All about survival

There was a somewhat overlooked reason why public employee unions worked so hard and dedicated so many resources to try to remove Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker from office.

It was not merely about retribution. It was about survival.

Yes, Gov. Walker reformed the state's collective bargaining laws and made state employees pay more of their own salaries toward their health and pension benefits.

But his most important reform addressed the state's automatic collection of compulsory union dues.

Prior to the enactment of Gov. Walker's agenda, all government workers were obligated to pay dues to their bargaining unit, regardless of whether they wanted the union's representation. The state, meanwhile, served as a pass-through entity, diverting tens of millions of dollars in tax revenues directly to the bank accounts of those unions.

Gov. Walker's reforms ended compulsory dues. Today, if Wisconsin state workers want to remain in a union, they have to say so and opt into automatic payroll deductions.

Guess what's happened in the year since Gov. Walker's reforms took effect? According to The Wall Street Journal, overall Wisconsin membership in the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees has declined by more than half, from 62,818 members in March 2011 to 28,745 this past February. Among state employees, the drop has been even steeper. Its AFSCME membership has fallen from 22,300 to just 7,100 in that period.

This was the reason Democrats and the government union bosses were willing to launch a fifth attack on Gov. Walker after four crushing defeats. They couldn't beat him in the 2010 election. They couldn't block the passage of his reforms when their supporters took over the Capitol in Madison. They couldn't defeat a conservative Supreme Court justice and kill the reforms on appeal. They couldn't recall enough GOP state senators to wrest control of the chamber.

And last Tuesday, they couldn't bounce Gov. Walker from office. And it wasn't even close.

Now Wisconsin's public employees have a choice in joining a union. And rather than continue funding political campaigns and candidates they might not support personally, they've overwhelmingly decided to give themselves a raise.