In the aftermath of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's success at keeping his job for at least another two years — a vote prompted by anger over his reform of collective bargaining rights for public sector employees last year — lots of questions are being asked about organized labor's future in America, raising potentially serious implications for the Democratic party.
One of the best mainstream commentators on labor issues, the American Prospect's Harold Meyerson, wondered whether the result would "embolden other Republican governors to go down this path."
But here in Florida, that is so 2011. A year ago, a bill sponsored by state Senator John Thrasher (strongly supported by Governor Rick Scott) would have required public employee union members' permission to use dues money for politics, as well bar the state or any community from deducting union dues from workers’ paychecks and forwarding that money to unions.
That legislation died when some fellow Republicans (such as Jim Norman) teamed up with Democrats to kill the bill. However, Scott and the GOP did pass legislation requiring state workers to contribute 3 percent of their salaries toward pension costs (a measure which was struck down by a judge earlier this year).