidate Barry "Almighty" rode into office to the tune of 'Hail to the Chief', promising the unions that backed him the gift of card check elections, ending the secret ballot that shields employees from union intimidation. He may well ride into retirement to the tune of On Wisconsin as the era of closed shop unionism may finally be coming to an end.
No comments:
Post a Comment