Republicans in Oklahoma appear poised to remove some more of what little union protection there is in that deep red and right-to-work state. On Tuesday, the state Senate passed House Bill 1593, a bill that would strip away Oklahoma’s requirement that large cities engage in collective bargaining with so-called “non-uniformed” city workers. The state House already passed the bill and now it just awaits the expected signature of first-term Republican Gov. Mary Fallin.
The state’s existing collective bargaining law, which was signed by Democratic Gov. Brad Henry seven years ago, requires big municipalities — population 35,000 and up — to bargain with, as the The Oklahoman reported, “city road, sanitation and utility workers.”
In the new legislation, as in the controversial anti-collective bargaining bill in Wisconsin, workers like firemen and police offers are exempt. The Oklahoma bill also excludes teachers from the change.
And as was the case with the anti-union laws in Wisconsin and Ohio, the Oklahoma law couldn’t have passed without the huge Republican majorities and Republican governors voted into power in 2010. Not a single Democrat voted for the repeal of the collective bargaining law in Oklahoma — which will affect 12 cities in the state — and a couple of Republicans voted against repeal as well.
One Republican sponsor of the bill in the state Senate explained the motivation to the http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=336&articleid=20110419_336_0_OKLAHO385498“>AP:
Sen. Cliff Aldridge…said he thinks it’s unfair to force cities to participate in collective bargaining and that cities still will have option to choose to collectively bargain if they wish.
“It’s about a principle that I believe in — local control,” said Aldridge, R-Choctaw.
Aldridge said municipal workers should have the ability to discuss pay raises or other concerns with city officials without collective bargaining, and that workers always have a choice to seek employment elsewhere.
“We don’t need to mandate that they (city officials) listen,” Aldridge said. “That’s not our job at the state Legislature to make sure these people get paid what they ought to get paid.”
Though the bill is a blow for union workers in a state where unions have very little pull already, HB 1593 won’t necessarily mean the end to collective bargaining in Oklahoma. Officials in Oklahoma City and Tulsa told the Oklahoman that they plan to continue collectively bargain with their city workers despite the freedom to stop if the bill becomes law.
But Oklahoma AFL-CIO president Jimmy Curry isn’t seeing many silver linings.
“I feel like it’s a sad day for Oklahoma,” he told the paper.

