As the year ends many people are already looking back on 2010 as a historic time of political upheaval. But one of the years biggest political developments has been mostly overlooked.
If voters sent any one message loudly and consistently its this: They do not like unions. The American electorate availed itself of almost every chance it got to take a whack at organized labor.
Big Labor has been pushing hard in Congress to pass card check legislation which eliminates secret ballots in workplace elections allowing organizers to identify and bully workers opposed to unionizing. But voters in four states -- Arizona South Carolina South Dakota and Utah -- ratified anti-card check initiatives requiring secret ballots in workplace elections.
With public-sector union pension plans around the country sinking under trillions of dollars in debt six states -- Alabama Nevada Pennsylvania Rhode Island Tennessee and Wisconsin -- elected governors who promised to transfer state employees from costly defined-benefit pension plans to 401(k) defined-contribution plans.
In Ohio incoming Republican Gov. John Kasich is already talking about eliminating laws dictating union-scale wages for public projects and dropping certain bargaining privileges for police and firefighter unions. In Wisconsin Gov.-elect Scott Walker recently said hes considering abolishing public-sector unions in his state altogether.
In California it was an electoral bloodbath for public-sector unions. The states public employee union pension plan is $535 billion in the red or $36000 in debt for every household in the Golden State. Voters werent pleased.
In seven cities -- Bakersfield Carlsbad Menlo Park Pacific Grove Redding Riverside and San Jose -- voters approved initiatives curbing public pension costs. And a proposed sales tax increase in San Diego aimed at funding public-sector unions lost.
California voters also showed they werent pleased with private-sector unions. At a time when Californias unemployment rate was 12 percent local unions killed a deal to build a billion-dollar development in Southern California that would have created 12000 jobs.
Developer Gaylord Entertainment balked at signing a Project Labor Agreement that would have sparked big cost overruns while stuffing union coffers. Voters in Chula Vista and Oceanside two towns near the proposed development approved referendums banning PLAs.
In New Jersey where Gov. Chris Christie has clashed continuously with teachers unions over budget cuts voters approved only 41 percent of the 538 proposed budgets in the states annual school election. Jersey teachers unions were devastated by the result -- its the first time that voters havent approved a majority of the school budgets since 1976.
Many more examples of the voter revolt against unions abound. But despite the clear message being sent unions are more influential than ever at the federal level.
Even as voters rejected card check liberal political appointees on the National Labor Relations Board recently issued a decision allowing unions to forgo secret ballots in certain circumstances.
President Obama has rolled back transparency requirements for unions and encouraged PLAs on $140 billion in stimulus projects. In Congress the $813 billion stimulus bill and subsequent $26 billion teachers union bailout kept public-sector unions flush even as the private-sector economy was drowning.
These measures are Obamas payback to organized labor which spent more than $200 million trying to protect Democrats in the midterm elections. But how many more elections do Democrats and unions have to lose before they start heeding the will of the people?
Mark Hemingway is an editorial page staff writer for The Examiner. He can be reached at mhemingway@washingtonexaminer.com.
As the year ends many people are already looking back on 2010 as a historic time of political upheaval. But one of the years biggest political developments has been mostly overlooked.
If voters sent any one message loudly and consistently its this: They do not like unions. The American electorate availed itself of almost every chance it got to take a whack at organized labor.
Big Labor has been pushing hard in Congress to pass card check legislation which eliminates secret ballots in workplace elections allowing organizers to identify and bully workers opposed to unionizing. But voters in four states -- Arizona South Carolina South Dakota and Utah -- ratified anti-card check initiatives requiring secret ballots in workplace elections.
With public-sector union pension plans around the country sinking under trillions of dollars in debt six states -- Alabama Nevada Pennsylvania Rhode Island Tennessee and Wisconsin -- elected governors who promised to transfer state employees from costly defined-benefit pension plans to 401(k) defined-contribution plans.
In Ohio incoming Republican Gov. John Kasich is already talking about eliminating laws dictating union-scale wages for public projects and dropping certain bargaining privileges for police and firefighter unions. In Wisconsin Gov.-elect Scott Walker recently said hes considering abolishing public-sector unions in his state altogether.
In California it was an electoral bloodbath for public-sector unions. The states public employee union pension plan is $535 billion in the red or $36000 in debt for every household in the Golden State. Voters werent pleased.
In seven cities -- Bakersfield Carlsbad Menlo Park Pacific Grove Redding Riverside and San Jose -- voters approved initiatives curbing public pension costs. And a proposed sales tax increase in San Diego aimed at funding public-sector unions lost.
California voters also showed they werent pleased with private-sector unions. At a time when Californias unemployment rate was 12 percent local unions killed a deal to build a billion-dollar development in Southern California that would have created 12000 jobs.
Developer Gaylord Entertainment balked at signing a Project Labor Agreement that would have sparked big cost overruns while stuffing union coffers. Voters in Chula Vista and Oceanside two towns near the proposed development approved referendums banning PLAs.
In New Jersey where Gov. Chris Christie has clashed continuously with teachers unions over budget cuts voters approved only 41 percent of the 538 proposed budgets in the states annual school election. Jersey teachers unions were devastated by the result -- its the first time that voters havent approved a majority of the school budgets since 1976.
Many more examples of the voter revolt against unions abound. But despite the clear message being sent unions are more influential than ever at the federal level.
Even as voters rejected card check liberal political appointees on the National Labor Relations Board recently issued a decision allowing unions to forgo secret ballots in certain circumstances.
President Obama has rolled back transparency requirements for unions and encouraged PLAs on $140 billion in stimulus projects. In Congress the $813 billion stimulus bill and subsequent $26 billion teachers union bailout kept public-sector unions flush even as the private-sector economy was drowning.
These measures are Obamas payback to organized labor which spent more than $200 million trying to protect Democrats in the midterm elections. But how many more elections do Democrats and unions have to lose before they start heeding the will of the people?
Mark Hemingway is an editorial page staff writer for The Examiner. He can be reached at mhemingway@washingtonexaminer.com.
