Biz Groups: No More Union Dues Battles
An elaborate guessing game over a new showdown on union dues and political contributions appears to be over, at least for 2006.
A statement released this morning by California Chamber of Commerce president Allan Zaremberg and California Business Roundtable chairman Bill Hauck says the two organizations have no interest in resurrecting the battle over political contributions made by labor unions.
The note is likely a major blow against any redux of Proposition 75. That doesn't mean that Prop 75 proponent Lew Uhler will abstain from floating a new version of his measure to curtail the political influence of labor unions. But because Prop 75 was largely put on the ballot with money from Governor Schwarzenegger's business allies, it may be hard for Uhler to get enough signatures on a new version.
The announcement from Zaremberg and Hauck comes shortly after they received a letter from the union leaders who defeated Schwarzenegger's initiatives, warning the business community to stay away from resurrecting the issue. In fact, the union-backed Alliance For A Better California still could put in play its counter-measure: an initiative to require shareholder permission before corporations can spend money on politics.
The alliance missed the deadline for submitting the collected signatures to place that issue on the June ballot, but could still submit petitions in time for the November ballot. And it's possible the threat of the counter-measure may have played into the business community's reluctance to wade back into another battle with the unions.
"An acrimonious campaign on either one of these measures diverts attention from critical issues facing the state," says the statement from the business community leaders.
