AWESOME! Scott Walker’s Reforms Crushing Wisconsin’s Powerful Public Sector Unions, Revenue From Dues Down 40%Public sector unions are one step above organized crime. The Democrats give the unions absurdly generous contracts that private sector workers wouldn’t dream of and in return they pour millions of dollars into their campaigns, and the taxpayers get stuck with the bill.Via The Capital Times:
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The latest tax documents available show yet again that Gov. Scott Walker’s efforts to curb the power of the state’s public sector unions have been very successful.
While Walker and supporters of Act 10, which all but ended collective bargaining for most public workers, framed the bill as a way to help local governments reduce the costs of employee benefits, the legislation also included measures aimed at weakening unions financially by ending automatic dues deductions.
The bill appears to have hit the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) particularly hard.
Among Wisconsin unions, AFSCME is second only to the Wisconsin Education Association Council in members, and it has long been a powerful player in state politics, funneling money directly to campaigns and running independent TV ads in support of pro-labor candidates, as well as providing a legion of employees and member volunteers who made sure that their union brethren got to the polls on Election Day.
In 2011, the year Act 10 was approved, the four councils that make up the state organization reported a combined income of $14.9 million. In 2012, the first full year that the law was in place, the revenue had dropped roughly 45 percent, to $8.3 million.
While AFSCME’s income occasionally fluctuates to reflect infusions of cash it receives from other labor groups that support its political agenda, most of its money comes directly from member dues.
If we look specifically at dues revenue, the picture is also ugly. In total, dues revenue for the groups dropped 40 percent, from $12 million to $7.1 million.
Dues revenue for AFSCME Council 24, which largely represents employees of state government, peaked at nearly $5 million in 2010 and then dropped to $3.5 million in 2011 and again to $1.7 million in 2012. The particularly steep decline is at least partially due to the fact that, whereas some municipal governments rushed through new labor contracts with unions before Act 10 took effect, the GOP-controlled state government did not ratify any new contracts.
Dues for AFSCME Council 40, a union that represents thousands of county and municipal employees around the state, have plummeted from nearly $7.2 million in 2010 to $4.6 million in 2012. For AFSCME Council 48, which represents government workers in Milwaukee County, dues income declined from $1.9 million in 2011 to $920,000 in 2012.