DrMaddVibe
14 years ago
What Happens When Government Stops Collecting Union Dues?


Here’s What Happens When Government Stops Collecting Dues for Unions

Wow. Just . . . wow.

Wisconsin membership in the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees — the state’s second-largest public-sector union after the National Education Association, which represents teachers — fell to 28,745 in February from 62,818 in March 2011, according to a person who has viewed Afscme’s figures. A spokesman for Afscme declined to comment.

Much of that decline came from Afscme Council 24, which represents Wisconsin state workers, whose membership plunged by two-thirds to 7,100 from 22,300 last year.

A provision of the Walker law that eliminated automatic dues collection hurt union membership. When a public-sector contract expires the state now stops collecting dues from the affected workers’ paychecks unless they say they want the dues taken out, said Peter Davis, general counsel of the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission.

In many cases, Afscme dropped members from its rolls after it failed to get them to affirm they want dues collected, said a labor official familiar with Afscme’s figures. In a smaller number of cases, membership losses were due to worker layoffs.

Looks like a lot of public sector workers may like their unions . . . but not enough to keep paying the dues if they have the option. Like, two-thirds of them.

Apply this across the country . . . and you’re talking about the evisceration of one of the Democratic Party’s most important political allies — a game-changer in politics in so many states. Compulsory union-dues collection was the glue that kept the whole operation together. Ed Schultz may be exaggerating when he says a Republican win means America will never elect a Democratic president again . . . but his vision might not be that wildly exaggerated.

Over at the lefty blog FireDogLake, David Dayen notes, “The state president of the American Federation of Teachers is quoted in the article saying that a failure in the recall spells doom for unions nationwide. There’s a lot of truth to that. And that’s why it was so important for the national funding to flow into Wisconsin to take a stand here . . .”

Rick Moran writes:

There is a lot at stake for organized labor in this recall vote. But perhaps not unexpectedly, the voting public has largely moved on from the collective bargaining controversy and now see jobs and jobs creation as the primary issue for the recall vote. A win will be interpreted by labor bosses as vindication rather than a general unhappiness with the Wisconsin economy. That only proves how truly out of touch they are with ordinary people who don’t see the unions representing their interests anymore.

Our Bob Costa takes a closer look at the phenomenon of shrinking unions in Wisconsin on NRO today.

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/301501/wisconsin-unions-decline-robert-costa 

Post continued....
View All Posts by User
DrMaddVibe
14 years ago
Wisconsin Unions in Decline


Whatever happens to Scott Walker, his reforms have had an effect.
By Robert Costa

Robert Costa Regardless of whether Governor Scott Walker survives Tuesday’s recall election, Wisconsin’s public-employee unions are likely to see their power continue to decline.

According to the Wall Street Journal, government unions in the Badger State have “experienced a dramatic drop in membership” since Walker and GOP lawmakers passed a package of reforms last year, including ones curbing collective-bargaining rights and ending mandatory union membership.

Labor unions are being crippled by the elimination of automatic dues withholding, a practice that had enriched the unions’ coffers. Thousands of state workers are simply refusing to contribute; others are leaving public-sector jobs.

“You see it especially among teachers, where there is a feeling that it doesn’t make sense to keep working under the new rules,” says Paul M. Secunda, an associate professor at Marquette University Law School. Indeed, according to the Journal, the American Federation of Teachers–Wisconsin, a labor organization representing 17,000 public-school teachers, has seen 6,000 members leave its ranks.

But the biggest drop has been in the Wisconsin chapter of AFSCME, the powerful union that represents state, county, and municipal workers. In the past year, more than 30,000 members have deserted the collective.

According to the Journal, when Walker first proposed his fiscal reforms in early 2011, AFSCME’s Wisconsin membership stood at a healthy 62,818. By February 2012, the labor behemoth had shrunk to 28,745. “It’s a profound shift,” says George Lightbourn, the president of the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute and the state’s former secretary of administration. “It’s similar to what Indiana experienced after Governor Mitch Daniels changed the collective-bargaining laws. If these numbers are borne out, it will significantly change the whole nature of Wisconsin’s state workforce and the relationship between management and employees.”

State senator Alberta Darling, a top Walker ally and the co-chair of the upper chamber’s joint finance committee, says the bosses of the public-sector unions aren’t battling Walker as much as they are their own members, who have been unhappy with paying hefty dues for decades. “People who refused to pay used to be blackballed,” she says. “Now I’m hearing from many teachers that they feel free to work with their school boards without going through the unions first. They can manage their own issues without outside involvement.”

Philip Dine, a labor expert and author of State of the Unions, acknowledges that the numbers are dipping, but he cautions that Walker’s reforms are not the sole reason for the erosion of public-sector-union membership. According to state data, Wisconsin employed 187,000 workers last year. An updated figure is unavailable, but Dine suspects that many of the union drifters referred to by the Journal did not quit out of frustration but were let go because of budgetary belt-tightening in the capital. “Any decline in Wisconsin’s public-union membership is probably tied to a decline in the state workforce,” Dine observes. “The economy has played a major role, and some workers are seeking employment elsewhere.”

Still, the impact of Walker’s reforms should not be understated, says Kurt Bauer, the president of Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, the state’s largest business association. Walker’s efforts, he says, have clearly forced public-sector unions to reevaluate their operations as members have refused to pay dues. “For years, you had mandatory membership in public unions, where workers weren’t really given a choice,” Bauer says. “Now, given the choice whether to belong to a union, a considerable number of people are deciding to stay away. Post-recall, these unions are going to have to find new ways to show value to their members.”

