Christie and Walker Take Different Paths on Union Issues

[Omaha Steve]

X post in Labor & GD

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/christie-walker-paths-union-issues-29231839

TRENTON, N.J. — Feb 25, 2015, 7:17 PM ET
By JILL COLVIN and SCOTT BAUER Associated Press

Associated Press
New Jersey's Chris Christie and Wisconsin's Scott Walker are getting ready to run for president, but they've still got day jobs as governors — and face another round in the ring with organized labor.

For Christie, that means trying to reach a deal to fix New Jersey's underfunded pension system by working with a teacher's union that he's repeatedly clashed with.

Walker, meanwhile, is prepared to sign legislation that would make Wisconsin a right-to-work state. He's dismissed the objections of union protesters as he did in 2011, when he made his national mark by pushing to strip the collective bargaining rights of the state's public workers.

The two different approaches — one seeking detente, the other not bothering — underscore the legislative realities each governor faces at home as well as the message each is trying to send as he prepares to enter the 2016 presidential campaign.

FULL story at link.