Texas, long known as an anti-union “Right to Work (For Less)” state, has introduced a potentially devastating bill for public employee unions that would prohibit most government entities from automatically deducting union dues from member’s paychecks.
The proposed law, Senate Bill 1968 was introduced by Texas State Senator Joan Huffman (R) who represents a large swath of Houston in early March. Regarded as “a fundamental attack on public employees freedom of association”, worker advocates and organized labor unions were unable to stop passage by a Senate vote of 20-11, which occurred along party lines.
Now the bill is stuck in the State Affairs Committee after House Democrats blocked Committee Chair Byron Cooks (R) motion to suspend hearing posting rules in an effort move the bill to the House floor more quickly. The posting rule for committee hearings in Texas requires a 5 day notice, which would effectively kill the bill since this Saturday is the last day a bill can be moved out of committee. The vote, 91-48 fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to suspend House rules, and again fell upon party lines.
SB 1968 would effect most state and local employees who have chosen to direct a portion of their paychecks to labor or professional organizations of their choice, but has carved out exceptions for some groups like police, fire and emergency personal associations. When questioned about those exemptions and why teachers, nurses, and child protective services workers should be treated differently than individuals who work for law enforcement or fire departments, she is quoted as saying that those groups “conduct their activities in a different way”, or in other words, they typically support Republican candidates and issues at the polls.
When pushed harder on the question, Senator Huffman back pedaled by saying that she had no problem with payroll deductions generally, and that if processed through the State Employee Charitable Campaign, which allows contributions by advocacy groups to engage in unlimited lobbying and election expenditures, that everything would be within the law as currently written. This is a clear contradiction to what Sen. Huffman said just minutes before when she demanded that the state of Texas “get out of the business of collecting dues”.
One leading argument by those seeking to diminish workers ability to organize and have a voice in a state notorious for its pro-business ideology, is the administrative cost to state and local governments in operating a system that directs membership dues to an organization of the employees choice. But this is untrue. There are no local or state funds required to operate payroll deduction systems, because state law mandates that the organizations receiving the funds pay for all costs related to its operation. What SB 1968 does do is severely limit the economic freedom of union members by making it much more difficult to make payments, in effect decreasing union density much like Scott Walker’s Act 10 did in Wisconsin in 2011.
And while Texas’ SB 1968 does not directly attack the right of workers to collectively bargain or require annual recertification elections, it does take a play from Act 10 by going after union dues, and directly effects the amount of money that may be spent on providing member services and on behalf of candidates who support working class issues. Senator Huffman’s thinly veiled attack on unions and workers who seek the protection and benefits of union membership is yet to be decided, but if passed we can expect Wisconsin style protests and legal battles for the duration of 2015 and beyond.