Despite changes approved by the Legislature last year to curtail the power of unions to collectively bargain for benefits, a majority of Wisconsin unions have voted to go through recertification in the past year, a process some officials characterized as lengthy and costly for little tangible benefit.

According to statistics released by the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commissions, 35 out of 39 unions voted to recertify their collective bargaining rights in a voting period that ended Tuesday.

The collective bargaining law passed by Gov. Scott Walker’s administration implemented measures as to how unions can recertify and operate, changing the process on two distinct fronts. In past years unions only had to certify once unless they opted to decertify, in which case the process would start over again.

This formation process entailed receiving a simple majority of votes from individual voting members.

The recent law favors a new format, which not only calls for unions to recertify annually but also to receive a majority from the entire bargaining unit and not just from individuals that attend the voting session.

So far, Laura Dresser, associate director for the Center on Wisconsin Strategy, said many teachers’ unions have pursued recertification and won their elections, while many of the state unions have decided to remain uncertified.

Kevin Gundlach, president of the South Central Federation of Labor, which oversees many labor unions throughout the state, reiterated the hurdle of recertification. He compared the process to a politician seeking to be elected within a community.

“It’s very, very difficult to demand that if you have a population of a town that has 10,000 voters there and 3,000 of them vote regularly,” Gundlach said. “Well, no one would get elected then, because you would need 5,000 plus one.”

Bob Allen, spokesperson for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said that many of the local unions they represent would decide whether or not to recertify individually.

Regardless, he said there are also a number of other barriers to recertification besides the new voting structure.

“It’s an expensive, time-consuming process for little tangible benefit,” Allen said. “The only thing that can be bargained at the table is [workers’] wages and benefits, and it’s capped by the [Consumer Price Index].”

Additionally, Allen said this is a very different landscape than unions faced in previous years.

He said unions often ensure safe working conditions as well as “fair” workplace rules. Those are things that are “not negotiable,” he said.

Dues, which are essential for unions to operate, may also be a tough selling point, Dresser said. 

Although state bills concerning union rights have been passed in other parts of the country, such changes are unprecedented in the state of Wisconsin. Wisconsin unions have had collective bargaining rights for the previous five decades.

“What unions will do, and what we will do as workers, and within our own community … is we’re organizing, we’re mobilizing, and we’re going to fight back [against the bill],” Gundlach said.