Wisconsin Recertification Votes Mean What You Want Them to Mean
The Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission released the results of this year’s 408 union recertification elections. If you are a union person, you were encouraged that “about 90 percent of the groups said yes to recertifying.” If you are a union opponent, you were encouraged that “workers rejected over 70 of 408 school district unions.”
I don’t read much into the results either way. Some unions chose not to recertify, and since the law puts the apathetic on the “no” side, we have no sense of the depth of opposition. Since doing nothing was the same as voting no, there was no reason to vote no unless you felt very strongly about it.
The locals that achieved support from a majority of members can feel proud of their accomplishment in such an environment, but even the largest victories still leave them with 25 percent or more of their rank-and-file who don’t want them or can’t be bothered making a phone call to record their support.
