Scott Walker Proposes Making Entire Country Right-To-Work, Outlawing Unions For Federal Workers

Scott Walker's political fortunes are plummeting - he's fallen sharply in Iowa polls (a must win for him), in national polls and in the estimation of GOP political insiders (he's been called the "biggest loser of the summer.")

That may explain this gambit:

Highlights of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's proposed changes to federal labor law affecting unions, which the Republican presidential hopeful plans to lay out on Monday in a town hall meeting in Las Vegas:

-Make it illegal for federal workers to form unions. That would take an act of Congress, but Walker said he's for it because "big-government unions should have no place in the federal workplace." 

-Eliminate the National Labor Relations Board, transferring some of its powers to the National Mediation Board and leaving what Walker calls its "quasi-judicial functions" to the federal court system.

-Impose right-to-work laws, under which workers can't be forced to pay union dues as a condition of their employment, nationwide. Twenty-five states, including Wisconsin, already have such laws. Walker's proposal, if passed by Congress, would require states to vote to opt out of the right-to-work requirement.

-Prohibit unions from automatically deducting dues from state public employees that are used to pay for political activity. Walker said if the Supreme Court does not address the issue in a pending case, he will send a bill to Congress to change the law.

-Require federal employee unions to disclose and certify the portion of dues used for political activity and prohibit withholding that amount.

-Prohibit union organizers from having access to employees' personal information and require union recertification votes "on a periodic basis."

-Repeal any regulations proposed by President Barack Obama's administration that require employers to pay overtime rates to salaried workers and provide paid sick leave. "These rules will only reduce wages and deprive workers of the flexibility to balance work and life commitments," Walker said. 

-Require online disclosure of union expenditures, including total pay of union officers, additional reporting for local affiliates of government employee unions and more conflict-of-interest reporting requirements.

-Change federal law to ensure unions can't fire, discriminate or otherwise retaliate against a whistleblower who reports wrongdoing.

-Repeal wage controls and project labor agreements for federal highway projects.

The chances of this agenda getting enacted by Scott Walker are zero.

Barring a miracle, he's not getting elected president, let alone enacting this agenda and getting it through Congress.

That said, it's instructive to see Walker fall back on union-busting and union-bashing as his poll numbers fall and his chances to president fade.

Just as Chris Christie tried to turn around his flagging fortunes and falling poll numbers by reliving his "glory days" (teacher-bashing!!!), Walker's gone back to his "glory days" taking on the unions in Wisconsin to try and gain some campaign momentum.

We shouldn't be surprised by this, of course - this is a guy who, when asked how he would deal with Al Qaeda and ISIS given that he has no foreign policy experience or expertise, said terrorists would be quaking in their boots at dealing with him because he took on Wisconsin's unions.

Today's Walker union-busting gambit is a sign that he knows he's done as a candidate unless he can quickly turn things around in a race where all the oxygen has been taken up by outsiders like Donald Trump, Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina.