As the legislative session winds down, New Hampshire labor leaders say they believe they’ve successfully defeated what they consider the most pernicious bills to their members.
Top lawmakers say they’ve cut worker benefits and provided needed tax relief.
Moves to end collective bargaining rights and make New Hampshire a right-to-work state didn’t pass the legislature despite huge Republican majorities.
The New Hampshire AFL-CIO’s Mark MacKenzie says workers coming together had something to do with that.
“I think if people had their way, had we not looked at this as a real assault on workers. Had we not been there, then I think the state would look very different in terms of the right to bargain.”
MacKenzie acknowledges labor lost its share of battles over the past two years.
Chief among them; a bill repealing workers’ so-called evergreen rights and wholesale changes to the public pension system.
Senator Jeb Bradley says thsoe retirement changes alone will save taxpayers nearly $1 billion dollars over the coming decades.
“We may have not made the headlines like the state of Wisconsin, but we made effective changes.”
Both MacKenzie and Bradley agree the next legislature will continue to debate these same issues.