By STEVEN GREENHOUSE Published: January 3, 2011
Scott Walker, the new Republican governor of Wisconsin, is threatening to take away government workers’ right to form unions and bargain contracts.
State officials from both parties are wrestling with ways to curb the salaries and pensions of government employees, which typically make up a significant percentage of state budgets.
On Wednesday, for example, New York’s new Democratic governor, Andrew M. Cuomo, is expected to call for a one-year salary freeze for state workers . . .
But in some cases — mostly in states with Republican governors and Republican statehouse majorities — officials are seeking more far-reaching, structural changes that would weaken the bargaining power and political influence of unions, including private sector ones.
For example, Republican lawmakers in Indiana, Maine, Missouri and seven other states plan to introduce legislation that would bar private sector unions from forcing workers they represent to pay dues or fees, reducing the flow of funds into union treasuries.
In Ohio, the new Republican governor, following the precedent of many other states, wants to ban strikes by public school teachers.
Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin said:
We can no longer live in a society where the public employees are the haves and taxpayers who foot the bills are the have-nots,” Mr. Walker, a Republican, said in a speech. “The bottom line is that we are going to look at every legal means we have to try to put that balance more on the side of taxpayers.
Walker's comments are an example of class warfare. The government and unions didn't cause the Bush recession, the private sector did.
Many of the proposals may never become law. But those that do are likely to reduce union influence in election campaigns, with reverberations for both parties.
After World War 2, one in three Americans worked in a union. Today the union membership rate--the percent of wage and salary workers who were members of a union--was 12.3 percent, essentially unchanged from 12.4 percent a year earlier. This means less than one in eight Americans is in a union today.
More public sector employees (7.9 million) belonged to a union than did private sector employees (7.4 million), despite there being 5 times more wage and salary workers in the private sector.
Workers in education, training, and library occupations had the highest unionisation rate at 38.1 percent. By age, the union membership rate was highest among workers 55 to 64.
In 2009, among full-time wage and salary workers, union members had median usual weekly earnings of $908, while those who were not represented by unions had median weekly earnings of $710.
This means non-union workers make about 78 per cent of what union members make.
source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/04/business/04labor.html?_r=2&hp and http://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.nr0.htm
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Faced with growing budget deficits and restive taxpayers, Republicans are pushing new legislation to limit the power of labor unions, particularly those representing government workers . . .
Scott Walker, the new Republican governor of Wisconsin, is threatening to take away government workers’ right to form unions and bargain contracts.
State officials from both parties are wrestling with ways to curb the salaries and pensions of government employees, which typically make up a significant percentage of state budgets.
On Wednesday, for example, New York’s new Democratic governor, Andrew M. Cuomo, is expected to call for a one-year salary freeze for state workers . . .
But in some cases — mostly in states with Republican governors and Republican statehouse majorities — officials are seeking more far-reaching, structural changes that would weaken the bargaining power and political influence of unions, including private sector ones.
For example, Republican lawmakers in Indiana, Maine, Missouri and seven other states plan to introduce legislation that would bar private sector unions from forcing workers they represent to pay dues or fees, reducing the flow of funds into union treasuries.
In Ohio, the new Republican governor, following the precedent of many other states, wants to ban strikes by public school teachers.
Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin said:
We can no longer live in a society where the public employees are the haves and taxpayers who foot the bills are the have-nots,” Mr. Walker, a Republican, said in a speech. “The bottom line is that we are going to look at every legal means we have to try to put that balance more on the side of taxpayers.
Walker's comments are an example of class warfare. The government and unions didn't cause the Bush recession, the private sector did.
Many of the proposals may never become law. But those that do are likely to reduce union influence in election campaigns, with reverberations for both parties.
After World War 2, one in three Americans worked in a union. Today the union membership rate--the percent of wage and salary workers who were members of a union--was 12.3 percent, essentially unchanged from 12.4 percent a year earlier. This means less than one in eight Americans is in a union today.
More public sector employees (7.9 million) belonged to a union than did private sector employees (7.4 million), despite there being 5 times more wage and salary workers in the private sector.
Workers in education, training, and library occupations had the highest unionisation rate at 38.1 percent. By age, the union membership rate was highest among workers 55 to 64.
In 2009, among full-time wage and salary workers, union members had median usual weekly earnings of $908, while those who were not represented by unions had median weekly earnings of $710.
This means non-union workers make about 78 per cent of what union members make.
source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/04/business/04labor.html?_r=2&hp and http://www.bls.gov/news.release/union2.nr0.htm
Subscribe to the Rightardia feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/blogspot/UFPYA
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