MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE
by Michael Wolraich
Order today at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop
MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE by Michael Wolraich Order today at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop |
Gov. Scott Walker’s budget repair bill would bust the budget of the state agency required to administer part of it, while creating a strange and difficult standard for unions to meet in order to continue to exist, said Peter Davis, general counsel for the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission.
Walker’s bill would require the commission’s 20-person staff to conduct votes in up to 2,000 state and local government unions each April, Davis said Thursday.
“We would try, but there’s no way we could do it,” Davis said.
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A provision that received less attention would require members of each public sector union to vote each year to continue operating. Those annual votes would require approval of 51 percent of a union’s membership to keep certification, Davis said.
That means that if less than 51 percent of a union's membership takes part in a vote, then even if every member voting votes for the union it won't be enough.
Under current law, workers typically vote just once to establish a union, and a simple majority of those voting is enough, just like in elections for government offices, Davis said.
Requiring 51 percent of all members “is a unique and different standard than any other labor law we know of,” Davis said.
“It’s fair to predict that it would be a very difficult standard for many unions to meet, especially year after year.”
If politicians needed 51 percent of eligible voters, “nobody would be in office,” said Andy Heidt, president of AFSCME Local 1871.
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This ain't about the budget, folks. This is about Union-Busting and an all-out, nationwide assault on worker's rights.