Study: When WI Union Members Vote, Number of Public Unions Shrink
Original Act 10 research examines effect of annual certification election results
The News: A first of its kind, five-year analysis finds that Act 10 is still working to shrink the number of public-sector unions in Wisconsin. “Democracy in the Workplace: Examining Union Recertification in Wisconsin under Act 10,” by WILL Research Director Will Flanders, PhD, and Policy Intern Lauren Tunney finds that each year, more public unions continue to fail their annual certification votes – resulting in a fewer public unions in Wisconsin.
This study was featured in Thursday’s Wisconsin State Journal.
The Research: Act 10, passed in 2011, was a disruptive force that shook the status quo for public-sector unions. Recent research on Act 10 has found the reforms resulted in higher test scores and a new teacher marketplace, without negative effects on class size and teacher gross pay. WILL’s new original research examined the effect annual union certification votes, a critical Act 10 reform, had on public unions, union members, and education in Wisconsin.
- Union membership in Wisconsin has declined by 100,000 since 2013, and the number of unions has dropped by a third.
- There is no relationship between union decertification and student outcomes.
- Unions in conservative areas were more likely to lose recertification votes.
- Union decertification peaked in the immediate years after Act 10, and has since plateaued.
- The vote share to maintain a union has increased, signaling resilience and support among members of current unions.
- Education unions have been more resilient than public works and highway unions.
The Quote: Research Director Will Flanders said, “Act 10 shook the status quo for public employee unions in Wisconsin. And when workers get a say in the future of their union, the number of public employee unions in Wisconsin continues to shrink.”
Read More:
- “Keeping Score: Act 10’s Impact on Student Achievement,” Will Flanders and Collin Roth, October 2018
- “Silent Successes: The (Still) Undertold Stories of School Districts Using Act 10,” Will Flanders and Lauren Tunney, August 2018
- “The Impact of Act 10 on Wisconsin’s Education Workforce,” Marty Lueken, Will Flanders, and CJ Szafir, June 2016
NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.
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This is a SEE WHAT WE DID TO UNIONS and then to claim that the reason is that people are not longer supporting their Unions rather than saying that Public Unions by LAW have almost no power. HUmmmmm Peace Tom Spellman
Doesn’t Act 10 require that recertification be approved by a majority of ALL members (not just a majority of those voting)?
Consider a hypothetical example:
Union membership: 1000
Re-certification vote results:
• Favor keeping the union 500 (62.5%)
• Favor disbanding it 300 (37.5%)
(200 members don’t bother to vote.)
While the vote shows members overwhelmingly wishing to keep their union, under ACT 10, the union is dissolved because fewer than 501 members voted to keep it.
If the same rules applied to regular elections, Scott Walker and Robin Vos would never have been elected to anything.