After 3 weeks of large-scale protests and school district closings, the State Legislature has finally passed its controversial budget-repair bill. There is much debate to be had about the ethics and legality of Governor Walker's bill, but it really underscores a much larger question about the role of labor unions in our government.
As early as February 11th, Governor Scott Walker had released a proposal essentially doing two things: first, it required increasing the contribution amounts to state employees’ health care and their pension plans. And second, it removed most of the collective bargaining powers currently enjoyed by public sector unions. Governor Walker expects state employees to contribute 5.8% to their pension plans and 12.6% to their health care premiums. But this alone won't balance the budget.
Walker had warned that if he couldn't roll back some collective bargaining powers, local governments would be forced to lay off thousands of public employees. He's right. In order to narrow a $3.6 billion state deficit, Governor Walker would need to make deep cuts in shared revenue. Government unions simply will not make the sort of concessions necessary to balance local government budgets, so those with the least seniority will lose their incomes. It's not a pretty system.
Capital Protests and Fugitive Senators.
As early as February 15, unions began practicing their constitutional right to free speech. It was organized, peaceful, and quite frankly a good example of democracy in action. However, two days later, school districts in Madison and Mosinee began to close as public sector unions organized a "sickout" - a process whereby public school teachers call in sick as a form of protest. Shortly after, 14 Senate Democrats (the Rockford 14) boarded a bus and fled the state in order to avoid a vote on Walker's budget-repair bill. According to the State Constitution, three-fifths of the Senate body must be present - also called a quorum - in order to pass a fiscal bill. With all 14 Democrats hiding out in Illinois, the quorum was not met and Walker's bill couldn't be passed.
For three weeks, thousands of protesters surrounded the State Capital and spent the night in the rotunda. During those weeks, there was an attempt on the part of Republicans to reach out to the Rockford 14. Open records requests show that Republicans were willing to make concessions on certain collective bargaining components, but Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller - a Democrat - would not accept any concessions if Republicans kept collective bargaining prohibitions in the bill.
After a few exchanges with Senator Miller, Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald realized that Miller never intended to negotiate with Republicans at all. Fitzgerald received information indicating that the Rockford 14 intended to stay in Illinois possibly until June affording enough time to groups – and some Chicago groups with ties to President Obama - to organize a recall of several Republican legislators.
Fitzgerald then decided it was time to move forward. And on Wednesday, March 9th, Republicans stripped Walker's budget-repair bill of all its fiscal components, and passed it with an 18-1 vote. By making changes to collective bargaining a non-fiscal matter, the Senate no longer needed a three-fifths attendance for a vote. On Thursday, the State Assembly took up the bill fresh from the Senate floor and passed it with a 53-42 vote. Currently, the bill awaits a signature from the Governor.
Controversy Over Passing the Bill
Wisconsin Democrats accused Republicans of illegally and unethically passing legislation that had little warning and no oversight. Democrat Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca accused Senate Republicans of violating the state's open meeting law requiring a 24 hour notice before a public meeting were to occur.
Chief Senate Clerk Rob Marchant, an expert in the matter, stated that no rules were broken. He said that special sessions do not require advance notices other than posting it on the legislative bulletin board. Republicans did just that and provided a bulletin notice to all legislative offices two hours before the meeting began. This, according to the Chief Senate Clerk, seemed to satisfy the requirements of those rules and statutes.
Shortly after, State Senator Spencer Coggs - from his hideout somewhere in Illinois - complained to Greta Van Susteren that Republicans managed to steal democracy from the people and closed the State Capital "so that the people would not have a voice to speak." Yet, the people have been speaking at the Capital for three weeks shouting, chanting, and banging on their drums. They also refused to leave the building even after a court order was issued requiring them to do so.
No, the only democracy being stolen from the people was when 14 Democrat Senators fled the state, hid in undisclosed locations, and refused to return to the Capital. When the Rockford 14 refused to return, they were in fact trying to suppress a vote in the legislature. This by definition is stealing the people's democracy.
Unions and Government
The bill that passed on Thursday underscored a sharp philosophical divide over the role of unions in our government. Currently, most of our federal government employees do not have the right to bargain collectively over wages and benefits. Instead, their wage fluctuations are determined by Congress.
Some say that the federal government simply can't afford collective bargaining, but federal employees average well over $100,000 a year in wages and benefits without the protective benefits of unions. It would appear that our federal government just doesn't want to be hamstrung in the event that unions were to oppose the taxpayer. Could you imagine half of our CIA agents calling in sick because their unions told them to? What if our army did the same thing?
Conclusion
Are Republicans the big bad guys for stripping public employees of the right to bargain collectively? We don’t think so. First, there was an attempt by Governor Walker to make concessions with Senate Democrats. It may not have provided the sort of concessions they wanted, but that's what happens when you're in the minority.
Second, if Walker hadn't made those changes to collective bargaining, local municipal and county governments would be forced to lay off thousands of public employees. Why layoffs? Because most unions will prefer layoffs to long-term reductions in their health care and pension plans. In short, the jobs of those with the least seniority are not as important as the jobs of those closer to retirement.
And third, Republicans followed a legal process honoring the principles of democracy. In the history of Wisconsin, no Republican legislator has ever fled the state to stop the passage of a bill. It was dirty politics, it was meant to suppress a vote, and it cost taxpayers a lot of money. Wisconsin voted for Republicans because Wisconsin needed obvious fiscal reform. Nobody said it would be easy, but now our state is on the right path to closing a big budget shortfall.