Kansas public unions oppose collective bargaining bill

A proposal to restrict public employee collective bargaining would hurt workers and increase labor disputes in the courts, union officials told Kansas legislators Wednesday.

During a hearing by the Senate Commerce Committee, several public employees and union representatives spoke in opposition to the bill, which would pare down talks to setting the minimum salary. The bill would eliminate mediation and grievance processes and allow state agencies to impose terms on public employees in the case of an impasse after 14 days.

Rebecca Proctor, executive director of the Kansas Organization of State Employees, testified that the bill would silence discussions on improving work conditions and benefits.

“What this statute change does essentially is take away all of the employee rights to have a voice in their workplace,” Proctor said.

Robert Wing of the Kansas State Council of Firefighters said the bill would erase years of progress toward an arrangement that that benefited both sides.

“It guts the law, that’s what it does, no ifs ands or buts about it,” Wing said.

Unable to resolve disputes through arbitration, public employees would likely take their labor grievances to the court at great cost to the state if the bill were to pass, Wing said.

Sen. Jeff Melcher, a Leawood Republican who sponsored the bill, said he had not discussed the plans with representatives of state agencies who negotiate with the unions before introducing it, but rather acted on it out of his personal belief that individualized negotiations deliver better results.

“This is something that I’ve had an issue with since I was a young kid growing up. I’ve worked in union facilities before. I’ve seen the damage that it causes,” Melcher said.

Rep. Tom Holland, a Baldwin City Democrat, called the bill a “mirror of Wisconsin,” referring to a 2011 move by Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, to restrict collective bargaining in a budget bill that led to months of protests by public employee unions.

The Kansas Chamber of Commerce and conservative think tanks Americans for Prosperity and the Kansas Policy Institute testified in favor of the bill.

Senate Minority Leader Anthony Hensley, a Topeka Democrat, said the goal of the bill is to “destroy public unions” as punishment for opposing Republican candidates during the previous election cycle.

Commerce chairwoman Sen. Julia Lynn, an Olathe Republican, said that the committee would not hold any more hearings on the bill, but that she would wait to “judge the atmosphere” surrounding the bill before the panel works on it further.

This story was originally published March 11, 2015 at 8:24 PM with the headline "Kansas public unions oppose collective bargaining bill."