Implementing Union-Busting Bill Will be Bureaucratic Nightmare

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The Wall Street Journal has pointed out what an expensive bureaucratic nightmare it will be for the twenty-person Wisconsin Employee Relations Committee to certify annual elections for the 2,000 unions representing Wisconsin's 200,000 state employees around the state.

Currently, the Committee deals with 50 elections per year. Walker's bill will require the agency to deal with 40 times that amount in a one-month period, but does not allocate funds to increase its capacity. It should come as no real surprise that Walker did not consider the logistics of his union-busting tactics. By now it is infinitely clear that Walker's union-busting was motivated by a desire to crush the only political organizations looking out for middle-class interests. As CMD reported weeks ago, one method of dismantling the unions is to hold annual recertification elections and require a majority of eligible voters, rather than just a majority of those voting. (This method would render it nearly impossible to elect a U.S. president if applied to political elections: only 27% of eligible voters, for instance, cast votes for Ronald Reagan).

Nonetheless, union elections for all 200,000 employees will begin in April, and the office tasked with verifying the appropriate unit, conducting elections, and counting the votes is understaffed to the point of impotence. In the aftermath of the union-busting vote, Wisconsin's GOP appears less concerned with resolving these dilemmas than heading to DC for a fundraiser.