Posted on 09/15/2015 12:26:54 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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.
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.
James Sherk is a research fellow of labor economics in the Center for Data Analysis at the Heritage Foundation.
a good message ... but it doesn’t address the surging tsunami of current events like the illegal mexican invasion ... syrian-terrorist refugees ...
"Sometimes he puts his foot in his mouth, just like everybody," said Barbara Tomasino, a 65-year-old retired elementary school librarian from Plano, Texas, who donned a dress, shoes and a purse plastered with pictures of Trump's face. "If he gets elected, he might need to tone it down a little bit."
Government income recipients: Walker's most anxious opposition.
You're sweating the small stuff. What could possibly be more important at this moment in our nation's history that public sector unions?
And politicians more accountable also.
I had liked Walker before I didn’t.
I can’t find this on any list of issues voters care about.
Having said that, no union should be compulsory and it should be against the law for unions to make political contributions. Federal law prohibits federal workers from actively campaigning or participating in politics beyond voting. Then the unions to which the employee belongs funnels money to the Democrat Party that many union members do not support. Completely corrupt.
I don’t expect this to make much of an impact on the election. Polls show that the number one issue is illegal immigration.
The same big money button pushers who are pulling Walker’s mouth strings on labor unions are the same guys who love them some cheap illegal amnesty labor.
Did he just quit? Why is he still talking?
Scott Walker outlines plans for Federal Unions in detail.
FReep Mail me if you want on, or off, this Wisconsin interest ping list.
There are many messages.
Right out of the gate Walker revoked instate tuition for illegals (6 months into his 1st term in 2011 - only gov who has).
What has your candidate DONE?
You can tell a lot by what someone DOES.
Walker also has his healthcare plan.
https://www.scottwalker.com/obamacare-plan/files/Day-One-Patient-Freedom-Plan.pdf
Where is your candidate’s plan?
I am of the opinion that one way to destroy the union movement is to require them to fully fund their pension plans before they are allowed to :
- pay union bosses anything more than the average salary of the union members
- pay any money into charities or political contributions
- pay any money for advertisements or recruiting
- pay any money to any other union
It’s interesting to me how many FReepers (or maybe it just seems like a lot because the same posters hit every thread) don’t like the idea of Walker taking away the ability of unions to rob their employees by deducting from their checks “dues” - taken to overwhelmingly support liberals (like Trump does).
And it is even more curious that they slam him when he is going to pull the plug on the NLRB which is killing small business.
May 2, 2015: With membership now voluntary, Wisconsin AFSCME forced into big cutbacks
“Governor Scott Walker and the GOP-controlled state legislature freed government employees from involuntary forced union membership, enabling them to choose or not choose to pay dues. The results have shown that roughly two-thirds have not chosen union membership when given the opportunity. And that has meant big cutbacks for the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), one of the most left wing and biggest political contributors to Democrats among American unions.......
[SNIP]
.....Keep in mind that AFSCME [American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees] was founded in Wisconsin, the state that was the birthplace of the Progressive political movement. Thus, the rejection of forced union membership is doubly painful. And it is already painful for the union bosses:........”
....No mention is made of political donations by the unions, but in the past AFSCME has been a major source of money and manpower for the Democrats. That racket is now ending for workers in Wisconsin, and one of Scott Walker’s strongest appeals will be to extend these reforms nationwide.”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3336925/posts#8
Check this out:
Randi Weingarten AFT [American Federation of Teachers] President
and Richard L. Trumka, AFL-CIO President
and BCTD
are investing pension funds in Democrat initiatives [GREEN and CLINTON GLOBAL ready].
“......At the White House event today, the labor movement committed to work to invest $150 million in energy-efficient retrofit projects in the coming months.
President Obama announced that nearly $4 billion of investments have been committed already, including $2 billion by workers’ pension funds, CEOs, mayors and university presidents for energy-saving upgrades. This builds on 14 private sector commitments announced at the Clinton Global Initiative conference in June, including the labor movement’s aim to invest $10 billion in pension fund assets in job-creating infrastructure projects over the next five years.
“The Better Buildings initiative has all the right components to make a real difference—it will create profitable investment opportunities for worker pension funds, create badly needed good jobs, increase America’s competitiveness around energy savings, and address the dangers of climate change,” said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.
“This is about smart investments in America’s future,” AFT President Randi Weingarten said at the White House event. “The initiative is a win-win-win. It puts skilled laborers back to work on projects that will cut energy bills and pollution, reduce our dependency on foreign oil and create tens of thousands of new jobs. It’s exactly what America needs now to strengthen our economy.” The Building and Construction Trades Department of the AFL-CIO said the initiative will have a profound impact on the U.S. construction industry, which is suffering a 14 percent unemployment rate nationwide, by providing apprenticeships and jobs.
“It will create much-needed pathways for Americans to gain access to job and career training while making great strides to address our critical energy and environmental challenges,” said Mark H. Ayers, president of the Building and Construction Trades Department.
The AFT has been retrofitting its headquarters building in Washington, D.C., to become LEED Silver certified, and the AFL-CIO has committed to a Better Buildings Challenge retrofit of its headquarters, expected to reduce energy consumption by 20 percent.
“We not only are asking others to commit to energy-saving retrofits, but we’re also doing it ourselves,” Weingarten said.
Over the past year, the AFL-CIO, AFT and BCTD have been working with a broad coalition of pension funds, money managers, public officials and employers to focus investment in our nation’s infrastructure projects, with a particular emphasis on energy-efficient retrofits.
The AFL-CIO has exceeded its initial Clinton Global Initiative commitment of working with existing real estate-focused investment funds to invest between $10 million and $20 million of additional capital in energy-efficient retrofits of commercial, industrial, institutional and public buildings over the next six months. — AFL-CIO, AFT and BCTD Laud $4 Billion Commitment to Presidential ‘Better Buildings Challenge’ Initiative [Dec - 2011]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3336925/posts#13
Yawn...Do you get paid by the word?
I see you’re a Cruz supporter.
You could afford my threads the same courtesy that I give Ted Cruz.
It's not that I don't like the idea. I just think it's very indicative of the whole mess of a Walker campaign that he latches onto an issue that is nowhere near to being on the average voter's radar screen. He doesn't talk health care, or immigration, or ISIS, or Iran, or taxes, or deficits. He goes after unions. You have to shake your head at what passes for the logic of it.
As I said before, if the government unions want to completely kill this issue for the Walker campign then all they have to do is come out in support of him and his opposition to public sector unions will immediately disapper. That's the full extent of his interest in unions or union workers.
He has talked about ALL these things in detail.
He has a policy paper out on healthcare (as well as a policy paper on the unions) and more are coming.
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