Skip to main content

Governor Scott Walker Proposes Sweeping Changes to the Union Landscape


Recently, Republican Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin proposed several changes to curb the power of unions in a proposed policy change that would be implemented if he were elected President.  For those who do not know, Governor Walker has battled unions in Wisconsin since becoming Governor a few years ago.  With his poll numbers sliding in his campaign for President, he has gone back to the well and focused on one of the topics he is more comfortable addressing (and has had a record of success).

Perhaps the most important changes in Walker's proposal include:  Making it illegal for federal employees to join a union; extending right to work laws across the country; and eliminating the National Labor Relations Board.


Eliminate Unions for Federal Employees

As for his proposal to eliminate unions for federal employees, Walker noted that in 2012, taxpayers apparently subsidized 3,395,187 hours of "official time" government union lobbying, including time spent negotiating collective bargaining agreements.  Walker stated that as Governor, he had seen the (negative) impact that big government unions have had on the government's ability to work on behalf of taxpayers.  Consequently, Walker's proposal to eliminate unions for federal employees is based upon the ideal that it would bring power back to the individual workers, rather than placing it in the hands of big unions.  

Extend Right to Work Laws Across the Country

Under Walker's proposal, he would change the default position in federal law to be Right to Work for all private, state, and local public sector workers.  In a concession of sorts, however, Walker indicated that states could affirmatively vote to opt out of Right to Work status.    

Eliminate the National Labor Relations Board

This is one of the parts of the proposal that caught me somewhat by surprise.  Walker pointed out that that Board has become a one sided advocate for "big-labor special interests."  To those who follow the NLRB, it is no surprise that is has become politicized over the years, depending upon the makeup of the Board & who appointed the Board members.  As Walker pointed out, in his opinion, the Board is beyond repair and should be eliminated. In its place, Walker would transfer the NLRB's oversight and administration of union elections, as well as the Board's role in addressing unfair labor practices, to the National Mediation Board.  (Not familiar with the National Mediation Board?  Check it out here:  http://www.nmb.gov/). 


Time will tell whether these proposals give Walker any traction on the national level.  For the time being, however, it is likely to energize his core supporters (as Walker is the toughest anti-union candidate running for President) yet also antagonize his opposition. 


 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

NLRB: Discussion Among Employees About Tip Pooling is Protected Concerted Activity

  This Advice Memorandum from the National Labor Relations Board’s Associate General Counsel, Jayme Sophir, addressed whether employees which discussed and complained about tip pooling at work constituted protected concerted activity. In relevant part, an employer in New York operated a chain of steakhouses.  While tip pooling was in place at these steakhouses, some of the employees objected to it on the grounds that it was not transparent and improperly divided tips among the workers.  Employees were told not to complain or talk to each other about the tip pool and were told that doing so would endanger their jobs.  Despite the employer later attempting to provide some clarity as to how the tips were being divided, rancor still existed among some employees.  At one point, the employees were told by a general manager that some employees that had been talking about the tip pool were “cleared out” and the employer would continue to do so. In the Advice Memorandum, it was noted that emplo
Post a Comment
Read more

What I’ve Been Reading This Week

A few years ago, I remember when the “Fight for $15” movement was taking off around the country.  Lo and behold, it appears that a $15/hour minimum wage is not the stopping point, which should be no surprise.  As the below article notes, New York is aggressively moving to ramp up hourly wage rates even higher.  While all the  below articles are worth a read, I called particular attention to that one. As always, below are a couple article that caught my eye this week. Disney World Workers Reject Latest Contract Offer Late last week, it was announced that workers at Disney World had rejected the most recent contract offer from the company, calling on their employer to do better.  As Brooks Barnes at The New York Times writes, the unions that represent about 32,000 workers at Disney World reported their members resoundingly rejected the 5 year contract offer which would have seen workers receive a 10% raise and retroactive increased back pay.  While Disney’s offer would have increased pa
Post a Comment
Read more

Utah Non-Compete Bill Falters in House

Last month, a non-compete bill sponsored by Representative Brian Greene (Republican from Pleasant Grove) & up for vote in the Utah House failed to make it through the Legislature.  The bill sought to ban enforcement of non-competes if they came after a worker was already employed, given no compensation (such as a bonus or promotion) for signing the non-compete, and laid off within six months.  However, by a 22 - 49 vote, the bill was resoundingly defeated after some business groups lobbied to kill the non-compete bill.  One group in particular, The Free Enterprise Utah coalition, argued that the Utah State Legislature should hold off on any changes to non compete laws in the state until a survey about non competes was done among Utah businesses.  Representative Greene had countered this claim and argued that a survey was not needed to show that the current non compete laws in the states allowed many businesses, including some small high tech companies in the state, to per
Post a Comment
Read more