Same as it ever was: Scott Walker signs an anti-union bill into law in Wisconsin.
Surprising no one, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker signed an anti-union law Monday that, during his re-election campaign, he'd
repeatedly said he wasn't interested in passing:
In his gubernatorial re-election bid last fall, Walker also downplayed the possibility of such a measure passing.
Walker said in September he was "not supporting it in this (2015) session."
"We're not going to do anything with right-to-work," Walker told The New York Times in October.
Fitzgerald announced he would be introducing the legislation on Feb. 20 and Walker said he would sign it that same day.
The so-called "right to work" law will allow workers in union workplaces to demand that the union represent them—paid for by their union coworkers' dues—while they refuse to pay their fair share of the costs of things like contract negotiations and handling grievances. Wisconsin is now the 25th state with such a law. Since taking power in 2010, Republicans have pushed hard to pass the laws across the Midwest.
In Wisconsin, many construction contractors spoke out against passage of the law:
At a recent Senate committee hearing on the bill, James Hoffman, president and owner of Hoffman Construction Co. of Black River Falls, said the change could harm his business. He said Operating Engineers Local 139 runs training programs that provide him with a steady stream of workers.
If those employees can opt out of paying union fees, membership rolls will dwindle and the training programs will likely be scaled back, he said.
But Walker, in signing the law, predictably insisted that it would boost job creation in Wisconsin. Which is as reliable as
all Scott Walker's other job creation promises.
