Kansas Senate committee advances bill on public sector unions

The Kansas Senate is headed for a fight with the state’s public sector unions after a committee advanced a bill limiting public employees’ collective bargaining power and changing the way unions collect dues.

The bill would limit automatic paycheck deductions for public employee unions and other organizations such as charities. The head of United Way of the Plains called it “a kick in the teeth.”

It also would abolish the Public Employee Relations Board, which handles disputes between public sector workers and their employers, and give the secretary of labor the power to arbitrate instead.

Rebecca Proctor, president of the Kansas Organization of State Employees, said putting labor disputes in the hands of the secretary of labor creates a clear conflict of interest. Secretary of Labor Lana Gordon might have to settle disputes involving the Labor Department and, more widely, the administration in general.

“How is it that you give her the position of being the referee when she’s in the middle of the game?” asked Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, D-Topeka, contending the settlement of disputes was better left to an independent board.

Sen. Jeff Melcher, R-Leawood, who introduced the bill, said his goal is to make government work more like the private sector and remove this “artificial divide that seems to exist between management and labor.”

The Senate Commerce Committee took two Senate bills and stuffed them into House Bill 2096, a procedural move known as a “gut and go” that speeds up the legislative process. If the Senate passes the bill, the House can vote to concur and send the legislation straight to the governor’s desk.

The bill would limit the items state employees can negotiate in their contracts to salaries and wages. It was amended to give counties and cities more items to negotiate, such as sick leave and retirement benefits. Wichita and Sedgwick County employees would still be able to file grievances against their employers, but state employees wouldn’t.

Eric Stafford, lobbyist for the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, which backs the bill, said limiting the items that public employees can negotiate protects taxpayers’ interests.

“I wouldn’t say it weakens (the unions), I’d say it protects the taxpayers … it puts it exclusively in statute what’s negotiable and what’s not. Because what had been in statute through court cases had grown much broader,” Stafford said.

“Look at the city of Detroit and what they’ve experienced,” Stafford said, blaming the Motor City’s financial woes on collective bargaining run amok.

Beyond unions

The bill would limit automatic paycheck deductions to those required by state or federal laws or part of the public employees’ benefits package.

Public employees would have to pay union dues or make charitable contributions on their own.

Sen. Molly Baumgardner, R-Louisburg, said she offered the amendment that broadened that requirement beyond unions to make it more fair.

Pat Hanrahan, president and CEO of the United Way of the Plains, said the bill would cost his organization, which provides grants for a wide range of charities in the Wichita area, about $305,000 each year – money it receives from payroll deductions from Wichita teachers and other public employees.

“When we’re just starting to see a few green shoots pop up in this economy coming out of the recession, this is the last thing we need. What this means is $305,000 of reduced service,” he said.

Hanrahan said the United Way funds a broad range of services, including day care for handicapped children and food and shelter for the poor. He said the organization would be able to raise only a fraction of the money lost from payroll deductions by direct contributions.

“And if anybody says we can maintain that without payroll deductions, they’re kidding themselves,” he said.

Sen. Tom Holland, D-Baldwin City, commended Baumgardner for trying to make the legislation fairer, but he questioned the bill’s overall purpose.

“We’re taking away the voluntary right to make contributions to the United Way, your unions, whatever it is. What are we coming to here?” Holland said. “I view this Legislature as basically trying to suppress people’s freedom of assembly. We’re trying to take away who these folks want to associate with. I think this is patently wrong.”

Stafford said removing the automatic deductions would not prevent people from participating in unions or contributing to them.

“If people believe in unions, they’re still going to pay their dues. It’s just not having government facilitate that transaction,” Stafford said.

‘More like the marketplace’

The legislation is similar to controversial changes made in Wisconsin under Republican Gov. Scott Walker. Stafford noted that Walker survived an attempted recall and won re-election this past fall.

The governor’s office said it would not comment on pending legislation.

Mark Desetti, legislative director of the Kansas National Education Association, charged that the legislation was political payback against unions for supporting Democrat Paul Davis in November.

Senate President Susan Wagle, R-Wichita, who sits on the Senate Commerce Committee, said that collective bargaining holds some state workers back and that individualizing the workplace would serve both workers and the state better.

“I think it needs to be more like the marketplace where you can reward excellent behavior and move people into new positions and give them more work and reward them with greater pay,” she said.

She said unions had a role in the past in crafting workplace protections. “But right now, I believe those regulations for worker safety and worker protections are in federal and state law. And, you know, the unions just don’t have the place in our society that they once had.”

Proctor said the legislation should be viewed in connection with HB 2391, which would enable state agencies to move jobs outside the civil service system, which she said would make it easier to dismiss employees.

“Fundamentally, it makes it easier to balance and manipulate the budget by manipulating your head count,” Proctor said. “You can then hire and fire at will and not have to worry about anybody being able to grieve it or contest it.”

John Milburn, spokesman for the Department of Administration, which crafted the House bill, said it was “completely independent” from the legislation in the Senate. He said the intent was to give more flexibility to employees and agencies; the civil service classification limits the duties an employee can be assigned and keeps the agency from giving raises based on merit.

This story was originally published March 19, 2015 at 10:47 AM with the headline "Kansas Senate committee advances bill on public sector unions."