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Wisconsin: Largest state unions won't seek recertification by Thursday deadline
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel ^ | 9/21/2011 | Jason Stein

Posted on 09/21/2011 1:13:25 PM PDT by UB355

Largest state unions won't seek recertification by Thursday deadline

Madison - By the end of Thursday, the major state employee unions covering tens of thousands of workers will have effectively lost their official status.

Top leaders for those unions say they won't seek to meet the high hurdle for keeping that current status laid out in Gov. Scott Walker's union bargaining law. With a deadline set for the close of business Thursday, so far only four smaller state unions have said they'll seek to keep their status by winning a difficult recertification election.

Marty Beil, executive director of the 23,000-member Wisconsin State Employees Union representing largely blue-collar workers, said none of the units in his union will seek a vote on recertifying.

"We looked at the law and we find the law at best an exercise in wasted resources," Beil said. "We've chosen to use our resources to organize our members and advocate for our members."

So only, only three smaller unions representing building trades workers, prosecutors and other attorneys have filed with the state seeking to keep their official status. A fourth union representing a small number of state research employees is also expected to file.

In March, Walker signed legislation ending all union bargaining for public employees except for bargaining over wages. But union employees still can't bargain for raises larger than the rate of inflation unless approved by voters in a referendum.

The legislation also requires that unions go through yearly recertification votes to keep their official status rather than keep that status indefinitely after an initial vote as unions had done in the past. Unions can still exist without that official status, but government employers, such as schools and the state, don't have to recognize them or bargain with them.

To win the recertification election, unions must get 51% of the vote of all the members of their bargaining unit, not just the ones who take the time to cast ballots - a much higher bar than state elected officials have to clear to win their offices.

A spokesman for Walker had no immediate comment.

Bryan Kennedy, president of the American Federation of Teachers-Wisconsin, said so far only a small local state union within his larger umbrella group is seeking a recertification election. AFT-Wisconsin and its member unions as of June represented about 17,500 largely white-collar government workers.

Kennedy said that one of his member unions has workers in 700 locations around the state and would need to spend large amounts of time and money to win a recertification vote.

"You go through all that and all you get to do is bargain (for limited raises)," Kennedy said.

State unions have to file a petition seeking a recertification election and pay a fee to the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission by 4:30 p.m. Thursday or they will be decertified, agency chairman James Scott said.

The actual decertification won't happen, however, until it's requested by either the employer or a citizen, Scott said. That's in part because the agency doesn't have a master list of all the public employee unions in the state, he said.

"We're not going to know if they don't file unless somebody tells us," Scott said.


TOPICS: Breaking News; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Wisconsin
KEYWORDS: deadline; fail; largest; recertification; state; thursday; union; unions; unionthugs; walker; wi; wisconsin; wisconsinshowdown
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1 posted on 09/21/2011 1:13:36 PM PDT by UB355
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To: UB355

Translation..they know they would LOSE the elections..and they don’t want the negative PR..


2 posted on 09/21/2011 1:18:46 PM PDT by ken5050 (Save the EARTH...it's the ONLY planet with CHOCOLATE!!!)
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To: UB355

Kewl...how do you eat an elephant? One bite (union) at the time.


3 posted on 09/21/2011 1:19:20 PM PDT by RowdyFFC
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To: UB355
"We looked at the law and we find the law at best an exercise in wasted resources," Beil said. "We've chosen to use our resources..."

...in a vain, thuggish, and ultimately ridiculous attempt to punish Republican senators for doing their job and reward our own Democrat ones for running away from theirs. Gee. I can't figure out why no one wants us to be in charge!

4 posted on 09/21/2011 1:37:10 PM PDT by Hunton Peck (See my FR homepage for a list of businesses that support WI Gov. Scott Walker)
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To: Diana in Wisconsin

FYI..REALLY BIG DEAL....


