The Free Press, Mankato, MN

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June 6, 2012

Our View: Wisconsin speaks

The Free Press

— Reverberations from Tuesday’s closely watched Wisconsin recall election will continue on through November and beyond. The outcome provides political momentum for the winner and bigger problems for the loser.

But those who have tied the future of the union movement so closely to Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s attempt to avoid recall may have already overestimated the election’s impact in Wisconsin. The power of unions has certainly undergone a marked decline since Walker took office to curb collective-bargaining rights and end mandatory union membership in some cases, but old-time union strength isn’t likely to return either way.

Membership in the Wisconsin chapter of AFSCME, which represents state, county and municipal workers, has fallen from 62,818 in early 2011 to 28,745 in February 2012. The Wall Street Journal reports the American Federation of Teachers-Wisconsin, which represents 17,000 public school educators, has lost 6,000 members.

Union decline cannot be attributed to Walker alone, though there’s no doubt that he and Wisconsin Republicans accelerated it.

Blame the poor economy, at least in part. Economic belt-tightening within the past year resulted in a significant drop in state employment figures, and many of those losing their positions have looked for non-union jobs.

But getting back to Walker — and this is what union supporters feared — the end of automatic dues withholding has been keenly felt. It stands to reason that many workers, when freed from the necessity to pay dues and simultaneously struggling with a poor economy, will choose to hold onto more of their money. Still others find it easier to overlook the benefits of union membership when flushed with other options. Kurt Bauer, president of Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, sent unions a chilling message when he remarked the other day, “Now, given the choice whether to belong to a union, a considerable number of people are deciding to stay away. Post-recall, these unions are going to have to find new ways to show value to their members.”

What happened in Wisconsin leading up to Tuesday’s recall vote amounted to a huge culture clash, one that will be felt across the country. The pros and cons of the Wisconsin donnybrook tend to fall on which side of the debate you’re on, but one thing that is sure to remain is the working class/corporate class divide that roiled Wisconsin for the past year.

To some, what happened in Wisconsin over the past year was heavy-handed, an egregious example of partisan power gone mad — an attempt at union-busting. To others, it was merely a corrective shift in the way employers and employees must learn to coexist in an era when state funds are short.

One of the revelations from Walker’s victory is that voters have grown weary of incessant fighting. Sixty percent of Wisconsin voters were against the recall from a philosophical point of view, saying that such actions should be reserved for official malfeasance rather than policy disagreements. The trick now, in Wisconsin as elsewhere, is to put anger aside and find common ground on issues that until now have done nothing but divide.

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