Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker laid out a proposal Monday to completely overhaul the nation’s labor union laws, calling for eliminating most of the advantages private-sector unions have under federal law and prohibiting public-sector unions altogether.
The proposal, if enacted, would represent the most radical change to federal labor law in almost a century, making Walker’s labor reforms in his home state seem modest by comparison. They also would be a massive blow to the strength of organized labor, a major player in Washington politics and staunch ally of the Democratic Party.
Walker said the proposals were aimed at strengthening the rights of individual workers, which under current federal labor law are often sacrificed to bolster union strength. Unions would still exist, but they would be voluntary organizations with workers able to join or leave whenever they felt.
“I believe that fairness and opportunity for workers results from freedom. Freedom that allows workers and employers to create flexibility, choice, and innovation in the workplace. Unfortunately, many of the nation’s federal labor laws and regulations have stood as a roadblock to fairness and opportunity, and instead have created rigid, top-down workplaces that don’t really work for Americans,” Walker said.
The announcement marks an effort by Walker to revitalize his Republican presidential bid by putting forward a bold idea on an issue not being addressed by other candidates. Once a top contender, he now polls in the single digits, having stumbled badly over the summer.
Walker hopes to reverse his presidential campaign’s fortunes by returning to the issue that first brought him national attention in 2011: labor reform. It is an issue he understands well, so a debate on that will be firm ground for the governor, said a campaign source who requested anonymity. The source noted that Walker has a record no other candidate can match.
In his announcement, Walker said public-sector workers shouldn’t have been allowed to form unions in the first place since there is an inherent conflict of interest in allowing those workers to lobby the government, something he saw first-hand in the Badger State. Unlike private-sector bosses, political leaders can become dependent on unions for support, giving the unions leverage at taxpayers’ expense.
“Big-government unions should have no place in the federal workplace, and I will reform the law to prohibit them,” Walker said. An estimated seven million state, local and federal workers belong to public-sector unions, accounting for about half of all union members nationally.
His plan also would abolish the National Labor Relations Board, the main federal agency that enforces labor laws. Disputes between unions and management would become matters for regular courts to decide. The board’s administrative duties, such as certifying union elections, would be handed over to the National Mediation Board, a similar, but smaller, federal agency.
Walker argued that the labor board, especially under President Obama, has become an advocate for unions rather than a neutral arbiter. “The NLRB is broken beyond repair and should be eliminated,” he said.
He also called for making right-to-work laws, rules that make it illegal for workers to be forced to join a union or financially support one as condition of employment, the new national norm. Under current federal law, states may adopt legislation that specifies that they are right to work. Walker would turn that around, requiring states to pass laws specifying that they are not right to work.
Walker would eliminate the rule, known as “Davis-Bacon,” requiring federally funded projects to pay the prevailing local wage for that work, a system that usually sets it at the union’s preferred rate. Other rules that benefit unions in federal contracting would be repealed, too.
“Repealing Davis-Bacon wage controls alone could save the taxpayers nearly $13 billion over the next 10 years,” Walker said.
Further changes include: Prohibiting businesses from turning over employee contact information to unions during workplace organizing elections if the workers do not authorize it (The NLRB has said businesses must turn the data over even if workers object); requiring a secret ballot for all union elections, as opposed to the “card check” system favored by union leaders; requiring online disclosure of all union expenditures, and; ensuring that workers have a right to negotiate directly with their boss, allowing them to bypass their union altogether.
Walker also would prohibit federal payrolls from withholding union dues from workers’ paychecks, requiring unions to create alternate dues collection systems. This would presumably be a temporary measure until Walker’s administration decertified all public-sector unions.
Even if only half of Walker’s proposals were enacted, it would be the most profound change to federal labor regulation since the passage of the National Labor Relations Act in 1935, the main law that put the federal government in charge of overseeing labor-management disputes.
In effect, Walker is saying the law was a mistake. His proposal would remove the federal government from most organized labor matters. Workers would still be free to form unions, but the organizations they create would have no special status in federal law.
Walker’s proposal is certain to be denounced by organized labor and its allies as little more than an effort to crush union power. It is certain to be bitterly opposed by Democratic lawmakers, the main beneficiaries of labor’s support.
The source in Walker’s campaign who requested anonymity said Walker will welcome the debate, arguing instead that the reforms strip unions of the power to coerce workers’ membership and support.
“For too long, union special interests in Washington have used the system to unfairly benefit themselves at the expense of the American worker. The common-sense reforms outlined here will focus the federal government’s role to ensure that special-interest loopholes are closed once and for all,” Walker said.
