The Battle Over Public Sector Labor Unions in the U.S.

Wisconsin Protests: Why 'Week of Rage' Matters to Rest of America

Only 9% of all private sector workers are now represented by a union, less than half the percentage of two decades ago. Meanwhile, the proportion of state and local workers with union representation has held steady over the same time, at about 43%... Government pensions are generally much richer than those offered by corporations. The average public sector employee now collects an annual pension benefit of 60% after 30 years on the job or 75% if he is one of the one-fifth or so of workers who are not eligible to collect Social Security benefits. Of the corporate employers that still offer traditional pensions, the average benefit is equal to 45% of salary after 30 years... Just as important, about 80% of government retirees receive pensions that are increased each year to keep pace with the cost of living, a feature which protects pensions against the effects of inflation and that can increase the value of a typical pension by hundreds of thousands of dollars over a person's retirement. But such inflation protection is nonexistent in corporate plans. - Bankrupt Public Pensions: A Time Bomb That Will Explode, AnchorRising.com, May 16, 2005

The number of government employees at all levels surged from about 8.2 million in 1959 to 22.5 million in 2009. Historically, government work paid less than comparable employment in the private economy, but greater job security and good pensions compensated for the lower wages. No longer: now government workers tend to fare better than private-sector workers across the board—not only in job security and pensions but in wages and other benefits as well. - What public-sector unions have wrought, Jeff Jacoby, October 2010

February 19, 2011

Christian Science Monitor - ...In all, Republicans now hold five of seven governorships in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio. Last year, they held two.

The story is the same for legislatures in those seven states. Republicans now hold power in six of the seven lower chambers of the legislature (called the House in some states and the Assembly in others) – up from one last year. They also hold five of the seven state Senates. Only Illinois has bucked the trend, with Democrats controlling the General Assembly and the Senate and Democrat Pat Quinn the governor.

Walker was the first of the Midwest’s four new Republican governors to push for weakening collective bargaining. But Ohio and Michigan already have bills targeting unions in the works, too.

Wisconsin Democrats have resorted to extreme measures to hold up the vote. Fourteen Democratic state senators decamped from Madison Thursday, making the statehouse one lawmaker short of a quorum. On Friday, Walker asked two state troopers to collect missing Democratic leader Mark Miller from his home in order to force a vote.

Rising tensions in Madison and could presage the kind of labor unrest that hasn’t been seen in the US since the Great Depression, says Professor Bruno.

"If you're going to take away bargaining rights, you leave them with what?" he says. "You leave them with what they had in the '20s and '30s, you leave them with the streets."

Egypt in America?

In a time when large and tense demonstrations have become increasingly rare in America, the Wisconsin protests could provide an Egypt-like moment, says Norman Ornstein, a fellow at the nonpartisan American Enterprise Institute in Washington.

"If there's a big tea party demonstration in Madison, we may see a direct clash, just as we had in the streets of Cairo," he says.

One protester's sign at the capitol said, "Impeach Scott Mubarak" – a direct reference to protests that led Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to resign last week.

As it gains momentum, the union protest movement is likely to draw in young social-justice activists, Obama supporters, and even religious groups who fight for the dispossessed, says Bruno.

On the other hand, some conservatives believe Walker's refusal to budge on the collective bargaining issue has opened the way for counterprotests to support the cuts.

Conservative internet firebrand Andrew Breitbart and Atlanta radio show host Herman Cain will headline Saturday's tea party-flavored Wisconsin Freedom Rally. On his radio show Thursday, Fox News commentator Glenn Beck called the Wisconsin union protests "the beginning of the American insurrection."

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R) of Utah, who could face a tea party challenge to his seat in 2012, showed that mainstream Republicans, too, may be ready to weigh in.

In response to Mr. Obama's "assault" comment, Senator Hatch said:

"The only assault is from a bunch of self-interested government union employees who are putting their interests ahead of the interests of the Wisconsin taxpayers, who have been funding their runaway spending. This is not the way public servants should behave."

Wisconsin: Ground Zero in Battle Over Clout of Labor Unions in U.S.

Walker’s demand for public employees to pick up more of their expenses would have a negative effect on the state’s economy by decreasing wages of middle-class workers; weakening their purchasing power at local businesses, putting more than 9,000 private sector jobs in jeopardy; and reducing property taxes statewide by an estimated $46 million, according to a recent study. - Walker’s Renewed War on Workers Underpaid public employees will get the shaft, ExpressMilwaukee.com, February 16, 2011

February 19, 2011

Christian Science Monitor - A pitched political battle in Wisconsin, which gathered momentum with dueling rallies by labor union fans and foes Saturday, has grown into something broader than a debate about policies in a single state.

