Stateline.org, March 17, 2011, Thursday

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Stateline.org

March 17, 2011, Thursday

State worker strikes: rare but momentous
Public employee unions in Wisconsin are not talking about going on strike right now, but growing labor unrest increases the chances of a work stoppage. If state workers resort to picket lines, the consequences for both sides may be great.

BYLINE: By Daniel C. Vock, Stateline Staff Writer

Worker resentment against the new Wisconsin labor law is intense enough that some observers consider a strike to be possible.

The first time his union went on strike, Peter Benner was surprised. But the three-week work stoppage by Minne-sota state employees in 1981 taught him a lot about the relationship between public workers and their employers. So two decades later, Benner could tell early on that another strike was likely. "It was only a question of when it was going to happen," he says.

In 2001, Governor Jesse Ventura's administration wanted employees who had endured 10 years of tight-budget contracts to pay more for their health insurance, even as Ventura and lawmakers were giving away tax rebates. The workers objected, and more than half of Minnesota's state workforce walked off the job in October. The two-week strike of some 30,000 employees was the biggest work stoppage by state employees that Minnesota has ever experienced.

The strike raised the ante for both sides at the bargaining table. As chief negotiator for the unions, Benner worried whether his members would remain committed enough to stay off the job if it meant missing a paycheck. On the other side, state management negotiators wondered how long they could keep vital services going with a depleted workforce. After the initial excitement, the two sides sat down and struck a deal.
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State employee labor strikes are rare. The 2001 Minnesota walkout was the biggest in recent memory. But labor tensions are running so high right now in Wisconsin that the idea is not far from anyone's mind. The state has seen calls for a general strike, although they have died down in recent days. Labor is focusing its efforts on recalling state senators who voted for a new law to significantly weaken the power of public employee unions. Still, the situation remains vola-tile. More than 100,000 people attended a Capitol protest Saturday, including farmers who ringed the square with do-zens of tractors.

STATE STRIKES State employee strikes have been unusual in recent times. The specialty publisher BNA counted 24 strikes by public employees in the last five years, but none of them were by state workers.

"Public employee strikes are rarer today than they were a generation ago," says Joseph McCartin of Georgetown University. Several factors are at work, he says. Some of those include a reluctance by government employees to strike after President Reagan fired 11,000 air traffic controllers in 1981; a growing fear that public employees would be blamed for work stoppages; and a general decline in strikes overall, in both the public and private sectors.

Notable strikes by state workers include:

. A two-week strike by 30,000 workers in Minnesota in 2001
. A two-day walk-out by 5,000 workers in Montana in 1991
. A nine-day "rolling strike" in Oregon in 1987
. A 22-day strike by 14,000 Minnesota workers in 1981
. A "wildcat" strike of up to 3,000 New Jersey employees in 1979
. A two-week strike of 18,000 Wisconsin workers in 1977
. A strike by 46,000 Pennsylvanians in 1975
. A two-week strike by 4,000 Ohio employees in 1974
Source: Historical news accounts

Alex Colvin, a professor at Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations, says a general strike-one involving people other than the workers affected directly-would be a marked departure for public sector unions. "It's not like a New York or Philadelphia transit strike where it's about money," he says. "This is really about collective bargaining rights. It's about political power. And if there's a strike, it's going to be a different kind of strike."

"What is happening in Wisconsin and other states right now is fraught with huge implications," adds Joseph McCartin, the director of the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor at Georgetown University. "Re-publicans are undertaking a general assault on public sector union power. Given the fact that public sector workers now comprise more than one-half of the membership of the union movement, the stakes are large."

Benner, who has since retired from his position with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Em-ployees (AFSCME), sees the same build-up of worker anger in Wisconsin now that he did a decade ago in Minnesota. Even if the unions avoid going on strike, he says, the pent-up labor frustration could hurt Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker down the road as he seeks to carry out his program. "Workers are your resource," he warns. "That's whether you're a multibillion dollar CEO or a governor or a mayor or a school board member."

The right to strike

The law signed-and championed-by Walker includes many new rules making life more difficult for public em-ployee unions. Every year, a majority of workers who belong to a union will have to vote to keep it in operaton. State workers will now be able to opt out of paying union dues. Unions will be allowed to bargain only on wages, not benefits or working conditions, and wage increases must be at or below the rate of inflation, unless voters direct otherwise in a referendum.

Another provision allows managers to fire workers who strike for three days. The measure addresses a frequent criticism that public employees have undue influence when they go on strike.

"The government generally has no competition," dvock@stateline.org.

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