PHOENIX — Gov. Jan Brewer on Thursday erased an executive order in which her predecessor gave state government workers the right to “meet and confer” with administrators.
Brewer issued a superseding executive order that also reaffirmed Arizona’s “longstanding prohibition against mandatory union activity as a condition of employment.”
Brewer is a Republican who replaced Democrat Janet Napolitano as governor on Jan. 20 when Napolitano resigned to become U.S. Homeland Security secretary.
Napolitano’s Dec. 17 order did not extend collective bargaining rights to state workers, but Brewer said the “meet and confer” process established a precedent for mandatory union activity in the public sector.
She said that could deprive the state of essential public services.