Ask LJ: Why does the Tea Party support Walker?

[asterroc]

Apparently the Tea Party supports Governor Walker's union busting. I don't get this at all. I thought the Tea Party was a conservative libertarian group. Shouldn't they resent the government interfering with and attempting to regulate how workers interact with employers? Or is their fiscal conservatism trumping their libertarianism?

Comments

[q10.livejournal.com]

the wage-garnishing thing is pretty huge, though. more generally, there are, as i understand it, a lot of regulations constraining both sides of employer-union negotiations - it's not like you're just talking about two (for-profit or non-profit) corporations sitting down for a chat - there are detailed regulations about what each side can and can't threaten.

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

the wage-garnishing thing is pretty huge, though.

You're right.

there are detailed regulations about what each side can and can't threaten.

I thought most of those things are not specific to union workplaces though? Public employees are not allowed to strike in some states (technically, striking is not a protected act), but this applies to both unionized and non-unionized public employees (for example, the part-time lab techs in my department are not unionized). Non-retaliation laws apply not only to employers retaliating against employees for union activities, but also to employers retaliating against whistle-blowers (for safety, for discrimination, etc.).