Excerpts of Governor Scott Walker's Labor Policy Speech on September 14, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada

Excerpts of Governor Scott Walker's Labor Policy Speech on September 14, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada

Following his speech at President Reagan's alma mater, Eureka College, where he discussed his Day One Plan, Governor Scott Walker will hold a town hall in Las Vegas today. Walker will reveal his plans to address labor issues nationally, as he successfully did in Wisconsin. You can watch a livestream of his remarks at approximately 3:30 PM PDT here: http://www.news3lv.com/default.aspx

Below, please see excerpts of his speech.

"Just like President Reagan, I believe we need to drain the swamp in Washington, D.C. I have a plan to check the power of the big-government union bosses, empower individuals and protect taxpayers.

"On Day One, I will repeal all of President Obama's regulations that have reduced employee freedom and that have made it harder to create jobs.  

"On Day One, I will hold unions accountable and require transparency of union expenditures.  
"On Day One, I will stop the big government union bosses from taking money out of the paychecks of federal employees for union dues spent on political activities.   

"First, we need to address the National Labor Relations Board which has become a one-sided proxy for the big union bosses - often at the expense of taxpayers and workers. For example, the NLRB's actions initially stood in the way of Boeing bringing good jobs into South Carolina.

"Our plan gets rid of the NLRB - and reassigns the few necessary responsibilities to more fair and balanced areas of the government. We need to level the playing field which will make it easier to create more jobs and higher wages.  
"Next, we must take on the big government union bosses in Washington - just like I did in Wisconsin.  

"President Franklin D. Roosevelt said it best when he stated that union bargaining 'cannot be transplanted into the public service.'   

"Even the leaders of the AFL-CIO once said that 'government workers have no right to collectively bargain beyond the authority to petition Congress - a right available to every citizen.'

"In 2012, taxpayers subsidized 3,395,187 hours of 'official time' time spent working for the union or lobbying. That cost the taxpayers $156 million.

"While the IRS was busy harassing conservative organizations they also had more than 200 federal employees whose only work was for the big government union bosses. Wouldn't it be nice if they were working to help taxpayers?

"Or how about the Department of Veterans Affairs? While more than 600,000 veterans were facing delays for medical care in the VA system, more than 250 federal employees - including nurses, pharmacists and rehabilitation experts - worked 100% of their time for the big government union bosses. Wouldn't be nice if they were working to help our veterans?

"Our plan will eliminate the big government unions entirely and put the American people back in charge of their government. Federal employees should work for the taxpayers - not the other way around.

"Our plan calls for national Right to Work. Specifically, we set a presumption that every employee in America - public and private sector - has the freedom to choose whether they want to be in a labor union or not. This is pro-freedom and pro-worker.
 
"Our plan calls for the passage of the Employee Rights Act. That too is pro-freedom and pro-worker.  

"Our plan allows employers to provide employees with the option of using overtime for time off from work. For many parents, more time with family is more valuable than a monetary payment. That's pro-family.

"Our plan will eliminate Davis-Bacon and Project Labor Agreements and all other items that add costs to the taxpayers. This will make taxpayer dollars go farther as we rebuild the economy.  

"Any economic plan that does not bring our federal labor laws into the 21st Century is incomplete. To grow the economy at a higher rate, requires a comprehensive approach and reform of the labor unions is a key part of the plan. In the coming days, we will lay out our plan to grow the American economy."