MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Lawmakers announced a surprise move Friday to quickly vote on a measure making Wisconsin a right-to-work state, and Gov. Scott Walker – a likely 2016 presidential candidate – said he would support the accelerated plans despite previously urging fellow Republicans to delay action.
Walker had expressed concerns to leaders in the GOP-controlled Legislature that rushing the divisive proposal could distract from his agenda. But after a series of private meetings with lawmakers, followed by an announcement that the bill would be debated next week, Walker’s spokeswoman said he would sign it.
“Governor Walker continues to focus on budget priorities to grow our economy and to streamline state government,” his spokeswoman Laurel Patrick said in an email. “With that said, Governor Walker co-sponsored right-to-work legislation as a lawmaker and supports the policy.”
Under right to work, private-sector workers would not be required to join a union or pay dues as a condition of employment. Twenty-four other states already have the laws in place.
Walker rose to prominence in 2011, when he pushed through a law known as Act 10 that effectively ended collective bargaining for most public workers. That led to protests involving as many as 100,000 people at the state Capitol and a 2012 recall election that Walker won.
Unlike Act 10, which Walker proposed, the right-to-work push is coming from Republicans who control the Legislature.
“I think we can do this next week without it getting really ugly,” said Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald on WTMJ radio in Milwaukee. “We’ll see next week whether the Capitol blows up. I don’t know.”
Right to work is a “false promise for Wisconsin,” said Phil Neuenfeldt, president of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO, in a prepared statement. “Right to Work will not create jobs and will lower wages for all workers,”
Dan Bukiewicz, president of the Milwaukee Building-Construction Trades Council, which represents union construction workers in the Milwaukee area, called right-to-work “an unneeded distraction.”
“I haven’t heard anybody come out from a business standpoint saying this is what they want,” he said. “The residual results of this will hurt the citizens of Wisconsin.”
There will inevitably be legal challenges to the law, but they are unlikely to succeed based on previous federal and state court rulings in Indiana and Michigan, said Paul Secunda, labor law professor and program coordinator for Marquette Law School’s Labor and Employment Law Program in Milwaukee.
Proponents of right-to-work argue it will make Wisconsin more competitive and that workers should have the freedom to decide whether to pay and join a union, rather than having dues automatically withdrawn.
Passing right-to-work is a priority for Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, the statewide chamber of commerce that represents 3,800 large and small manufacturers and companies, local chambers of commerce and specialized trade associations.
Opponents argue the law is an intrusion on the private operations of businesses and results in lower earnings, weaker benefits and higher health insurance premiums. Critics also say right-to-work would jeopardize a successful business model under which workers receive privately funded training to prepare them for work.
Democratic Senate Minority Leader Sen. Jennifer Shilling called it “absurd” that the issue was being fast-tracked.
“Rather than creating economic uncertainty for Wisconsin families and small businesses, Republicans should focus their attention on boosting family wages, closing the skills gap and fixing the $2.2 billion budget crisis they created,” she said in a statement.
Union membership is declining in Wisconsin. Last year, 11.7 percent of workers belonged to unions, based on figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s down from 12.3 percent in 2013 and 14.2 percent in 2010, the year before the public union changes.
Fitzgerald said in the radio interview that the bill would be introduced Friday with a vote planned for Wednesday night or Thursday morning. He said he finalized the plan on Thursday with Assembly Speaker Robin Vos.
The Legislature will call itself into extraordinary session to quickly pass the bill, Fitzgerald said.
Republicans currently have an 18-14 majority in the Senate. That will grow to 19-14 after an April election to fill a vacancy where a Republican is the only candidate on the ballot.
“The theory is when you have the votes, you gotta go,” Fitzgerald said. “They know this is the right thing to do. The senators know it.”
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Associated Press writer Todd Richmond contributed to this report.
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