Wisconsin’s union law worked. Now it’s Pennsylvania’s turn.

Originally published at The Philadelphia Inquirer

Talk about unions is heating up. Just look at Amazon and Starbucks. Bernie Sanders says that Democrats need to encourage workers to unionize in order to avoid a grim November.

But workers don’t need unions to protect them. Giving government workers the choice of whether or not to join a government union can empower them — and help a state’s bottom line.

Some of you may remember that in 2011, Wisconsin effectively limited collective bargaining for many public employees by passing Act 10. The act made union dues optional for workers in local and state governments such as public school teachers and prison guards, required many of these unions to hold annual votes to re-certify the unions, and prevented them from bargaining for unreasonably high raises. Act 10 received a lot of pushback at the time. Now, 10 years later, there are fewer union members in Wisconsin (from 14.2% in 2010 to 8.7% in 2020) and the state is in great financial shape.

Read more at The Philadelphia Inquirer