An attack on employees' bargaining rights
Governors treat state workers like second-class citizens

The newly elected governors of Indiana and Missouri had barely been sworn into office when they launched a frontal attack on their workers. In early January, the governors, both Republicans, took away the collective bargaining rights of their state employees, effectively negating or threatening the contracts of thousands.

“The direction these two governors have taken is misguided and unfortunate,” says Jim McGarvey, an AFT vice president and chair of the AFT Public Employees program and policy council. “Public employee collective bargaining has demonstrated its value across the country and has shown that real improvement in the delivery of public services comes with employees having meaningful input into the decisions that affect their work. Through collective bargaining and effective representation, we can improve services and improve the work lives of public employees.”

Indiana state employees gained collective bargaining rights in 1989 through an executive order signed by Gov. Evan Bayh. Every governor since then has honored that order, which permits state employees to negotiate pay, benefits and work rules. Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels’ decision to rescind the bargaining rights of state employees affects about 23,000 workers, including 14,000 men and women represented by the Unity Team, a joint local of the AFT and the United Auto Workers.

Daniels also issued executive orders invalidating existing labor agreements, reports the Indianapolis Star. Those contracts had been scheduled to run through June 2007.

“This is a dark day for the people of Indiana,” says AFT president Edward J. McElroy. “Collective bargaining is a process that benefits taxpayers as much as it does state employees. It brings with it higher-quality services, more efficient government and improved quality of life for all of Indiana’s citizens. Gov. Daniels’ move is a leap in the wrong direction.”

Despite the setback, the Unity Team remains focused on representing its members. “More than ever, state employees need a voice in the decisions that affect their work,” Unity Team president Fuzz LeMay wrote in a letter posted on the union’s Web site. “Through our work together, we can continue to provide that voice at the work site, in the halls of the Legislature and in the governor’s office.”

Missouri’s new Republican Gov. Matt Blunt repealed a 2001 executive order of his predecessor—Democratic Gov. Bob Holden—giving some Missouri state employees the right to union representation for contract negotiations. About 9,000 Missouri state employees are represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the Service Employees International Union. Although the unions still can represent employees, there is no guaranteed collective bargaining process to allow them to reach a binding contract, reports the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Holden’s order also had permitted unions to collect fair-share fees from workers they represented.

“The governors’ actions deny Indiana and Missouri state employees the rights enjoyed by all private sector workers and by state employees in other states,” says AFL-CIO president John Sweeney. “And they echo a message coming from the White House down to men and women on the frontlines of our struggles against poverty, disease, crime and terrorism all across the country: We expect first-class devotion, service and sacrifice, but we will treat you like second-class citizens.”

The AFL-CIO and its affiliates, Sweeney promises, “will do everything within our power to help restore the rights of Indiana and Missouri state employees.”