THE LATE-NIGHT passage of a contentious anti-union measure in the Wisconsin state legislature has provided encouragement to the Republican party, setting the stage for further initiatives across the country against organised labour.
The Wisconsin senate passed a Bill restricting collective bargaining rights for many public sector workers late on Wednesday, ending for the moment a bitter three-week stalemate that had shut down the state legislature.
The legislature was mobbed again by protesters supporting the union yesterday and the measure may yet attract a legal challenge, but the Republicans have the numbers to pass it in the state House.
The debate in Wisconsin had taken on national significance, as Republican governors in states such as Ohio and New Jersey have led an assault on pay and conditions negotiated by the once-powerful public sector unions.
Many state governments in the US are struggling to cut swelling budget deficits, allowing Republicans to take on what they regard as excessive benefits negotiated when the economy was in better shape. The aggressive stance in the states is being mirrored in Washington, where the newly elected Republican majority in the House of Representatives is pushing hard on budget-cutting measures.
The House and the Democrat-controlled Senate are locked in tense budget negotiations ahead of March 18th, at which point the federal government runs out of money for non-essential services.
Although it is likely that a Bill funding the government for at least another few weeks is likely to pass, the battle over the budget will continue, with the Republicans seemingly having the edge.
“The Republicans have been quite successful in framing the debate as government running amok,” said Thomas Mann of the Brookings Institution.
Mr Mann said it was too early to assess the impact of the latest developments in Wisconsin, and whether the push to restrict union bargaining rights might backfire on the Republicans. Just about every published opinion poll found support for cutting some benefits for public sector workers, but strong opposition to the Wisconsin measures depriving workers and their unions of collective bargaining rights.
The Wisconsin legislature had been in stalemate since 14 Democratic senators left the state in protest at the measure, leaving the chamber without a quorum to pass the Bill restricting rights.
However, the Republicans stripped out the financial sections of the Bill allowing them to push through the remainder containing the controversial provisions. Only the budget Bill required the quorum. In the absence of the Democrats, the measure passed. – (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2011)