Public employee unions say AZ lawmakers are lying about ballot measure

They are going to court, telling a judge the lawmakers are lying to voters about the measure's effect.  

If approved in November, the measure would prohibit school districts from using public money in any way to assist a union, ranging from allowing payroll deductions for union dues and distributing union materials through school emails to forbidding workers from using paid sick leave to conduct union activities.

But the unions' lawsuit points out that one section of the measure would bar the state or any of its political subdivisions from negotiating the "terms and conditions of employment."

That would affect public employee unions across the state, said attorney Jim Barton, who represents the Arizona Education Association as well as several different chapters of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees.

Barton has already sued lawmakers over the question of whether the measure, known as HCR 2040 and referred to the ballot by the Republican-controlled Legislature, illegally combines two disparate subjects. A hearing on that case is set for this coming week.

This new case, however, is based on what he claims is an outright lie about the scope of the measure that lawmakers put into an explanation brochure to be mailed to the more than 4.3 million Arizona voters.

That's because the Republican-controlled Legislative Council, which is supposed to produce "impartial" descriptions of each ballot measure, is telling voters that this section applies only to school districts despite the actual wording of the paragraph. By contrast, Barton said, the ballot measure's plain wording says the ban on negotiating any terms and conditions of employment would apply to "any political subdivision of the state."

He wants Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Daniel Martin to order the Legislative Council to reconvene and strike the words "school districts' employees" from the description of the effect of the ban on negotiating terms and conditions with public employee unions.

And if lawmakers balk at such an order, Barton told the judge there is an alternative: He could block the secretary of state from including any explanation at all of the ballot measure in the brochure that's sent to voters.

Barton contends a "subtle" change in wording by the Legislative Council was intentional.

"Those who would campaign for passage of HCR 2040 despite its potentially devastating impact on all Arizona public employees, including public safety employees, are surely eager to point to this modification of the text that has been inserted into the Council's analysis as a way to comfort voters that the impact of HCR 2040 will be less than its plain language," he wrote.

Unions will campaign against ballot measure

Legal issues aside, there are political implications over the question of the scope of the measure.

GOP lawmakers say they specifically crafted HCR 2040 to affect only the unions that represent school employees.

The issue has become wrapped up in the larger fight over the move by the Arizona Education Association to put a separate measure on the November ballot, through an initiative drive, to impose new restrictions on the use of taxpayer-supported education vouchers.

Those restrictions would include more oversight of the vouchers, formally called Empowerment Scholarship Accounts, including limits on how funds could be spent. The initiative would deny vouchers to families earning more than $150,000 unless their children qualify under specific categories such as being foster children, attending schools rated D or F, or having parents in the military. 

At one point, Republican lawmakers offered to scrap HCR 2040 if the AEA would abandon its initiative drive. Those negotiations failed.

If HCR 2040 affects more than school unions, that means GOP supporters of the ballot referral will also have to take on other politically powerful unions — including police and firefighters.

That possibility came into sharp focus earlier this month when Dan Frieberg, president of the Professional Fire Fighters of Arizona, was asked about the measure.

"We are adamantly against HCR 2040," he said.

Frieberg said issues of vouchers and such are beyond the focus of what his organization does.

"Our mission is always to represent our firefighters, all 9,000 of them, make sure that they have job protections, good wages and good benefits and good working conditions, so simply we can deliver effective response to the community," he said. "That's the mission."

But Freiberg was quite blunt about a measure that he said appears to undermine the ability of his union to pursue those goals.

"We're pissed off," he said. "The firefighters feel abandoned, they feel betrayed, and they feel pissed."

They're not alone.

Jeffrey Hawkins, president of the 1,850-member Arizona Troopers Association, said his organization would not take a position on the ballot measure if it dealt only with teachers. He said the same is true of the Arizona Police Association and its 12,500 members, where he serves as vice president.

But any measure that appears to impair the ability of both organizations to negotiate is going to mean active opposition, he said.

"We understand what they're doing," Hawkins said of Republican lawmakers. "It's a little bit disingenuous."

He said, though, he is not particularly surprised, because the language of HCR 2040 being sent to the ballot reflects the views of certain interests that labor should not have input in the policies set by the public agencies for whom they work.

"Our job is to fight for pay benefits and working conditions," Hawkins said. "And to try to say you don't have any voice at all or have the ability to sit down and come to an agreement with your employer on pay, benefits and working conditions? Oh, come on."

Some want to avoid fight with unions

The possibility of picking a fight with other unions — particularly law enforcement groups who have traditionally endorsed Republicans — has gotten the attention of Rep. Matt Gress. The Phoenix Republican, a key proponent of going after the Arizona Education Association, told KJZZ radio that he supports having lawmakers go back into session "to repeal HCR 2040 and provide clarity for law enforcement and firefighters."

Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs said she is willing to go along with that.

"The Legislature still has a chance to do the right thing and repeal 2040," she said. "It's an attack on public employees and should not be on the ballot."

But House Speaker Steve Montenego is showing no interest — at least not while there is active litigation.

"Its ruling will determine whether any further legislative action is necessary," said the Goodyear Republican. "Until then, discussion of a special session is premature."

But Montenegro made it clear he is aware of the political implications of having a measure on the ballot that is actively opposed by union allies.

"We remain in close communication with our public safety partners, take their concerns seriously, and will always have their backs," he said.