You Manage It! 2: Ethics/Social Responsibility Public Sector Unions in Wisconsin Have been Dealt a Major Setback with a New Law that Weakens Union Bargaining Rights
A controversial new law was enacted in 2011 in Wisconsin that limits the bargaining rights and security of public sector unions within the state. The law, called the Wisconsin Budget Repair Bill, or Act 10, was passed by conservative state lawmakers under the leadership of Republican Governor Scott Walker, who blamed favorable labor contracts negotiated by public sector unions in the past for a state budget deficit of $3.6 billion. The law stipulates that public sector workers need to vote whether to re-unionize every year, prevents unions from automatically collecting union dues from its members, and greatly narrows the scope of collective bargaining topics to only wages. The amount of pay that can be bargained over is limited to the rate of inflation.
During the two years since the law was passed, public sector unions in Wisconsin lost between one-third and two-thirds of their members. For example, the Wisconsin Education Association Council, the state’s largest teachers’ union, lost about half of its 98,000 members since Act 10 became the law. The law does not affect the bargaining rights of first responder personnel such as local police, firefighters, and state troopers. The law affects all other public sector unions that represent teachers, nurses, municipal employees, social workers, and other job categories that work for city, county, and state government. The success of Wisconsin in limiting public sector union power has influenced legislators in Ohio, Michigan, Tennessee, and Idaho to introduce bills in those state legislatures to limit public sector unions in those states.
Until recently, public sector unions have been considered to be a success story by their increasing union membership growth in the United States. As opposed to the decrease in union membership in private sector firms, public sector unions have accounted for most of the increase in organized labor since the 1960s. However, the shocking setback experienced by public sector unions in Wisconsin—the first state to legalize collective bargaining for government employees back in 1959—has caused labor relations observers to wonder whether the law in Wisconsin is a turning point for public sector unions, making them less relevant for public employees in the years to come.
Critical Thinking Questions
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15-14. Are public sector unions in the United States too powerful? What is the source of the power of public sector unions? Do you agree with Governor Walker of Wisconsin, who believes that (1) public sector unions should have their power cut back so the topics for negotiation are limited to only wages, and (2) that unions must hold an election each year to make sure that a majority of employees want the union to continue, or else lose their right to represent public employees?
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15-15. Many public sector employees decided to quit being union members in Wisconsin as explained in the case. What alternative ways does a group of public sector employees, such as nurses or teachers, have to improve their employee benefits, working conditions, or salaries without having a union to represent their interests to management in city, county, or state government?
Team Exercise
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15-16. With a group of four or five students, assume that you are a group of high school teachers in Wisconsin and that the union that represented the teachers to the board of education in the school district has been disbanded because it did not receive a majority vote in this year’s required election. After the union was defeated, the school board announced that the pay for high school teachers would be frozen and no pay raises would be forthcoming. Each teacher in the group believes that he or she deserves a pay raise for the coming year. The group of teachers you are in would like to present a case, in favor of giving teachers pay raises, to the high school principal and the Parent-Teachers Association (PTA) to obtain their support. What kind of data will the teachers need to make a convincing case to the principal and the PTA? For example, will the teachers need data that covers individual teacher performance, school performance, performance of the students, school budget data, school district performance data, or state-wide school district performance data? How will the teachers obtain all of this data to make a rational case for higher pay based on the evidence? Will the school board cooperate and disclose their budget data to the teachers? If the teachers do not have the time or the resources to collect the data they need to make a credible presentation of evidence for higher wages to the principal or PTA, what alternatives do the teachers have to improve their pay? What type of services could a well-functioning union provide the teachers to help them obtain a pay increase from the school board? Be prepared to share your answers to these questions with other members of the class when called on by the instructor.
Experiential Exercise: Individual
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15-17. The purpose of this experiential exercise is to reflect on the implications of the Wisconsin law that weakens public sector unions, as explained in this case, by thinking about how you would answer the following questions: Do public sector employees need unions to represent their interests to administrators in government? Is it better to be a member of a weak public sector union or not be a union member at all? Since most employees who work in the public sector have their job security protected by civil service rules that require the application of due process, are public sector unions really necessary to act as an advocate for employees? Do you agree with Governor Walker of Wisconsin that public sector unions are a too powerful a force in local elections that gives support to public officials who cater to their economic interests and works to defeat public officials who oppose union interests, which, unless union power is restrained, lets them obtain an unfair amount of government resources? Be prepared to explain the reasons for your answers when called upon by the instructor.