There's a good article in the WSJ (that's WISCONSIN STATE, not WALL STREET) about how state organizations are coming to grips with the pending loss of collective bargaining. It's telling just how much Gov Walker's overreach came as a surprise:
Some public administrators say they wanted reductions in union power, but they weren't prepared for a sudden removal of almost all collective bargaining.
"We weren't asking to get rid of all collective bargaining," Sauk Prairie School District Superintendent Craig Bender said. "There are some little tweaks that would help, but throwing out the whole thing creates a whole bunch of unrest."
It also puts pressure on public administrators to write policy handbooks covering everything now controlled by the contracts.
That unrest is a real concern to administrators of public agencies, who are under a lot of unexpected pressure to come up with good policy handbooks to prevent mass exodus to the private sector or retirements. We tend to focus on teachers, but consider social workers:
Officials worry that if they change too much too soon, they will demoralize workers, leading to an erosion in the quality of important public services, an exodus of talented people, or possibly even strikes.
"If your goal is to retain quality employees, you'd better be sure your compensation and your work rules are attractive enough so that people don't just leave their jobs," Phillips said. "The counties don't want experienced social workers quitting and dumping their caseloads on a bunch of social workers with one year's experience."
And there's that word: strikes. By abolishing collective bargaining, labor strikes are once again on the table as yet more pressure holding administrators in line. Keep in mind that collective bargaining was introduced precisely to defuse strikes, historically:
Wisconsin enacted its collective bargaining law to put an end to strikes, said William Powell Jones, a UW-Madison professor who is writing a book on the history of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which started in Wisconsin.
Public employees could be fined or fired for striking, but that probably wouldn't keep schools open, Jones said.
"Can you imagine if a school fired its entire staff? It's hard to replace teachers. The process of hiring takes a long time," Jones said.
Walker said he doubts teachers would strike. Madison teachers received too much negative backlash when school was shut down several days in February because of a mass sickout, he said.
Collective bargaining helps prevent strikes by making workers feel like they've been treated fairly, even if they don't get everything they want, said Frederick Perillo, a partner in a Milwaukee law firm that represents the state AFL-CIO.
Bold emphasis above is mine. (Wisconsin is of course the birthplace of the labor movement, so this has particular resonance here).
A separate article at WSJ also points out that losing collective bargaining means unions will focus more on politics and organizing than negotiating. Here's the lede:
Wisconsin's new collective bargaining law would take away many of the traditional tasks of public sector unions, so some labor leaders are considering plans to shift more of their focus to the political arena.
The law forbids contract negotiations on anything but cost-of-living raises — eliminating bargaining on base wages, benefits and working conditions.
Without contracts to negotiate and enforce, union officers and staff could concentrate their efforts on organizing - lobbying elected officials at budget time, working to elect labor-friendly politicians and promoting the eventual repeal of the collective bargaining law, said Paulette Feld, vice president of the 22,000-member Wisconsin State Employees Union.
"We would be organizing to keep the union going," Feld said.
The downside is of course reduced membership and fewer dues, which will restrict the capabilities even as the range of activities becomes more focused. Union officials in the story describe it as a "slow bleed". And there's also the question of whether there's any point in maintaining national certifications.
However, ultimately there will be a leaner union organization which is more focused on political activities, as a result of this law. And the anger at the railroading of the law through by Walker - especially if he doesn't get recalled - will be focused come November 2012.
Unlike many more conservative states that have abolished collective bargaining, Wisconsin is a swing state of purple hue with a deep reservoir of labor heritage. I think that there's a good chance that collective bargaining was holding back labor politics to a degree. Now that the grand bargain has been reneged upon by the extremist right, it's time to put all the chips on the table... and just in time for the big game.
(cross posted at Dean2016.com)