Ed Morrissey reviews the outcomes of two different approaches to dealing with unions by two different cities.

The first, Oshkosh, waited until the passage of Scott Walker’s public union reform legislation, and then negotiated health insurance provisions for public sector union employees.

The district hopes to drive down costs by taking advantage of newfound competition between insurance companies hungry to break into the education market, which has so far been dominated by WEA Trust, a nonprofit provider created by the state teachers’ union.

Many districts, including Oshkosh, have previously tried to switch providers for lower rates, but local unions staunchly refused the offers. They argued for-profit companies would make up the difference with larger rate hikes in future years.

But unions no longer have a say in the matter since the state Legislature approved a law preventing most public sector unions’ from bargaining over anything but wages.

The district could realize millions of dollars in immediate savings by seeking a new provider. Appleton schools stuck with WEA Trust but saved $3.1 million by stirring up competition. The Kimberly school district dropped WEA Trust and saved $821,000.

Thanks to Oshkosh’s decision to take advantage of Walker’s reform legislation, taxpayers are already saving millions of dollars while still providing public employees with health care coverage.

The second city, Milwaukee, has a mayor in the pocket of the union establishment. He rushed through negotiations and approval before the reform legislation could be passed. The outcome?

Former Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz extended several city labor contracts in February.

Then he signed and extended contracts again in March — just before his April re-election bid.

The unions, which feared Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s looming changes to collective bargaining, were happy with the deals. And AFSCME endorsed Cieslewicz’s campaign.

But now the results are painfully clear for city residents.

City agencies just proposed laying off 38 cops and 27 firefighters while reducing salt and sand on covered streets during winter. The agencies also proposed eliminating the school crossing guard program and reducing lifeguards at beaches while closing some city skating rinks.

Now Milwaukee has to lay off emergency services, reduce school safety programs, and close public amenities. All so unions can make more money off taxpayers. All because the mayor is a union stooge who rushed to avoid Walker’s public union reform legislation.

There’s some good news: Dave Cieslewicz is now former mayor because voters tossed him to the curb this year. They replaced him with Paul Soglin.

But even then there’s bad news. Soglin, thanks to the union-shilling actions of his predecessor, has been forced to propose both tax hikes and spending cuts — just to cover the expense of funneling money to union interests.

If only Milwaukee had waited for Walker’s reforms to pass, and if only Milwaukee’s then-mayor hadn’t been a union shill, taxpayers could have both saved money and kept their public services.

It turns out Walker was right and the unions were wrong. Which we already knew, but it’s nice to see others coming to the same conclusion.