South Dakota lawmakers advance bill ending university union

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PIERRE (AP) – South Dakota lawmakers have advanced a bill that would end collective bargaining at the state's public universities.

The House State Affairs Committee voted Wednesday to send the bill to the chamber's floor. It hasn't yet passed through the Senate.

House Speaker Mark Mickelson says his goal is to promote the flexibility and nimbleness of the institutions.

Alan Aldrich, state president of the Council of Higher Education, the faculty labor union, says the bill poses a real threat to recruiting new faculty.

Union contracts cover more than 1,300 staff members at the state's six public universities and at schools for the blind and deaf.

Gov. Dennis Daugaard supports the legislation. The Republican last year signed a bill banning collective bargaining at the four technical institutes in right-to-work South Dakota.