Factbox: Several states consider union limits
Republicans in Wisconsin’s state Senate have sidestepped a boycott by Democrats to approve restrictions on collective bargaining by state employees, which has become a test of unions’ political and economic power across the country.
Public unions have the right to collectively bargain in about 30 states, plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
In some states in the South and West, public employees do not have the right to collectively bargain, and in Virginia and Texas it is illegal to enter into a formal bargaining relationship with the public sector.