Thursday, April 2nd, 2009...5:46 pm
Breaking: Brewer Rescinds “Meet and Confer” for State Employees
La Cervecera has recinded Janet Napolitano’s executive order that allowed for state employees a vote on whether to have a union. Her stated reasons for this are rather weak. This is from her press release:
Governor Jan Brewer today signed an executive order to reaffirm the State of Arizona’s longstanding prohibition against mandatory union activity as a condition of employment.
“It was long ago decided by the citizens of Arizona to provide protection in the Arizona Constitution to ensure the freedom of workers to choose whether to join and participate in a union,” said Governor Brewer. “The establishment late last year of a broad meet and confer process for all of state government, without public discourse or legislative policy discussion, unnecessarily exposes the state to legal claims and conflicts with Arizona’s right to work laws.”
As Mo Udall would say: Goomwah.
First off, she’s arguing that the ill-named Right to Work law prohibits any union from being formed at all. Far from it. The “Right to Work” law, according to its proponents (including the governor in the very next paragraph), is supposed to prevent a “closed shop”, a work place where employees are forced to join a union.
Further, in the next paragraph, she applies a standard of a public process that simply doesn’t exist in the right to work statute. Either she is unfamiliar with the statute, or she is making up new law.
What is interesting is that she doesn’t annul the meet and confer rights of corrections officers, and she doesn’t see fit to explain why. I’m glad that some state employees will still have their right to organize, but this is certainly a double standard. This is more about politics than the law: punish unions like SEIU and AFSCME that tend to support Democrats.
This lays bare a hypocrisy among Republican arguments about unionization. Napolitano’s executive order called for employees to be able to call a vote, a vote by secret ballot, to form a union. Employees in eight departments have taken the steps to call for a secret ballot. That is over now.
In all of the arguments over card check, we’ve heard from Republicans about the sanctity of the secret ballot in union elections. Well, here we had folks who played by their rules, and they were rebuffed. It’s time for these Republicans to stop making nice sounding excuses about protecting democracy in the workplace and admit that they’d rather not see workers unionized at all.
17 Comments
April 2nd, 2009 at 11:36 pm
You didn’t really think that Jan Brewer would go along with meet and confer, now did you? She’s always been an ideologue and a far right extremist and she still is.
Just because there are some even farther out there Republicans like Ron Gould and Russell Pearce who are so extreme that they make her look better by comparison, doesn’t mean that she is any less a far right Republican than she always has been.
She almost reminds me of Calamity Jane.
April 3rd, 2009 at 10:22 am
Republicans hide behind their thinly veiled reasoning when it comes to everything…
Since when do large-scale employers and the US Chamber of Commerce give a damn about worker’s rights? All of a sudden the secret ballot, which more often than not blows the doors open for employee intimidation, is as American as apple pie and needs to be defended from evil doing union goons for the sake of your freedom, my freedom, your pet hamsters freedom…it’s all on the line here people…
What a trip.
April 3rd, 2009 at 11:00 am
Maybe if AZ SEIU had actually organized some state employees, instead of just spreading some money around town, employees would be in a better position. You gotta wonder if SEIU could have turned this thing around if they hadn’t been so busy spending state employees’ dues money on undemocratic raids against the hotel workers union.
April 3rd, 2009 at 11:54 am
Never let facts get in the way of angry rhetoric. SEIU AZ actually has organized state employees – more than 5,000 signed support cards — enough to call for an election in every state department. Unfortunately, Brewer would rather tell state employees to “shut up and get to work” than treat them as the valuable partners they are.
April 3rd, 2009 at 12:09 pm
State employees filed for union elections in record time for an election that would have covered more than 16,000 employees. Those same employees have been speaking up against deep cuts in public services that will hurt children, our environment, health care services and our state’s most vulnerable.
Now Brewer is trying to silence them just as she is ignoring all the educators, students, parents and concerned members of the community who are standing up against her attack on public services.
It’s shameful and it’s why she needs to be held accountable. Here’s to making Brewer one of the shortest term governors in Arizona’s history.
April 3rd, 2009 at 12:43 pm
Ironically, the only people who have the tools and on the ground experience to save the state money are being denied the right to help. Note to self: vote for opponent in 2010.
April 3rd, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Denying the voice of state employees is a poor idea both politically and operationally. State employees with a voice in the workplace will ultimately make government more efficient. The services that these employees provide is essential at all times, but especially in today’s economic climate when the people of Arizona need these services the most.
