Walker privately signed the bill Friday morning and planned to hold a ceremonial signing later in the day.
The proposal touched off a national debate over labor rights for public employees, and its implementation is a key victory for Republicans who have targeted unions in nationwide efforts to slash government spending. But labor leaders said they plan to use the setback to fire up their members nationwide and mount a major counterattack against Republicans at the ballot box in 2012.
The measure passed the state’s Assembly a day earlier following more than three weeks of protests that drew tens of thousands of people to the Capitol in opposition.
Pro-union supporters planned a mass rally at the Capitol on Saturday and continued to circulate petitions to recall from office eight of the Republican state senators who supported the bill.
The Senate cleared the way for passage with a surprise move Wednesday that allowed them to move the measure forward by an 18-1 vote without 14 Democratic senators present.
Republicans, newly empowered after seizing control of the US House of Representatives and many state governments in November elections, had promised backers they would institute deep spending cuts, hold the line on or cut taxes and shrink the size of government.
Walker was part of the new, highly conservative wave of Republicans who have moved to cut taxes for businesses in their states. Similar restrictions on union bargaining rights are making their way through Ohio’s Legislature.
Several other states are debating lesser measures to curb union rights. In Iowa, the Republican-controlled House approved a bill Friday that overhauls the state’s collective bargaining law and reduces workers’ negotiating rights. However, the bill is not expected to pass the Senate, where the Democratic majority have no intention of allowing debate on it AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka, leader of America’s largest labor federation, said the anti-union action in Wisconsin was a “corruption of democracy.” Speaking Thursday at the National Press Club in Washington, Trumka joked that unions should give Walker their “Mobilizer of the Year” award for galvanizing support for labor among thousands of protesters and in national polls.
If events in Wisconsin, once a leading state in the US labor movement, do energize activists nationwide, it could be good news for President Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election bid. Union backing will be critical to Obama’s winning a second term. Organized labor has traditionally been a bastion of support for Democrats.
The protracted battle over the Wisconsin bill ended Wednesday evening when Republicans stripped budget measures out of the larger bill, leaving it as a vote only on collective bargaining. That meant that the absent Senate Democrats who had fled to a neighboring state were no longer needed for a quorum.
The bill forces most state workers to pay more for their pensions and health care benefits, which is estimated to save Wisconsin $30 million to help pay down a $137 million budget shortfall projected by July 1. The higher payments will take effect over the coming weeks.
But portions of the proposal had to be removed in order for it to pass the Senate without Democrats, meaning the Legislature will have to take more action later to balance the budget.
Walker had repeatedly argued that ending collective bargaining would give local governments the flexibility they needed to confront the state aid cuts necessary to fix Wisconsin’s deficit, which is projected to grow to $3.6 billion deficit over two years.
“This is ultimately about a commitment to the future, so our children don’t face even more dire consequences than what we face today,” Walker said at a news conference in the West Allis community of Milwaukee on Thursday.
Walker said his plan would avoid the need for any furloughs or layoffs. He had issued public employee unions a notice last week that up to 1,500 layoffs would be coming if the bill didn’t pass. But just before he signed it Friday, Walker rescinded the notice.
“We came into office promising to help the economy and create jobs,” Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said. “This budget repair bill prevents 1,500 real layoffs, and countless more at the local level over the next few years.”
The Wisconsin Assembly voted 53-42 Thursday to pass the bill after about three hours of discussion, far less than the 61-hour, three-day marathon it took to approve a previous version two weeks ago.
The passage drew shouts of “Shame!” from protesters in the gallery and came only a day after the dramatic action in the Republican-controlled Senate.
Republicans said they were simply doing what voters wanted.
In last year’s election, “people spoke very clearly and very loudly and said they wanted government to change here in Madison,” Republican Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald said. “It’s a tough vote, but it’s the right vote. People are sick of the status quo.” Shortly before the vote, police had to move dozens of protesters who were sitting just outside the Assembly chamber doors, blocking the way for lawmakers. Officers dragged many of them away, but there were no arrests.
Dozens of protesters returned to the Capitol on Friday, shouting “Recall Walker!” The protesters have been a constant presence in the building for more than three weeks, with their numbers swelling to more than 80,000 for one weekend rally.
The standoff in Wisconsin had continued well after public employees in the state gave in to Walker’s demand that they pay more toward their pensions and health insurance, a combination equivalent to an 8 percent pay cut for the average worker.
But protesters stood fast against the portion of the measure that forbids most government workers from collectively bargaining for wage increases beyond the rate of inflation unless approved by referendum.