5 posted on 09/21/2011 1:41:33 PM PDT by ken5050 (Save the EARTH...it's the ONLY planet with CHOCOLATE!!!)
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To: ken5050; UB355; Hunton Peck; TaMoDee; P from Sheb; Shady; DonkeyBonker; Wisconsinlady; JPG; ...
Wisconsin Politics Ping List Ping!
6 posted on 09/21/2011 2:18:07 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set...)
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To: UB355; All

“We looked at the law and we find the law at best an exercise in wasted resources,” Beil said. “We’ve chosen to use our resources to organize our members and advocate for our members.”

Translation: “Get 0bama re-elected!”

Don’t kid yourselves; they’ll just go covert and continue on as before...


7 posted on 09/21/2011 2:22:34 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set...)
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To: ken5050

Maybe I do not really understand this, but it seems to be HUGH, SERIES, and GOOD. ?? Yes?


8 posted on 09/21/2011 2:26:07 PM PDT by NEMDF
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To: NEMDF

Absolutely....government workers union power in WI has been effectively broken...


9 posted on 09/21/2011 2:27:58 PM PDT by ken5050 (Save the EARTH...it's the ONLY planet with CHOCOLATE!!!)
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To: UB355

Hope this has legs.


10 posted on 09/21/2011 2:30:47 PM PDT by yup2394871293
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To: ken5050

That’s what I was wondering? Does this mean that the union can no longer collect dues?


11 posted on 09/21/2011 2:38:23 PM PDT by KansasGirl
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To: Diana in Wisconsin
Don’t kid yourselves; they’ll just go covert and continue on as before...


Maybe... but now they have to collect those union dues from each member separately...:^)

12 posted on 09/21/2011 2:42:37 PM PDT by az_gila
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To: az_gila

Yep. The coffers will be lighter, but they’ll find a way to fund themselves, legally or not.


13 posted on 09/21/2011 2:49:57 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set...)
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To: UB355

You all tis tis Wisconsin, another lib state. The people have always been conservative, the lib politics are entrenched. Finally, the people have a voice. You all out there mock Wisconsin, but we are as conservative as Nebraska, we were shackled, the shackles have been removed. Now, we will reveal our true colors. Wisconsin has never been lib, the media and pressure made us so. We were forced to be a lib state, no more.

The hostage takers realize, they lost Wisconsin. WE WILL NEVER VOTE LIB AGAIN.

WE BROKE FREE!

After decades of this crap, finally, we are free!


14 posted on 09/21/2011 2:50:24 PM PDT by Indy Pendance
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To: KansasGirl
Does this mean that the union can no longer collect dues?

They can collect from whoever wants to pay them, but they can no longer use the government to compel payment by deducting the dues from paychecks and forwarding them. So, their income took a huge hit.

To compound that huge diminution in income, the unions just spent millions from their savings in the recent recall elections, without winning.

Now, with income devastated and savings simultaneously depleted, they're laying off many staffers.

Perhaps we should take up a collection?

15 posted on 09/21/2011 2:50:44 PM PDT by Hebrews 11:6 (Do you REALLY believe that (1) God is, and (2) God is good?)
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To: UB355

My guess is that they’re throwing all their resource at getting Walker thrown out, and getting Ø reelected next year.


16 posted on 09/21/2011 2:51:03 PM PDT by fwdude ("When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve ...")
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To: UB355

Wow! Whodathunkit?


17 posted on 09/21/2011 2:51:34 PM PDT by April Lexington (Study the Constitution so you know what they are taking away!)
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To: Indy Pendance
WE BROKE FREE!

Free at last! Free at last! Thank G-d almighty, y'all are free at last!

18 posted on 09/21/2011 2:53:57 PM PDT by April Lexington (Study the Constitution so you know what they are taking away!)
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To: UB355

A great victory for the People.


19 posted on 09/21/2011 2:56:39 PM PDT by arrogantsob (Why do They hate her so much?)
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To: UB355

how do I tell if my collar is blue or white? What if I don’t wear collared shirts in the first place? Then which class victim am I?


20 posted on 09/21/2011 3:10:09 PM PDT by stefanbatory (Insert witty tagline here)
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