Newsmakers: Public Employee Bargaining Changes
The Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission is implementing the controversial narrowing of public employee collective bargaining that Gov. Scott Walker and Republican legislators passed in March. Peter Davis, WERC general counsel, discussed the three deadlines public employee unions faced to decide whether to try to continue in a Newsmakers interview on Oct. 12. Davis said 14 of the 20 unions, including the largest unions, who had represented 32,911 state workers decided to not seek recertification and 6 unions that had been representing 2,867state workers filed to seek recertification. Davis also said WERC will contract with a private company to oversee the elections that determine whether those state, school district and municipal employees continue to be represented by unions — elections that will feature the first voting by phone in Wisconsin history.
