Monitor Board of Contributors

This year, partisan fights matter less

The traditional partisan lines don’t matter as much at the State House these days. With veto-proof majorities in the House and Senate, Republicans could pass pretty much what they want over Democratic objections. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t any drama in Concord. Far from it. The debate has shifted slightly but significantly to new ground: taxpayers versus unions.

Consider these four issues:

• Right-to-work

The new dynamic has revealed itself most directly in the debate over right-to-work legislation. Having functionally taken over the Democratic Party, New Hampshire labor unions have drawn on a few Republican allies to try to sustain Gov. John Lynch’s veto. Unions currently have monopoly bargaining power for all employees in unionized workplaces. They claim this burden justifies forcing union dues from unwilling workers. In fact, this monopoly prevents unions from having to compete at the bargaining table, driving wages and benefits higher. Unions and their political allies think this is a good thing, while taxpayers end up paying more. Right-to-work would prevent workers from having to pay union dues as a condition on employment.

• Teacher tenure

Unions have had less success building bipartisan support to maintain teacher tenure. It’s very difficult to fire under-performing teachers who have been on the job more than three years. Once they reach this de facto tenure point, school administrators must overcome a series of legal hurdles to prove that any dismissal was justified, that the teacher was given a chance to correct the bad behavior, and that the teacher failed to improve. The Legislature is extending the probationary period from three to five years, and giving school districts much more discretion in letting bad teachers go.

• Retirement

After decades of giving themselves benefits that the state can’t afford, unions are now fighting efforts to reform the New Hampshire Retirement System. With a majority of seats on the retirement system board, labor unions have consistently counted on rosy stock market returns, skimmed off the fruit of good years to pay for extra benefits, and set the system up so

that state and local taxpayers bear the full burden of any pension shortfall. House and Senate negotiators are hammering out the details of a package of reforms to address the $4 billion shortfall left by such reckless decisions. Public sector workers would still get to keep their defined benefit plans, which are all but extinct in the private sector, but they will have to pay more for them. Lacking the votes to block pension reform, unions are threatening to go to court.

• Evergreen clause

While state and local employees have been battling on a number of fronts this year, nothing sparked union solidarity like a proposal to ban evergreen clauses in public sector contracts. For most of us, when a contract expires, it’s over. But for unionized workers with an evergreen clause, a contract doesn’t end until they get a better deal. The terms of the existing contract, including guaranteed raises and cost of living adjustments, stay in effect until the state, city, town, or school district comes to terms with the union. And if the taxpayers are asking for higher health insurance co-pays or smaller step increases, unions have little reason to come to the bargaining table.

When the House Finance Committee approved language to prevent evergreen clauses in any new contracts, unions claimed that Republicans were out to end collective bargaining altogether. Thousands rallied at the State House, demanding the right to never-ending contracts.

As House and Senate budget writers get together to work out the details of the state’s $10.3 billion budget, these union issues will be at the heart of the debate. On one side, public sector unions will be seeking salaries and benefits that continue to outpace those of workers in the private sector.

On the other, taxpayers will be asking how much more they will be asked to pay.

(Grant Bosse is lead investigator for the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy and editor of NH Watchdog.)