Governor Scott Walker made his name reforming Wisconsin’s labor laws. Now he proposes to do the same at the federal level.
In a speech yesterday, Walker detailed solid labor-policy reforms that conservatives should embrace. His reforms boil down to eliminating union power over the government and focusing private-sector labor law on employee choice.
Walker sees creating government unions as a policy mistake that unnecessarily increases government spending. Neutering Wisconsin’s government unions enabled him to eliminate a $3.6 billion budget deficit and cut taxes by $2 billion.
Federal unions are not as powerful as state and local government unions — they largely cannot bargain over wages and benefits — but they still make Uncle Sam less efficient and more expensive. So Walker proposes ending collective bargaining in the federal government.
Doing that would take an act of Congress. As an interim step, Walker proposes cracking down on the use of “union time” — that is, allowing federal employees to work for their unions at taxpayer expense. He also wants to stop unions from using federal resources to collect the portion of dues they spend on political causes and lobbying.
The press coverage of Walker’s private-sector labor law reforms has been slightly unhinged. The AP described it as “sweeping restrictions on organized labor in the U.S. . . . making it more difficult for unions to organize.” The AP barely described what Walker proposed, quoting instead liberal academics calling it “draconian.” How so? Essentially Walker wants to make private-sector unions more accountable to their members.
#share#Walker proposes requiring unions to form through a secret-ballot election and requiring unions to periodically run for re-election. Given that only 7 percent of private-sector union members chose the union that represents them, this makes a lot of sense.
He further proposes to expand union transparency requirements, institute whistleblower protections for union officers who expose corruption, and prohibit unions from spending workers’ dues on political causes without their consent.
In addition, he’d make voluntary union dues the default option in federal law, thereby effecting nationwide right-to-work. Walker also appears to have listened to union objections to the Wisconsin right-to-work law he signed. At the time, unions bitterly complained about representing non-members who don’t pay dues, so Walker now proposes having union contracts apply only to union members. Non-members who do not pay dues would negotiate separately. Because the National Labor Relations Board has shown little independence from organized labor, he proposes transferring its authority to the courts and other federal agencies.
Governor Walker believes that private-sector workers have the right to unionize if they choose, but their unions should have to earn — not presume — their support.
All of these changes would shift power from union bosses to rank-and-file workers. Governor Walker believes that private-sector workers have the right to unionize if they choose, but their unions should have to earn — not presume — their support. Polls show that union members themselves overwhelmingly support many of these provisions and want more say in their own union representation.
A new Gallup poll released Friday shows why this matters. It found union members are significantly less satisfied than nonmembers about their job security, flexibility of hours, and recognition for their achievements.
Unions do not appear to be actually improving their members’ working conditions. If they had to earn their members’ support, though, they might. Walker’s reforms would go a long way toward requiring private-sector unions to do just that.