Walker Signs Right-To-Work Bill

Scott Walker continues to move Wisconsin forward.

.@GovWalker Signs #RightToWork into Law http://t.co/rsLUzeLisV #WorkerFreedom #RightForWI pic.twitter.com/fKoubVy22C

— MacIver Institute (@MacIverWisc) March 9, 2015

I wonder if the folks on the Left understand what this means.

No one is banned from joining a union. Unions have not been outlawed. It simply means individuals now have the freedom to choose if they want to be members.

From the New York Times:

For decades, states across the South, Great Plains and Rocky Mountains enacted policies, known as “right to work,” that prevented organized labor from forcing all workers to pay union dues or fees. But the industrial Midwest resisted.

Those days are gone. After a wave of Republican victories across the region in 2010, Indiana and then Michigan enacted right-to-work laws that supporters said strengthened those states economically, but that labor leaders asserted left behind a trail of weakened unions.

Now it is Wisconsin’s turn. On Monday, Gov. Scott Walker — who in 2011 succeeded in slashing collective bargaining rights for most public sector workers — signed a private-sector right-to-work bill that makes his state the 25th to adopt the policy and has given new momentum to the business-led movement, its supporters say.

“This freedom-to-work legislation will give workers the freedom to choose whether or not they want to join a union, and employers another compelling reason to consider expanding or moving their business to Wisconsin,” Mr. Walker said.

The Leftists at the Times appear troubled by the new law, but at least they know what the bill does.

From the Los Angeles Times:

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker signed a bill Monday aimed at restricting the strength of private-sector unions, the latest in a series of moves this winter to accentuate his conservative policies as he pursues the Republican presidential nomination.

The new law ends the power of unions to collect fees from workers they represent who refuse to join and pay dues. Enactment of the measure, which supporters call "right-to-work," makes Wisconsin the 25th state, and the third in the industrial Midwest, to adopt such a statute.

...Late last year, as Republicans who hold the majority in the state legislature pushed the bill forward, Walker called it a “distraction,” drawing criticism from some prominent conservative voices, including the Wall Street Journal’s influential editorial page.

Earlier this year, as he began to pursue the GOP presidential nomination more actively, he changed course, saying he would sign the bill. The legislature passed the bill on a largely partly-line vote last week.

Walker has tried, with considerable success so far, to position himself as the main conservative alternative to Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor. Several recent polls have shown him leading the field in Iowa, which holds the first balloting in the nomination process.

I don't care if this progress is the result of Walker's presidential aspirations.

If his potential campaign prompts the Republican legislature and Walker to give the people what we want, that's all right with me.
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Read: Why I’m Signing Wisconsin’s Freedom to Work Legislation