The Washington Institute Foundation, an independent, non-profit think tank, today released a new study on SB 6402, a bill to bring full-scope collective bargaining to the state workforce. The study, titled "Sidelined: Collective Bargaining Bill Undermines the Power of the Legislature," examines the policy implications of the legislation.
The bill would require many state workers to join a designated government union within 30 days of establishing collective bargaining or face dismissal. It would also dictate a fundamental shift in the balance of power within our state government. "The legislature stands to lose control of a significant portion of the state's payroll budget, and the likely result will be a major increase in personnel costs to the state," said study author Paul Guppy.
SB 6402 would empower the governor to negotiate, in secret, comprehensive and binding collective bargaining agreements with state employee unions. The agreements would then be presented to the legislature for a single, up-or-down vote. No amendments would be allowed.
All this would occur without public hearings, debate or oversight from the legislature, effectively shutting that body out of a large area of state policymaking. The state spent $2.8 billion on wages and salaries, and another $705 million on benefits, in fiscal 1998.
The study finds that mandatory collective bargaining has led to higher personnel costs in other states. In Hawaii collective bargaining threatens to turn an expected $190 million surplus into a deficit. "If you crank in a 2% pay raise, you're going to start running into red ink very fast," Budget Director Neil Miyahira told the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
Nationally, union membership has been in decline for decades, now accounting for barely 10% of the nation's workforce. "The downturn in unions is evidence that in a modern workforce collective bargaining retains its relevance for an ever smaller number of employees," said Washington Institute President Richard A. Derham.
Only 23 states require full-scope collective bargaining for their state employees. Since 1983 New Mexico is the only state that has adopted collective bargaining, and even that state subsequently dropped the practice.
