Last March Governor Scott Walker and the Republican majority led the state legislative bodies to end the vast majority of the public sector employees’ collective bargaining rights. The bill became effective law at the end of June when the Wisconsin Education Association (WEAC) members were beginning summer vacation.
What are some things that have changed as a result of this law being implemented?
The Associated Press obtained documents from Wisconsin’s open records and reported that two times as many teachers in the public schools as in the previous two years before the end of bargaining rights left their jobs during the first half of 2011.
The Wisconsin State Journal states that schools are saving money, due to retirements and not solely cost saving strategies. When highly paid teachers retire, wages decrease. Beloit schools, where 10%, or 60 teachers, retired, the school district saved $920,000 due to the retirements, but lost a wealth of experience in the process and have, per Employment Law Daily, filled only 40 of the 60 vacancies. Each opening is looked at case-by-case for the value and benefit of filling the opening in a tight economy that must achieve fiscal responsibility at every level.
Although the teachers union still maintains some bargaining rights regarding salaries, major benefit changes have been implemented. Teachers now work additional hours per year as an additional hour per day has been added to the workday without additional compensation.
A positive change for the State of Wisconsin and for teachers was the regained right for the school districts to invite and accept competitive bidding for health insurance. Sometime in the past a contract had been signed that forced the entire school system to offer only insurance through the Wisconsin Education Association (WEA) Trust, an organization created by the union and which charged significantly higher rates for coverage. Gouging of this type created by a monopolistic contract agreement is now ending.
Per The Washington Examiner’s Byron York this change in insurance bidding alone will save “three different school systems…between $380,000 and $1.3 million dollars annually in just a single change that is available to them now that collective bargaining is gone. These savings are so enormous that school systems are going from budget deficits to surpluses on the strength of this one change alone.” Bryon also commented that there were teachers who did, indeed, recognize the contractual clause forcing WEA Trust insurance was exorbitant and did take away from classroom spending, as did the State of Wisconsin recognize this extremely costly issue.
Hartland-Lakeside district’s contract ended June 30, 2011 and it was able to switch to another insurer instead of WEA Trust and thereby save $690,000 in 2011-2012, down for the year from $2.5 million for insurance to $1.8 million. Union leaders had claimed that losing contract agreements with teachers would be very detrimental for those educators, but in this example, freed monies became available for use in education and to meet critical economic cutbacks. The opportunity to have other insurance coverage was desirable to many teachers who already had knowledge of what participating in different coverage would entail and provide. Interestingly, according to WizBang Blog, the WEA Trust is now willing to meet the competition’s pricing.
Pewaukee School District is saving $378,000 by offering different insurance coverage and Menomonee Falls School District will save $1.3 million in wasted dollars paid to a bloated and non-competitive union trust. With these types of numbers it is easy to see that lucrative unions are on the losing end of any bargaining and hopefully improved communications between teachers, administration, and government in general will be achieved. The cloaking or guarding of information and only doling out to its membership what the union wants the members to know is also hopefully ending. Knowledge is power after all for everyone, even in a life-or-death battle that could be raged by furious unions in the future in Wisconsin and in other states.
Some other changes noted are that employees will now be using personnel manuals or handbooks instead of union contracts. Some districts are cutting sick days and not allowing teachers to donate sick days to another seriously ill teacher. Some overtime will be rewarded through stipends. Dress codes for teachers are part of some manuals and unnecessary conveniences such as microwaves and refrigerators are part of the strict cost cutting strategies being installed.
Other Public Workers in Wisconsin
Per Connie Eyer of the Employment Law Daily’s blog, when faced with individuals sharing in the cost of beneficial health and pension benefits while losing perceived clout through collective bargaining, some other public workers opted to retire also. She reports that the University of Wisconsin retirements more than doubled from 480 in 2010 to 1091 in 2011 and “all told, 9,933 public workers had retired by the end of June, a 93 percent increase from 5,133 in 2010. The year before there were 4,876 retirements.”
The voters of Wisconsin have voted their voice. When faced with the recall of key government leaders, they voted to keep them in office, a strong statement by voters affirming that their government officials must maintain a viable educational system for students and teachers alike.