Proposed laws aimed at weakening public-sector unions died Wednesday in the Louisiana Legislature, in a major victory for workers who showed up in droves to protest the bills and a blow to some conservatives' efforts to dilute their power.
After more than 150 union members and activists rallied at the State Capitol to decry the legislation, the Republican-controlled Senate Labor and Industrial Relations Committee rejected two bills: House Bill 571, which would have barred public-sector workers from discussing union matters during work hours, and HB 980, which sought to make it harder for the groups to collect employee dues.
A vote on a third measure, HB 956, to make the unions hold secret ballot elections, was delayed. But panel chair Sen. Alan Seabaugh, R-Shreveport, said none of the legislation was likely to receive another hearing in his committee, all but ensuring the bills' death for the session set to end June 3.
That fate came as a surprise to the bills' opponents given the Senate panel's conservative makeup — the committee contains two Democrats and five Republicans — and Seabaugh's pro-industry record. But neither Seabaugh nor any other Republicans objected when their conservative colleague, Sen. Jay Morris, R-West Monroe, moved late in the hearing to involuntarily defer House Bill 571, the legislation to limit union activities during work hours.
"This bill has a bunch of problems," Morris said. "I don't think free speech can be regulated to this extent."
The committee's action defeats a key plank of Republicans' anti-labor agenda even as the panel advanced bills targeting wages and injured workers' compensation. Supporters of the bills cast them as ways to strengthen employers' hands and give workers more choices, while unions and advocates cautioned they would dilute workers' ability to fight for fair wages and benefits.
The bills rejected Wednesday were carried by Rep. Raymond Crews, R-Bossier City, who chairs the labor committee in the state House. The bills would have affected teachers, sanitation workers, correctional staff and others, though all three contained exemptions for police and firefighters.
Crews argued the legislation would put up safeguards to ensure public money isn't spent on political activities while giving workers choices about whether to join unions.
"This is simply about workers' rights," Crews said of his HB 571.
His legislation faced overwhelming opposition Wednesday, as dozens of demonstrators rallied outside the Capitol before streaming into the committee room. Over 120 people submitted cards to the committee to oppose HB 571, compared to just five people who submitted cards to support it.
"I understand that we may not have the votes in the building behind me," said Matt Wood, the Louisiana AFL-CIO's treasurer, to the large crowd gathered outside the Capitol before the hearing. "But I'll be damned if we don't have the voices out here to tell them how we feel."
The bills' supporters argued that unions coerce people into membership and saddle taxpayers with burdens of paying for the unions' political activism — testimony met by shouts of protest from opponents in the audience and calls for order from Sen. Thomas Pressly, R-Shreveport, who presided over the committee as Seabaugh briefly left the room.
"This is an opportunity because teachers are being held hostage by unions," said Keith Courville, director of the Associated Professional Educators of Louisiana, a conservative non-union association of educators.
Union leaders responded that the bills were rife with legal issues. The bill to limit union activities and discussions during work hours posed an unconstitutional free-speech threat, they argued, and foisted employees with burdens to report coworkers to bosses. All three seemed to create unclear enforcement obligations, with prison time as a penalty for some violations. And the fiscal implications called for closer scrutiny from legislative fiscal staff, they said.
Those arguments resonated with Republicans on the committee. Crews agreed to punt a vote on HB 956, his measure to require secret ballot elections, after Seabaugh asked him if he would work to resolve some of the issues. Morris and other lawmakers questioned supporters at length about the bills' legal implications.
Other legislation by Crews and Rep. Roger Wilder III, R-Denham Springs, remains alive that seeks to outlaw collective bargaining by most public-sector union workers, though the window to pass bills before the session's June 3 end date is limited.
The state Senate in recent weeks has emerged as something of a foil for certain conservative priorities, particularly those championed by Gov. Jeff Landry. Landry favors rewriting the state constitution, curtailing public records access and expanding access to so-called education savings accounts. Bills to accomplish each of those goals have met various roadblocks in the Senate.
The governor has not publicly taken a position on the anti-union bills.