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发帖数: 29846 | 1 MADISON, Wis.—Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker signed a bill into law Friday
eliminating most collective-bargaining rights for the state's public
employees, while boosting how much they will pay for their benefits and
making it tougher for public unions to retain members.
With the passage of a controversial bill curtailing collective bargaining
rights for public workers in Wisconsin, angry union members are calling for
more protests and Democrats are promising legal challenges. Doug Belkin
reports from Madison.
Mr. Walker said the law will save workers' jobs and help get the state on a
better financial footing. He rescinded layoff notices to 1,500 state
employees Friday, and said the bill would save $30 million through June.
"What we've effectively done is protect middle-class jobs and middle-class
taxpayers," Mr. Walker said in an interview Friday. "When people realize
that I think there's going to be incredible support."
House Democratic Minority Leader Peter Barca countered that the governor
could have achieved the cost savings without eliminating bargaining rights,
because unions already had agreed to contribute more for benefits. He said
the governor, instead, chose to pursue a "radical assault on the rights of
Wisconsin's working families."
Democratic lawmakers said the 14 Senate Democrats who left the state Feb. 17
to boycott the bill plan to return to the Capitol on Saturday and speak at
a labor rally.
The new law calls for all public-employee bargaining agreements to be
terminated "as soon as possible," and requires the first of 2,000 new union
elections at state and local workplaces to begin in April.
Under the law, unions said it will be more difficult for them to retain
members. The new law requires that 51% of all eligible workers—including
those who don't vote—approve a union, which means unions can win a majority
of votes cast, but still be barred from representing workers.
Previously unions had to win a majority of votes cast. The state also will
stop collecting dues automatically as soon as contracts end.
Peter Davis, general counsel of the Wisconsin Employee Relations Committee,
the state agency that oversees union elections, said he didn't believe any
other state requires unions to win a majority of eligible voters.
He also said the huge number of new elections will overwhelm his 20-person
agency, which typically handles 50 elections a year. The agency doesn't have
the resources to conduct 2,000 elections in April for 200,000 workers
affected by the bill, he said.
Many union members object to the tougher election requirements. "Annual
certification is just a complete tactic to bust the unions," said Chris Fons
, a 45-year-old high school teacher from Milwaukee.
Mr. Walker defended the changes in union elections. "It really puts the onus
on saying if the union wants to provide value they have to prove it," he
said. "If people believe it then they'll come out and vote."
Now that the bill is passed, lawmakers will begin to debate Mr. Walker's two
-year budget. Andrew Welhouse, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Scott
Fitzgerald, said because of the high level of interest in the governor's two
-year budget proposal, which cuts more than $1 billion in funding to schools
and local governments, large venues like the Bradley Center, home of the
Milwaukee Bucks, are being considered for public hearings in April.
"We don't want to turn anyone away," he said. |
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