What's at stake is the perception of public-sector labor unions in the US, and how much clout they'll be able to retain in an era of tight budgets for state and local government.

It's a debate that goes echoes beyond the Midwest, and it resonates with many taxpayers who see union workers as enjoying premium benefit packages at their expense.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker talks to the media Thursday at the State Capitol in Madison. His bill would eliminate collective bargaining rights for many state workers.

In Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker (R) argues that state employees should help fund their retirement plans by paying half of needed contributions into pension plans. The cost would equal about 5.8 percent of a typical state worker's paycheck.

As governors and legislatures struggle to balance their budgets, labor costs are one of the biggest expenses they face. Although unionized workers don't make up a majority of state employees, they account for a much higher share there than in the private sector.

Some 40 percent of public-sector workers are represented by labor unions, versus 7.7 percent of workers in the private sector, where union ranks have been declining for years.

So, how does union pay in the public sector stack up against that of private sector workers?

Here's a quick reality check:

• Weekly earnings are $917 for the typical union worker employed by state government in the US. That compares with $703 for the comparable wage-and-salary worker in the private sector, and $855 for the comparable unionized employee in the private sector. (These Labor Department numbers are the median amounts earned by workers in the second quartile, or roughly the middle of the income spectrum.)


• Weekly earnings have grown at a similar pace for union and non-union workers in the past decade. Without adjusting for inflation, wages are up 33 percent in the private sector for the typical worker. The comparable figures are 31 percent for private sector union workers, and 33 percent for government union workers.


• For state employees, there's a union versus non-union gap in wage gains. Union pay has risen 36 percent in the past decade, while non-union state employees saw wages rise just 27 percent – roughly holding steady with inflation.


• On benefits, union compensation is higher – and has been rising faster – for government workers than for non-government workers. (These numbers, from the Labor Department, don't break union and non-union into separate categories). The cost of hourly benefits averaged $13.85 per hour in the public sector in the third quarter of 2010, up 32 percent in seven years. By contrast, private sector benefits averaged $8.20 per hour, up 23 percent in that same time frame.

Does all this mean that public-sector unions should see a cut in their pay, their benefits, or their political clout? That's a volatile political question, as the shouting and speechifying in Madison, Wis., attests.

On Saturday, Democrats and Republicans in the state's legislature were sparring over what elements of Governor Walker's bill might be negotiable. Republicans say Democrats should return to the state, after their dramatic departure earlier this week, so a vote on the bill can occur.

The debate in Wisconsin is not just about pensions, paychecks, and the health of state finances. Labor supporters say Governor Walker's demands also include "union-busting" policies, such as an effort to prevent the collection of union membership dues through public paychecks.

Wisconsin has the biggest flareup currently. But the contest there is mirrored, or could be soon, in other states from New York to Illinois to California.

The budget battles don't hinge entirely around union pay. But as states cut a range of public services, and seek ways to stay financially on track for the long term, you can expect union compensation to remain part of the debate.

Largest Protest Yet Fails to Sway Wisconsin Lawmakers

[Public sector] unions have become self-destructive. In Wisconsin, they demand that the public completely fund their retirement. This irritates regular citizens who, through payroll deductions, contribute a portion of their income to their own retirements. So, when ordinary folks realize that unionized state workers consider themselves to be superior to them, when they realize that not only do they contribute to their own retirements but are completely paying for others, backlash against unions is inevitable. - atlantoon, YouTube, February 20, 2011

February 20, 2011

AP – Sometimes they cursed each other, sometimes they shook hands, sometimes they walked away from each other in disgust.

None of it — not the ear-splitting chants, the pounding drums or the back-and-forth debate between 70,000 protesters — changed the minds of Wisconsin lawmakers dug into a stalemate over Republican efforts to scrap union rights for almost all public workers.

"The people who are not around the Capitol square are with us," said Rep. Robin Vos, a Republican from Rochester and co-chair of the Legislature's budget committee. "They may have a bunch around the square, but we've got the rest on our side."

After nearly a week of political chaos in Madison, during which tens of thousands of pro-labor protesters turned the Capitol into a campsite that had started to smell like a locker room, supporters of Gov. Scott Walker came out in force Saturday.

They gathered on the muddy east lawn of the Capitol and were soon surrounded by a much larger group of union supporters who countered their chants of "Pass the bill! Pass the bill!" with chants of "Kill the bill! Kill the bill!"