If the employees all around the state stand up in 2010, Brewer is out!
April 3rd, 2009 at 1:05 pm
GoWildcats is almost as out of touch with reality as Governor Brewer. State employees that are active in SEIU met with 57 of 90 legislators in the first quarter of 2009. Many of the savings that have been adopted came from employees/SEIU members. And we’ve been at it since October which is longer than the legislature has been working on budget solutions.
It is not serendipity – it organization.
We will be part of the solution. Even if the solution is a new governor and legislature.
April 3rd, 2009 at 1:12 pm
No disagreement here that Brewer acted like the Republican hack that we all know she is and that she deserves to be un-elected. But what you’re calling organizing – passing out cards and doling out campaign contributions – is not my definition. Real unions develop shop leaders, spokespeople, committees in each department, division, etc. It’s hard work. SEIU should get to it rather than wasting time attempting to lure away already-unionized workers at laundries, hotels and stadiums.
April 3rd, 2009 at 2:33 pm
Correct, Go Wildcats. Real unions develop leaders who speak out, organize their co-workers, develop ideas, attend meetings and put in hours and hours of hard work on their personal time. There are dozens of SEIU members across the state and in all state departments who are doing just that.
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:50 pm
Well GOWildcats, at least we agree that it is hard work. And tiring.
But do more research on SEIU’s state employee campaign before your next blog. You should come by the SEIU office and see what all we do. Or take a state employee to lunch (I haven’t had good cheese steak lately) and and find out from one of us.
Say “hello” to Roman and Sherie for me!
April 3rd, 2009 at 7:44 pm
Unions have serveral missions and performs many functions within those missions. I think it is safe to say that SEIU meets these objectives. In fact I would say it is does an outsanding job. We look at the large public service unions, SEIU, AFSCME, TEA and AZCOPS all have certain missions. Though I would venture to say that some of these missions vary in importance depending on the type of union that exists, the importance of solidiarty allows workers to be treated fairly, as long as they understand that their survival is predicated on the fiscal solvency of their employer.
April 3rd, 2009 at 7:58 pm
I am a SEIU member and see and experience the sacrifices of time, energy, and knowledge of the SEIU employees in helping the state employees to organize and getting their voices heard, holding meetings to organize ideas, and organize events. The vunerable need the services that will be cut and would be devastated if our voices are not heard.
April 3rd, 2009 at 8:29 pm
I agree totally Eileen, it would be a shame if state employees couldn’t get their union established. That’s why I can’t understand why SEIU would – over the past several weeks – send its staff out to raid other unions. Do you think that is an acceptable expenditure of the union’s resources?
April 4th, 2009 at 8:16 am
The Governor rescinding the order was expected, and probably corrections right after. The problem with the original executive order is that AFSCME members were already meeting and conferring with three top agency heads and doing the things the order called for. State employees do not have to have an election to form a union, they already formed one and have had one for 40 years. That element is a falsehood. I am a proud AFSCME member of 18 years with the state. AFSCME has been and will continue to push for meet and confer through legislation, that is BINDING on all parties and signed by the Governor. That is something the Napolitano order lacked. We can talk to Directors every three months now, if our agreements are not binding, whats the point? Thankfully, AFSCME has established relationships with the legislative leadership and is working toward that goal, has strong organizing and political committees and members who are putting in long hours to make legislative Meet and Confer a reality.
If the public is really concerned with protecting services and having a strong safety net for working families, contact your legislator – whoever they are, no matter what party they are and make the case for meet and confer through legislation.
April 4th, 2009 at 11:22 pm
Erish,
You touch on the real key.
What we’ve seen in the past few weeks is that even a powerful Governor can have her footprint erased once she leaves office if it is not backed by legislation.
The key is the legislature. And they are poised to pass a quarter billion dollar special-interest tax cut after making billions in cuts to virtually every program in the state.
By next year they will be trying to duck the credit for the job losses, tuition increases, etc. that will go along with the consequences of one party rule for decades (and the years of an unbroken string of tax cuts that went along with it.)
So those of us who can see why we are in this situation and who got us there can’t let them dodge responsibility. If they go ahead with more massive budget cuts, especially if it is combined with a special-interest tax cut then they should be called on it, loudly and publically.
April 4th, 2009 at 11:24 pm
And when a different legislature is elected then we can push for legislation that recognizes the rights of state employees to have their voices heard through the leadership they choose from among their ranks.