Monday, September 14, 2015

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.

5 comments:

  1. It is his last Hail Mary, the one "positive" thing the GOP views he has done during his tenure as Governor. This will not give him a boost although I doubt with his financial backing that he would drop out. His inability to think without a talking point has led to his political suicide, prep work can't overcome lacking street smarts. Combine that with playing both sides of a segregated party on most issues and you have the actions of a desperate candidate.

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  2. Hes just saying what the rest of them quietly desire

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  3. Who is worse, Scott Walker or our local unions, NYSUT and the AFT, who get fat and rich off our mandatory dues/agency shop fees? I pay $1,000 a year and get absolutely nothing in return.

    My LI local has sold me out every chance it had. NYSUT signed off on Race to the Top and APPR and did nothing as Tier 5 and Tier 6 were adopted. While Senator John Flanagan stood on the Senate floor last March 31 and led the debate in favor of the new APPR system, NYSUT still saw fit to give him $7,750 in donations over the past year. The AFT is another shameless Common Core/teacher evaluation system backer and had the audacity to already back Clinton, who cares nothing for anyone other than herself.

    I hope the dues checkoff disappears and the agency shop fee with it. Only when our unions are not guaranteed our monies will they start to listen to the membership.

    I am not voting for Walker under any conditions, by I am also disgusted with the three unions that steal from me each year.

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  4. So long as we have unions that will not affirm workers power as their goal its a mindless oscillation between a left from mulgrew and a right from walker

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