"Go home!" union supporters yelled at Scott Lemke, a 46-year-old machine parts salesman from Cedarburg who wore a hard hat and carried a sign that read "If you don't like it, quit" on one side, and "If you don't like that, try you're fired" on the other.

A lone demonstrator stood between the crowds, saying nothing and holding a sign:

"I'm praying that we can all respect each other. Let's try to understand each other."

The Wisconsin governor, elected in November's GOP wave that also gave control of the state Assembly and Senate to Republicans, set off the protests earlier this week by pushing ahead with a measure that would require government workers to contribute more to their health care and pension costs and largely eliminate their collective bargaining rights.

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said the crowds that have gotten bigger each day have yet to win over any member of his caucus.

"What they're getting from individuals back home is stick to your guns, don't let them get to you," Fitzgerald said. "Every senator I've spoken to today is getting that back home, which is awesome. It's great to hear from people who are part of a rally ... (but) two people you meet at a fish fry or a person who comes up to you at a basketball game, those comments sink in."

Fitzgerald and other Republicans say the concessions are needed to deal with the state's projected $3.6 billion budget shortfall and to avoid layoffs of government workers. The move to restrict union rights has also taken hold in other states, including Tennessee and Indiana, where lawmakers have advanced bills to restrict bargaining for teachers' unions.

The throngs of Walker supporters who arrived in Madison on Saturday for an afternoon rally organized by Tea Party Patriots, the movement's largest umbrella group, and Americans for Prosperity, carried signs with a fresh set of messages:

"Your Gravy Train Is Over ... Welcome to the Recession" and "Sorry, we're late Scott. We work for a living."

"We pay the bills!" tea party favorite Herman Cain yelled to cheers from the pro-Walker crowd. "This is why you elected Scott Walker, and he's doing his job. ... Wisconsin is broke. My question for the other side is, 'What part of broke don't you understand?'"

Democrats in the Wisconsin Senate, short of the votes needed to keep Republicans from passing the so-called "budget repair" bill, fled the state on Thursday. They haven't been seen since, and said Saturday they are more resolved than ever to stay away "as long as it takes" until Walker agrees to negotiate.

"I don't think he's really thought it through, to be honest," Democratic Sen. Jon Erpenbach, of Middleton, said Saturday.

Democrats offered again Saturday to agree to the parts of Walker's proposal, so long as workers retain their right to negotiate with the state as a union.

Fitzgerald said that's an offer the GOP has rejected for months. The restrictions on collective bargaining rights are necessary so that local governments and the state have the flexibility needed to balance budgets after cuts Walker plans to announce next month, he said.

Walker, who was spending time with his family Saturday and didn't appear in public, also rejected the Democrats offer. His spokesman, Cullen Werwie, said the fastest way to end the stalemate was for Democrats to return and "do their jobs."

Madison police estimated that 60,000 or more people were outside the Capitol on Saturday, with up to 8,000 more inside. The normally an immaculate building had become a mess of mud-coated floors that reeked from days of protesters standing shoulder-to-shoulder.

Police spokesman Joel DeSpain said there were no arrests or problems during Saturday's protests.

"We've seen and shown the world that in Madison, Wis., we can bring people together who disagree strongly on a bill in a peaceful way," he said.

Steve Boss, 26, a refrigerator technician from Oostburg, carried a sign that read "The Protesters Are All 'Sick' -- Wash your Hands," a reference to the teacher sick-outs that swelled crowds at the Capitol to 40,000 people Friday and raised the noise in its rotunda to earsplitting levels. Boss said the cuts Walker has proposed were painful but needed to fix the state's financial problems.

"It's time to address the issue. They (public workers) got to take the same cuts as everyone else," he said. "It's a fairness thing."

Doctors from numerous hospitals set up a station near the Capitol to provide notes to explain public employees' absences from work. Family physician Lou Sanner, 59, of Madison, said he had given out hundreds of notes. Many of the people he spoke with seemed to be suffering from stress, he said.

"What employers have a right to know is if the patient was assessed by a duly licensed physician about time off of work," Sanner said. "Employers don't have a right to know the nature of that conversation or the nature of that illness. So it's as valid as every other work note that I've written for the last 30 years."

John Black, 46, of Madison, said he came out to the rallies in order to help bridge the gap between the pro-labor protesters and Walker's supporters. He carried signs that asked for a compromise on the budget bill while a friend's son handed out purple flowers.

"We liked Scott Walker as a change agent, but he moved too quickly and because of that there's always room for compromise," Black said.