Collective bargaining makes little impact for state employees

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- With the stroke of a pen, Gov. Bob Holden last summer ignited what at the time looked to be a long-running war with Republican lawmakers and pro-business groups. One year later, all is quiet on the collective bargaining front.

Since Holden's signing of an executive order granting collective bargaining rights to many state workers last June 29, little has changed. Union membership among state employees has increased only slightly and not a single labor agreement negotiated under the new rules has been implemented.

Republican senators, livid over the Democratic governor's action, which they considered a usurpation of legislative authority, launched an investigation into issues related to the order, but the inquiry soon fizzled out. Expected GOP retaliation against Holden's agenda in the General Assembly never happened. During the 2002 legislative session, collective bargaining garnered barely a mention.

Despite Republican predictions to the contrary, Holden said the order hasn't proved catastrophic for state government.

"I don't think there have been any negative consequences to the signing of that executive order," Holden said. "In fact we're downsizing government, making government more efficient every day."

However, Senate President Pro Tem Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, said the true measure of collective bargaining's impact on the state won't be determined for many years.

"We are not experiencing any overnight sea change," Kinder said. "It is a drip, drip, drip cumulative effect."

Indeed, state officials are still working out the bugs in how to fully implement collective bargaining. Several unions are currently in the process of either organizing various groups of workers or negotiating contracts for recognized bargaining units.

And though the political guns have been silent, the barrage could resume in the coming months. Republicans promise to make the order an issue during fall elections that will determine which party controls the General Assembly. Also, an appeals court will decide whether to reinstate a lawsuit brought by Kinder and others seeking to overturn Holden's action.

Executive Order 01-09

Late in the afternoon of June 29, 2001, word began to circulate around the Capitol that Holden was planning to sign the collective bargaining order. The news caught everyone, save those few in the know, by surprise.

During the proceeding three decades, lawmakers had rejected giving state workers collective bargaining rights several times. However, the subject hadn't been an issue in recent years.

Holden's aides refused to confirm or deny the existence of the order until after the governor signed it in a closed-door ceremony attended only by organized labor and administration officials. Republicans cried foul, saying the governor was unilaterally enacting legislation through executive fiat.

Executive Order 01-09, as it was designated, is more expansive than is typical for such documents. Of the 300 or so executive orders signed by Missouri governors in the last 20 years, most involved declaring an emergency following a major storm or announcing the closure of state offices. A handful related to reorganizations of state departments.

As the collective bargaining order applies only to workers in departments under the governor's direct control, Holden said it was his prerogative to set policy in those departments. Employees of departments governed by independent commissions, such as transportation and conservation, aren't subject to it.

State workers had long had the right to join unions, but few did. Unions had only the power to "meet and confer" with the management of state agencies and little else.

Holden's order allows unions to seek arbitration if an agreement with the state isn't reached after 60 days of negotiations. It also allows unions to charge non-union employees in a bargaining unit "fair share" fees, since unions are required to represent even non-members. In addition, the order authorizes "horizontal" bargaining units, which cover workers in different department who do similar jobs.

The order clarifies that state workers absolutely do not have the right to strike and acknowledges that only the legislature can approve money for increases in pay or benefits.

In the days following the signing, Holden was tight-lipped about organized labor's involvement in the order's drafting and how long it had been in the works.

In August, a letter from a prominent St. Louis labor lawyer to a top Holden aide surfaced that proved the order had been written by labor officials in December 2000 -- a month before Holden took office. The letter also indicated that Holden or his representatives had agreed to sign the order shortly after his inauguration, but that union officials were amenable to the governor waiting until the summer, by which time the legislature would have adjourned for the year.

Union numbers up little

In the months following the signing, the Office of Administration estimated about 30,000 of the state's 60,000 employees were subject to the order. That figure is now believed to be closer to 40,000.

Resa Dudley, the Office of Administration's chief negotiator in labor matters, said implementation of the new collective bargaining rules is an ongoing process.

