(CNN)On Wednesday, the Supreme Court handed down a ruling that could cripple public-sector unions — and speed up organized labor’s increasing fade as a powerhouse in American politics.
The ruling said, simply, that public-sector unions can no longer require non-union workers to pay fees that allow unions to collectively bargain. The practical effects of that decision are that unions will lose considerable bargaining power and that union membership could well sink.
That’s a vicious cycle that union allies insisted was aimed at reducing the political power of unions, which for decades were one of the pillars of the Democratic Party’s success — particularly when it came to organizing efforts.
This court decision comes almost a decade after Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker won a years-long battle to drastically reduce collective bargaining rights for public employees in the Badger State. Walker beat back a recall effort driven by distaste with collective bargaining move — and is running for a third term in 2018.
What Walker’s gambit on public employees has wrought in Wisconsin should serve as a warning to union supporters nationwide. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, membership in the Milwaukee Teachers Education Association has dropped 30% since Act 10 — the collective bargaining law — went into effect.
“Nationally, no state has lost more of its labor union identity than Wisconsin since 2011, a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel analysis found. Union members made up 14.2% of workers before Act 10, but just 8.3%…
