By Eric W. Dolan
Raw-Story
Republicans in the Arizona Senate introduced legislation on Tuesday that could eliminate public employee unions, according to Talking Points Memo.
The bills go even further than those proposed in Wisconsin last year, which lead to massive pro-union protests at the state Capitol.
“At first glance, it looks like an all out assault on the right of workers to organize,” Senate Minority Leader David Schapira (D) told TPM. “And to me, that’s a serious problem.”
The legislation would prohibit government agencies from collectively bargaining with public employees, including firefighters and police officers. It would also prohibit automatic payroll deductions for union dues and ban compensation of public employees for union work.
“Gradually this would cause people to leave the unions as they recognized that unions no longer have an unfair bargaining advantage given to them by collective bargaining laws,” Nick Dranias of the Goldwater Institute, a think tank that helped craft the legislation, told TPM.
“They’ll realize that unions don’t do much for them.”
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) was the guest of honor at the Goldwater Institute’s annual dinner last November.