"Even though a year seems like a long time, things are moving very slowly," Dudley said. "Nothing has been brought to conclusion."

As of March 31, only 5,268 state employees belonged to a union, an increase of nearly 500 from a year earlier. Several organizing efforts are ongoing in various departments.

But union numbers could actually drop soon. In April, workers in the Department of Corrections voted to decertify the union that had represented them since 1983. Approximately 1,300 of the 6,600 workers in that bargaining unit belong to the union.

Ironically, the union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, is the only one to negotiate a contract under the new rules. That contract was never implemented pending outcome of the decertification vote, which the union is appealing.

Dudley is currently negotiating with the Service Employees International Union on two separate contracts. One involves probation and parole employees and the other is for a horizontal bargaining unit spanning the mental health, public safety, corrections and health departments. Negotiations with AFSME on a contract for another horizontal unit representing different workers in many of those same departments will begin in July.

Even with negotiations ongoing, Dudley said the state is still resolving some issues related to the policy change.

"There are a whole lot of things to consider, and we don't feel any great sense of urgency," Dudley said. "We don't want to rush into anything without thinking everything through."

Bad policy

State Sen. John Russell, R-Lebanon, is of the opinion that the Holden administration should have thought through the issue more thoroughly a year ago.

"I think it is bad public policy and the worst example of leadership that you can have," Russell said. "And I know they don't like to hear this, but it is not good for the business climate in the state of Missouri.

"If some business from out of state -- regardless of what their philosophy on unions is -- sees the governor advocating that state employees join a union, they are going to take a second look before coming to Missouri. They are going to assume that it is going to mean a bad business climate sooner or later."

Russell chaired the special Senate committee that was created to review the implications of collective bargaining. A few meetings -- all boycotted by Democratic members -- were held but little of consequence was uncovered. Russell said the committee will issue a final report by September.

Russell did file legislation seeking to limit the order's scope, including banning collection of fair-share fees. After brief debate on the Senate floor, which allowed Russell to make his point, he let the issue drop. Office of Administration officials say they don't plan to allow such fees anyway.

Though collective bargaining is still a sore issue for the veteran lawmaker, Russell said he is pleased unions have made few membership gains.

"By and large, I don't think state employees want to be unionized," Russell said.

The senator and other collective bargaining foes are missing the point, said Herb Johnson, secretary and treasurer for the Missouri AFL-CIO. Collective bargaining is not about forcing unions on people, Johnson said. It simply means giving them a say.

"Employees don't want anything more than fair treatment," Johnson said. "They certainly don't want their employer to be damaged in any way. They have a great amount of pride in their employer."

As to the decertification vote by corrections workers, Johnson said that is a victory for the system, not a defeat for unions.

"You have the right under collective bargaining to change your representative or not have one," Johnson said. "... What it boils down to is it should be hands off and be the right of employees to have or not have representation."

Challenges ahead

Kinder, at the head of a coalition of business groups and individuals opposed to collective bargaining, sued the governor last fall in hopes of getting a court to declare Holden's action unconstitutional.

However, a circuit judge dismissed the case, saying the order clearly fell under the governor's power to set executive branch policy. Kinder appealed and last week the Missouri Court of Appeals Western District in Kansas City scheduled arguments for Aug. 21.

If the lower court is overruled, the case would go to trial. Whatever the result, it is anticipated that the Missouri Supreme Court will have the final say in the matter.

In the meantime, Kinder said the order will be a major issue in the fall legislative campaigns and when Holden seeks re-election in 2004.

"It is going to be big," Kinder said. Scores of rural Missouri Democrats will be running away from collective bargaining and the governor, and that can't be good for Holden in two years, the senator said.

Kinder predicts the issue will help the GOP take control of the House of Representatives and build its Senate majority.

Missouri Democratic Party executive director Mike Kelley said collective bargaining will remain a non-issue in the elections, just as it has been since the fall.

"That just shows how desperate Republicans are when they want to talk about that issue and not serious issues like the budget," Kelley said.

mpowers@semissourian.com

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