State Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, announced yesterday he will look to address the “Right to Work for Less” bill during the next legislative session.
The bill would ban mandatory union membership for employees in the private sector and protect workers from unions they might not necessarily want to join, according to a press release from Fitzgerald. While the action is a policy continuation of Gov. Scott Walker’s 2011 passage of Act 10, Walker has publicly distanced himself from right-to-work legislation.
Trying to pass such a bill at this time would “be a distraction from the work we’re trying to do,” Walker said in an interview with Wisconsin Public Radio. Walker also downplayed the potential economic benefits of the legislation, stating factors such as tax reform would be more beneficial for Wisconsin’s economy.
State Sen. Jennifer Shilling, D-La Crosse, said Wednesday that Walker should go further with his opposition and called for him to publicly declare his intention to veto the bill were it to ever come to his desk.
“Rather than creating economic uncertainty for Wisconsin families and businesses, we need to be focused on growing economy and creating jobs,” Shilling said in a press release.
State Sen. Dave Hansen, D-Green Bay, contended the bill does not work to protect workers, as Fitzgerald suggested, but instead weakens unions to create greater profit margins and increase the pay of corporate executives.