Walker has gained in the latest polls, taking a slight lead in a Marquette survey released this week. The race, however, remains close, and labor activists will canvass the state this weekend, hoping to elevate Democrat Tom Barrett, the Milwaukee mayor, to victory. Former president Bill Clinton, for his part, will stump for Barrett at a rally in Milwaukee on Friday.

Republican operatives doubt that the deterioration of public-employee unions will rattle voters in this historically union-friendly state. In fact, according to the Marquette poll, Wisconsin voters largely support Walker’s reforms — 55 percent of respondents backed the governor’s restrictions on collective bargaining.

To former Republican senator Bob Kasten, this is a striking change in the state’s political balance, which has long tilted in labor’s direction. “Scott Walker has restored the balance between public employees and the taxpayer,” Kasten says. “It’s been a battle to the death in Wisconsin, with so much outside money coming into the race, but the race has really been about that, more than any other political factor.”


http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/301501/wisconsin-unions-decline-robert-costa 
View All Posts by User
DrMaddVibe
14 years ago
Anyone that thinks the entire Walker recall effort and the wasted union money that was DUMPED into that doesn't mean a thing come this election cycle is severely deluded!
View All Posts by User
teedubbya
14 years ago
are you alking to yourself again?
View All Posts by User
DrMaddVibe
14 years ago

are you alking to yourself again?

teedubbya wrote:




NOPE!


I learned to NEVER alk to myself!
View All Posts by User
DrMaddVibe
14 years ago
Think of it more as a PSA than an alk!
View All Posts by User
teedubbya
14 years ago
ou re ucking eird
View All Posts by User
z6joker9
14 years ago
Please don't kill big labor 😞 it's driving all the employers down to us.
View All Posts by User
wheelrite
14 years ago
does this mean Fuzz can leave the Housekeeper's Union voluntarily?
View All Posts by User
wheelrite
14 years ago
does this mean Fuzz can leave the Housekeeper's Union voluntarily?
View All Posts by User
DrMaddVibe
14 years ago

Please don't kill big labor 😞 it's driving all the employers down to us.

z6joker9 wrote:



Cue the really bad stand-up comic day dream...hazy smoke machine...wavy pattern...wait! I see a guy on a stage...with a microphone...there's a seat with a waterbottle on it...he's resting lazily on a mic stand...:-$ let's see what he has to say...

Thank you, thank you and thank you...you've been a wonderful crowd here at the Tanga Lounge. The Tanga Lounge where men are men and the fish are scared...tip your waitresses...before I go I leave you with one more impersationation....I know, I know...they've all sucked till now, but with the moon in this orbit I feel I can pull this one out...my mom always said this was here favorite...I'm Howard Cosell...tonight's big race is from the qualifying heat match for the Winter Games...Here at Mt. Idontgiveafuck it's a race to the bottom as we see a virtual race to the bottom. In this melee we have Big Labor, Big Government and some newcomer tandem called Ma & Pa. One thing is for certain, there is going to be a winner and there's going to be a loser. We expect this to be a clean race all the way down the mountain. And they're off...Look at those little monkees go...

end of day dream sequence.


Man...this stuff really takes it outta ya.
View All Posts by User
DrMaddVibe
14 years ago

does this mean Fuzz can leave the Housekeeper's Union voluntarily?

wheelrite wrote:




No and no.

You're implying he draws a paycheck. Snickerdoodles doesn't! He uses HER debit card when he has to get his nails done or pick up her dry cleaning!
View All Posts by User
Stinkdyr
14 years ago
Fock the unions..........it is only fair, they have been focking you for decades.

🍺
View All Posts by User
rfenst
14 years ago

No and no.

You're implying he draws a paycheck. Snickerdoodles doesn't! He uses HER debit card when he has to get his nails done or pick up her dry cleaning!

DrMaddVibe wrote:



MV,

Who are you to comment on his family life, home life and marriage? If he and they are happy, why do you care? Why do you berrate? If they aren't happy, why do you care?

Lot's of people here have "a storry" about their lives, but choose not to share it. Some only tell a part. Others don't tell anything. And, some tell it all. For example, how do you know he is not at home due to disease or illnes for something like Cancer or MS, etc., etc.? How do you know that he doesn't have a child with, for example, autism? Etc., etc.

Besides, I ALWAYS THOUGHT FAMILY WAS OFF LIMITS HERE.

I mean this all in a positive way and I am not explaining my thoughts on behalf of anyone. Please think about "taking the higher ground" on this one, merely as a matter principle....

rfenst
View All Posts by User
DrMaddVibe
14 years ago

MV,

Who are you to comment on his family life, home life and marriage? If he and they are happy, why do you care? Why do you berrate? If they aren't happy, why do you care?

Lot's of people here have "a storry" about their lives, but choose not to share it. Some only tell a part. Others don't tell anything. And, some tell it all. For example, how do you know he is not at home due to disease or illnes for something like Cancer or MS, etc., etc.? How do you know that he doesn't have a child with, for example, autism? Etc., etc. For what it is wortrh, I have a story too that I haven't fully shared and I am forced to spend a significant amount of my time at home. I only work part-time and I am medicated like an elephant would be- and this is part of where I am comming from on this. Besides, I ALWAYS THOUGHT FAMILY WAS OFF LIMITS HERE.

I mean tis all in a positive way and I am not explaining my thoughts on behalf of anyone. Please think about "taking the higher ground" on this one, merely as a matter principle....

rfenst wrote:




Need a freaking Kleenex?
View All Posts by User
tailgater
14 years ago
That's our rfenst.
Always coming to the aid of a damsel in distress!
View All Posts by User
Users browsing this topic
Mobile! Terms | Privacy | Contact Us | Help | © 1998-2026, CigarBid.com