Three-year anniversary of Gov. Walker signing Act 10
Three years ago today, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker overhauled the state’s labor law by signing Act 10. Act 10 changed the balance of power in Wisconsin, shifting it from government union officials back to taxpayers. Government unions were limited to bargaining over salaries. Complicated work rules and lavish benefits – often on terms that were...
Three years ago today, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker overhauled the state’s labor law by signing Act 10.
Act 10 changed the balance of power in Wisconsin, shifting it from government union officials back to taxpayers.
Government unions were limited to bargaining over salaries. Complicated work rules and lavish benefits – often on terms that were unheard of outside of government – were done away with. Union officials have been made to do without guaranteed union dues, and are obligated to prove they retain worker support every year.
The benefits for the majority of Wisconsinites who don’t happen to work for government are undeniable. Our recent report on Wisconsin shows that revamping the state’s labor law has allowed state and local governments to operate far more efficiently, meaning that local officials have been able to offer relief to taxpayers without major cutbacks in government services. The state’s budget has gone from a $2 billion deficit to a $1 billion surplus. The state legislature in Madison is close to passing a $500 million tax-cut package. And even the most ardently pro-union workers should be able to take some measure of comfort from the fact that all this was accomplished with few government employee layoffs.
Meanwhile, Illinois residents still wrestle with all-powerful government unions and their outrageous demands. Most recently teachers in Waukegan, a district with stubbornly subpar academic results, threatened a strike unless their demands were met: a 2.25 percent increase in pay schedules, on top of 4-5 percent annual step increases, and no employee contributions to health care. (Not even the measly $10 per pay-period requested by the school board!) All this for a district where passing rates on the 11th- grade Prairie State Achievement Exam are less than half of the state average.
The contrast could not be clearer: Illinois labor law empowers union bosses to make unjustified demands and wage strikes against the public if they don’t get their way. Wisconsin’s labor law empowers local leaders to save money, keep important services running and even save government workers’ jobs.
What worked in Wisconsin will work here, too. Illinoisans should insist that next year at about this time, we have our own labor reform bill on the governor’s desk, waiting for his signature.