The Class War

Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin said he wants to end collective bargaining for nearly all public employees.

Walker wants to remove all collective bargaining rights, except for salary, for roughly 175,000 public employees starting July 1. Any requests for a salary increase higher than the consumer price index would have to be approved by referendum. Starting April 1, Walker wants to force state employees to contribute 5.8 percent of their salaries to cover pension costs and more than double their health insurance contributions. His proposal would make it harder for unions to collect dues because the state would stop collecting the money from employee paychecks. He would further weaken union treasuries by giving members of public-sector unions the right not to pay dues. He would require secret-ballot votes each year at every public-sector union to determine whether a majority of workers still want to be unionized. He would require public-employee unions to negotiate new contracts every year, an often lengthy process. His plan would remove collective bargaining rights for prison guards, but it would exempt local police and firefighters and the state patrol.

Mike Imbrogno, a cook at the University of Wisconsin in Madison who belongs to a union and said he earns $28,000 a year, described the move as an “attack” on working people. “He’s basically trying to smash the last remaining organized upward pressure on wages and benefits in Wisconsin,” Mr. Imbrogno said.