“Our plan will eliminate the big government unions entirely and put the American people back in charge of their government”, Walker plans to say later Monday, according to speech excerpts.
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While some of the proposals could be enacted through presidential executive order, others would require an act of Congress or changes in federal regulations.
“I believe that fairness and opportunity for workers results from freedom”, Scott Walker said.
In an interview with The Associated Press on Monday, Walker said no one should be surprised.
Unions responded to Walker’s proposal with dismay and anger.
The powerful AFL-CIO, the largest union of federal workers, also released a statement declaring Walker to be a “one-trick pony” (with an accompanying graphic).
Walker’s proposal targeting organized labor comes as the candidate struggles to reignite early interest in his campaign.
Experts were taken aback by the scope of Walker’s proposals, which seek to undo decades of law and would gut the landmark National Relations Labor Act – adopted in 1935 and signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the height of the Great Depression.
“I’ve never seen anything like this”, said Ann Hodges, a professor at the University of Richmond who has studied labor law for more than 40 years.
Walker would also require existing unions of federal employees to disclose and certify how much of their dues go toward political activities, as well as prohibit union organizers from having access to personal employee information, in addition to requiring “periodic” union recertification votes.
“While the IRS was busy harassing conservative organizations they also had more than 200 federal employees whose only work was for the big government union bosses”. Democrats were quick to attack, and union leaders were equally as fiercely opposed to Walker’s moves that would undercut their influence in the workplace. “If we want wages to go up, we must make it easier to join unions – not harder”, O’Malley tweeted.
His plan would largely resemble the union-busting policies he passed as governor of Wisconsin, where he proposed a plan to end collective bargaining for many public workers in the state. The GOP presidential candidate was the first United States governor to ever win a recall election. Several employees at the VA should have been demoted or fired for poor performance or misconduct in the wait-time scandal, but because of labor unions they were allowed to stay – and even received back pay. The 47-year-old has been in office since he was 25. And it’s taken some of Iowa’s most seasoned political watchers, including the former chairman of the Iowa Republican Party Richard Schwarm, by surprise. The question came from Don Fagan, 17, who said he asked about the project because it’s an important issue for Nevadans. “And that’s a problem”. Consider the millions of hours each year federal employees spend working for big-labor bosses, rather than the American people.
His choice of Las Vegas for his announcement’s backdrop placed him in a city known for its powerful 55,000-member Culinary Union, which represents the workers who keep the cocktails coming and the roulette wheels rolling in Las Vegas casinos.
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“None of this intimidates us”, Walker said at a recent campaign appearance.
