Some days make for more whimsical mental images than others. Tonight, I’m finding myself imagining the Senate's sergeant at arms turning over hay bales, checking up in the loft, peeking into grain bins; looking for our erstwhile state Senators. Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald apparently said that at some point, if needed, Republicans will use the State Patrol to round up Democrats to bring them to the floor. So, if you see the State Patrol in hot pursuit of a Senator in your area, you might just want to think of some good hiding places for this fugitive being sought. After all, on your behalf, he or she is trying to avoid sitting in reluctant attendance on what amounts to an unprecedented assault on unions in this state.
Senate Bill 11, the bill our scattered Democratic Senators are trying to delay a vote on, would strip most government workers of their collective bargaining rights. Only wages could be bargained for – and then only to the extent that a wage increase would be limited to the cost of living unless approved by referendum. The bill would also repeal the authority of home health care workers, family child care workers, UW Hospitals and Clinics employees, and UW faculty and staff to bargain collectively entirely. Unions would need to be re-certified every year and could only collect union dues on a voluntary basis.
State employees earning middle class incomes might have 6.8 percent to 11 percent of their income just disappear overnight. As a result, a worker earning, for example, $40,000 a year today could see their earnings reduced to somewhere around $36,500 a year if this bill passes without further negotiation.
The argument has been made that state workers’ pension and health insurance contributions are out of line with those of workers in the private sector. However, what gets overlooked in this argument is that benefits constitute a larger proportion of a state worker’s compensation than they do for workers in private industry. We might want to keep in mind that it costs us less as taxpayers to compensate a state worker through benefits than it does for us to compensate that same worker through wages. The cost of benefits is generally lower than it is for wages as compensation.
This bill should be a cause of alarm for all of us. The effect of unions has been to ‘set’ the standard for wages, benefits, and working conditions – a standard that affects the prevailing wage, benefit package, and working conditions for all workers. If our state employees’ unions get eviscerated, the stage gets set for other unions to come under assault next. If this bill passes, it will be a roughly 9% reduction in earnings for state workers now, but a similar reduction will likely be coming to a house near you in the not too distant future.
References
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/02/source-wis-dem-state-senators-walk-out-blocking-budget-quorum.php
http://legis.wisconsin.gov/JR1SB-11.pdf
http://www.fox11online.com/dpp/news/day-doesnt-go-as-planned-for-state-senate
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_3d93e6aa-363a-11e0-8493-001cc4c002e0.html
