This story is taken from Dan Walters
at sacbee.com.
Dan Walters: Schwarzenegger declares war
on the powerful public worker unions
By Dan Walters -- Bee Columnist
Published 2:15 am PST Friday, January 7, 2005
When Jerry Brown signed
legislation extending collective bargaining rights to California's public
employees nearly 30 years ago, it couldn't have come at a better time for the
state's labor unions.
The California economy
was undergoing a fundamental change, moving away from heavily unionized manufacturing
and toward a post-industrial mode, centered on trade and technology, not
conducive to unionization.
The rapid expansion of
unions representing state and local government and school district employees
offset the decline of private sector unionization in the 1980s and 1990s, so
much so that the entire labor movement in California became dominated by the
public worker unions. And by their nature, the California State Employees'
Association, the California Teachers Association and the California Correctional
Peace Officers Association were much more politically motivated than private
sector unions had been.
Since the public unions
would be negotiating contracts with elected officeholders at state and local
levels - and seeking pension enhancements and other benefits outside the
contract process - they had a powerful motivation to elect as many
union-friendly governors, state legislators, mayors, City Council members,
county supervisors, and school and special district trustees as possible.
Expansion of public
unionization coincided with passage of Proposition 13, the 1978 ballot measure
that capped local government and school district property taxes. As local
governments lost their power to set property tax rates, interest among local
business and civic leaders in their affairs waned, and unions stepped into the
vacuum. And as the financing of schools and county governments shifted to
Sacramento, unions ramped up their involvement at the state level.
As hundreds of millions
of dollars in union dues from public sector workers flowed to candidates who
pledged their fidelity - many recruited directly from union ranks - the unions
became hegemonic within the state Democratic Party, and union leaders such as
longtime prison union chief Don Novey achieved life-and-death power over the
careers of aspiring politicians.
While the public unions
achieved major gains, their ambitions were somewhat stymied during the 16 years
that Republicans held the governorship after Brown departed. Police and fire
unions could not, for example, gain the binding arbitration on contract
disputes that had long been their top political goal. And Republican Gov. Pete
Wilson, who fought with the unions constantly, sponsored an unsuccessful ballot
measure as he was leaving the governorship in 1998 to directly curb the unions'
ability to spend union dues on friendly politicians.
Gray Davis' election as
governor in 1998 changed the political chemistry. Davis was a Democrat in whom
many of the public unions had invested heavily, and he reciprocated
consistently during his five-year governorship, including the aforementioned
binding arbitration for local police and fire unions, sharp increases in
pension benefits, and lavish contracts for prison workers.
The ambience changed
again in 2003 when Davis was recalled and Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger was
elected as his successor - and just how dramatic the shift was, from the
unions' standpoint, became apparent Wednesday night when Schwarzenegger
unveiled four "government reform" measures that he said he'll take to
the ballot if the Legislature refuses to enact them.
All four would strike
deeply into the guts of public employee unionism - such things as merit pay for
teachers, expanded authorization for charter schools, replacing state pension
programs with a 401(k)-like system, imposing automatic cuts on state spending
that exceeds revenues, and changing legislative districts that bolster union
clout in the Capitol. In addition, he proposed reforms for the state prison system
aimed, he said, at reducing union influence.
The looming political war
over Schwarzenegger's sweeping proposals will have many aspects, but at its
heart, it represents a huge attack on public worker unions by the most popular
governor in recent history.
"I say it's
war," one Democratic staffer said in an e-mail Thursday. "And I say,
let's fight."
About the writer:
- Reach Dan Walters at (916) 321-1195 or dwalters@sacbee.com. Back columns: www.sacbee.com/walters.
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