Will Democrats overturn Walker if they get power back in Wisconsin?

[cali]

By Ezra Klein

I think there’s at least an outside chance that Josh Barro is right that the next time Democrats control both chambers of the Wisconsin legislature and hold the governorship, they won’t actually restore collective-bargaining rights to Wisconsin’s public employees.

“There is no clamor among Democrats in Virginia to give collective-bargaining privileges to public workers,” Barro notes, “nor have Democrats in Washington, D.C., shown much interest in empowering federal workers’ unions. This is because Democratic officeholders, quite rationally, prefer to write their budgets themselves, rather than hand over control of employee-compensation costs to unions. Once Wisconsin lawmakers get used to the new status quo, I think this is likely to be true there, too.”

I don’t doubt that he’s right. My hesitation has only to do with the special circumstances of Wisconsin, where the outcry was so extraordinary and where the Democratic officeholders made very strong statements and gestures of support in favor of preserving collective-bargaining for state employees.

But I also think this goes to the reason it’s worth having collective bargaining for public employees: As Barro’s post admits, the incentives of public employees and the incentives of even Democratic officeholders are not always, or even often, aligned. In these negotiations, Democrats and their appointees are management, and they want to spend as little as possible in order to keep tax rates and deficits low, while the workers want to bargain for a better deal. As I’ve been arguing for some time, that’s quite similar to what happens in the private sector, and though I admit that the role unions play in funding campaigns changes the dynamic a bit, it a) changes it less than many people think and b) is a good argument for campaign-finance reform, not for taking collective-bargaining rights away from public workers but still allowing corporations to benefit from that exact same dynamic.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2011/03/will_democrats_overturn_walker.html

[FBaggins]

1. In other circumstances, I'd say no.

But when the issue is the source of your return to power? They probably would.

It's true that Democratic legislators in states that already restrict collective bargaining rights (and those at the federal level) aren't fighting to ADD those rights. They've got a vested interest in their own power to control the budget.

But WI legislators would certainly undo union-busting provisions like annual votes to certify the union and mandatory dues collection from state paychecks. They probably would not return collective bargaining rights over income/benefits in other circumstances, but they will if this is the issue that returns them to power.

[damntexdem]

2. They need to do more than overturn Walker's vandalism.

They need to submit an amendment to the WI Constitution enshrining collective bargaining rights.

[FBaggins]

3. You don't go for the small stuff, do you?

:) I love your gumption.

An amendment in WI (going from memory here) is a multi-year process that must pass both houses of the legislature... THEN wait for the next legislature to be elected and pass again (without change or it starts all over), and THEN get added to the NEXT ballot for the people to vote on directly.

If you have that level of support, you should be able to just elected a governor and pass a corrective bill. If you think that democrats would be unwilling to vote for that, why would they pass the ammendment?