The Progressive: Wisconsin Workers under the Thumb of Walker’s Law
http://www.progressive.org/wisconsin_workers_under_the_thumb_of_walker_s_law.html
Last week I wrote about a new administrative rule that eliminates salary steps for continuing education credits and advanced degrees in base wage calculations for the purposes of what little remains of the collective bargaining process for public employees in Wisconsin. In that story I highlighted the fact that, in addition to restricting the allowable subjects of bargaining to one issue (cost of living increases to “base wages”), Act 10 also eliminated interest arbitration from the collective bargaining process.
Interest arbitration became a statutory part of the collective bargaining process for public employees in 1978. It was enacted as a way to avoid lengthy, contentious contract negotiations and strikes, and it encouraged both sides to compromise and to make reasonable final proposals. If negotiations came to an impasse, an independent arbitrator had the power to decide which side’s offer was most legitimate, given comparable salaries, history, market conditions and budget constraints. Arbitration served as a check on the abuse of power.
According to Katy Lounsbury, attorney for AFSCME Council 40, the loss of interest arbitration under Act 10 “makes collective bargaining a sham.” She explained: “At the end of the day, when one party has 100% of the power to institute their offer, there is no real bargaining.”
Even so, before the new administrative rule defining base wages was in effect, unions still could have brought a complaint against employers for not bargaining in good faith if the employer proposed outrageous pay cuts. But the new rule sets the ceiling so low on base wages that employers can now claim they’re bargaining in good faith even while low-balling workers. “You can’t accuse employers of bargaining in bad faith if they’re giving employees everything they’re permitted to give,” said Lounsbury.
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