Alaska GOP Lawmaker Introduces Anti-Union Bill

Measure designed to mirror Wisconsin's, says sponsor Carl Gatto
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 22, 2011 10:46 AM CDT
Alaska GOP Lawmaker Introduces Anti-Union Bill
Member of the American Federation of Government Employees union picket outside Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, Alaska, in this June 28, 2010 file photo.   (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)

A Republican state representative in Alaska has introduced a bill that would strip many public employees of their right to collectively bargain for changes to their hours, benefits, or working conditions. If that sounds familiar, it’s because the bill is consciously designed to mimic the controversial one passed recently in Wisconsin, sponsor Carl Gatto told the media.

Still, the bill is seen as unlikely to pass, CNN reports, because Alaska’s 2011 legislative session is already two-thirds over, and lawmakers are more focused on another controversial bill—one that would roll back the state’s tax on the profits of oil and gas companies. Democrats say they oppose the bill, with one wondering if they’d have to flee the state like Wisconsin's senators. “We’ll have to go to Canada,” she quipped. (More Alaska stories.)

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