Give Public Workers the Right to Re-elect

Less than 1 Percent of Teachers had Chance to Elect Their Union

January 19, 2016, Harrisburg, Pa.—As the country prepares for a presidential election year, public schoolteachers across Pennsylvania are undoubtedly educating their students in American democracy. Unfortunately for those very same teachers—and other public sector workers across the state—the right to choose their own workplace representation is little more than a pipe dream.

In fact, most teachers’ unions haven’t stood for election in so long that less than 1 percent of Pennsylvania schoolteachers represented by a union today had the opportunity to vote for that union.

That’s because once a government union is officially recognized—or “certified”—as representing employees, it is never required to stand for re-election.

For example, it’s been 51 years since the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers faced an election. The Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers was elected in 1973—when the Vietnam War still gripped news headlines.

These findings are included in Bringing Democracy to Pennsylvania Labor Unions—a policy brief released today by the Commonwealth Foundation calling for legislative reform to strengthen democratic processes within government unions. 

“Imagine the backlash if we were to end regular political elections and tell Americans the party in power now would stay in power for the next four decades,” stated Matthew Brouillette, president and CEO of the Commonwealth Foundation and former middle- and high-school history teacher. “The outcry would be deafening. Why are public sector labor unions allowed to ignore this basic principle of democracy?”

Solution: Give Public Workers the Right to Re-elect

For 429 of 488 school districts for which information was available, and for major government unions representing state workers including UFCW, AFSCME, and SEIU 668, certification happened more than 40 years ago. Under the Public Employe Relations Act of 1970 (PERA), once a union is elected as the bargaining voice for employees, that union is never required to face re-election.

Union decertification is technically possible, but it’s an extremely onerous, time-limited process. Employees must demonstrate 30 percent of workers in the bargaining unit want a decertification election, and requests for decertification can be submitted only around a contract’s expiration.

If workers want to change their existing union to a new one, they can do so only within a short window at the expiration of their labor contract.

As a result of these restrictions, just a handful of hundreds of thousands of state workers have ever had the chance to vote for the union representing them.

For the state’s 20 largest school districts, the scenario is equally dismal: Just 17 of 24,158 current teachers were employed during the last union certification election.  

“Perpetual union representation without elections flies in the face of democracy and workers’ rights,” Brouillette continued. “Just as Americans are guaranteed the right regularly to go to the polls and elect their representatives, workers should be guaranteed the right to re-elect their union at least every four years. It’s time to end government unions’ exemption from democracy and give public employees the opportunity to choose their workplace representation.”

Senate Bill 1059, introduced by Sen. Richard Alloway, calls for periodic elections to hold public sector unions accountable to their members.

Matthew Brouillette and other Commonwealth Foundation experts are available for comment today. Please contact Gina Diorio at 862-703-6670 or [email protected] to schedule an interview.

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The Commonwealth Foundation transforms free-market ideas into public policies so all Pennsylvanians can flourish