Gatto bill targets public employee unions

JUNEAU — Following on the heels of Republican colleagues in other states, a Mat-Su Valley representative has proposed legislation that would limit the types of things that unions representing public employees can bargain for.

Carl Gatto, R-Palmer, said that his bill, introduced Monday, is designed mainly to deal with what he sees as a glaring conflict of interest in union negotiations.

“The people across the table are of all things elected officials,” Gatto said. “Elected officials look out at this enormous union membership that has money and votes and have to decide whether to give the unions what they want.”

Gatto’s bill would remove the unions’ rights to bargain for health care plans and other benefits.

Rick Byrnes of the Classified Employees Association, which represents school support staff like custodians and receptionists, said the legislation would be a blow to his members. If members can’t bargain for health care they will likely be asked to pay more for it out of pocket.

“It takes away the buying power of our members,” he said.

As for the bargaining on both sides of the table argument, Byrnes said such talk ignores a few things. First, unions aren’t unilaterally successful in getting their preferred candidates elected. Second, it’s not as if unions are exercising a power nobody else has.

“I hate to go back to the VECO days with our Legislature, but you can say that they were doing the same thing,” Byrnes said, referencing the oilfield services company whose influence in the Legislature was eventually alleged to have risen to the level of bribery, leading to a wide-ranging federal corruption investigation.

Gatto was a union member for 25 years when he worked for the Anchorage Fire Department. He said those were better days for the economy and that he took whatever salary and benefits the union negotiated for him.

He and his wife continue to receive union pension benefits, according to his financial disclosure forms. Gatto reported receiving a $60,000 pension and his wife Cathy received $11,000.

If approved, hi legislation would exempt unions representing emergency responders like medics, firefighters and police officers. He said that’s because those types of workers lack one crucial recourse other unions have.

“They have no ability to strike,” Gatto said.

Byrnes said exempting emergency responders is a pretty typical move for state legislators nationwide introducing these kinds of measures. His take is that state legislators don’t want to scare off people who might want those jobs.

Which, Byrnes said, is exactly what is going to happen to CEA and other public employee unions that are not exempt — people won’t want to take those jobs.

“Fifteen years ago people were scrambling to get into the school system,” Byrnes said.

Now it’s the opposite. He said the Mat-Su Borough School District has two electrician positions open because electricians can make so much more in the private sector.

Gatto said the bill would save the state money. He compared it to a change five years ago when the state changed the way it deals with public employee pensions.

“If we had not done that our current obligation would be about $20 billion more than it is today,” Gatto said.

He said the former system encouraged public employees to stay on the job when they might have considered moving elsewhere since the old system increased benefits the longer employees stayed. Now, the employee can leave and take their pensions with them. Which, Gatto said, is a good thing in his view.

“If they’re not happy doing what they’re doing they’re probably not producing good work,” he said.

Byrnes actually brought up that same change, saying that the new system is essentially a 401(k), and those types of plans are a far cry from a pension.

“It doesn’t work,” Byrnes said.

He said it’s another disincentive for people who might consider working in the schools.

Gatto acknowledged that unlike Wisconsin, where a very similar piece of legislation drew thousands of protestors to the state capital and is currently tied up in litigation, Alaska is has a healthy savings account and the Permanent Fund. But, he noted, that’s because most of state tax revenue comes from oil taxes.

“Who expected oil to be $117 a barrel?” he said.

It might stay there, it might not, but if oil remains costly, the price of other goods will go up since most everything has to be transported using a system that burns gasoline. Gatto sees rough seas ahead and is aiming his legislation at avoiding them.

Byrnes said he thinks public employees are starting to feel singled out. Legislators can’t regulate how the private sector operates. The only unions they can go after are the ones representing public employees.

“I think all public employees throughout the United States are feeling attacked,” he said.

So far, Gatto’s bill hasn’t moved far enough to warrant action from union members. But if it gets further it might, Byrnes said.

“We’re always tracking it. I can tell you that,” he said.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.