Carolina Journal’s Dan Way has a fascinating piece today about the impact of public sector unions in the election and what they could expect in return.

Government employee unions largely were responsible for the re-election of President Obama, and will seek payback through weaker right-to-work laws and approval of collective bargaining rights for 21 million health care workers under Obamacare, union critic Mallory Factor says.

Although North Carolina is a right-to-work state where collective bargaining with government employees is illegal, Factor, author of the book ShadowBosses and one of the nation’s most outspoken critics of public worker unions, said vigilance is essential. 

“The unions have representatives in every congressional district” in the country working to undermine existing laws, Factor said Sunday at a journalism conference of the Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity. “North Carolina is still one of the free states and nobody likes that in the union movement.” 

Unions can’t attack collective bargaining prohibitions at the state government level in North Carolina “because it’s too obvious. They’re working on the local elections, the school boards. You can’t believe all the stuff they’re trying to get done, and they’re doing it,” Factor said.

“You have to be vigilant, or you will have problems,” especially in education, he said. “That is where they want to have the strongest foothold, because, remember, the teachers unions alone have over $2 billion [in dues] to do mischief with,” Factor said. 

Back in 2010, I wrote about an effort in the U.S. Senate, spearheaded by Sen. Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, to force states like North Carolina to recognize and collectively bargain with public sector unions. While that bill has since died, don’t be surprised if we see something like it over the next four years.