As many of you know, I live in Madison, WI which has been the epicenter of a major political protest thanks to our new governor, Scott Walker. At the heart of the debate is a bill designed to severely diminish the collective bargaining rights of state employees. He wants to cut their pay, reduce their ability to collect dues and spend them, and force a vote to keep the union active every year. All these things combined will surely mean that state unions will succumb to employer pressure and be shut down when the vote to do so comes around one year. In addition, the bill will effectively double the health care premiums of all state employees. He claims it will save the state a bunch of money and will help fix the $137 million deficit we currently have. However, it becomes obvious that this not the actual reason for this union-killing effort once you read into the details.
Scott Walker, as this article’s title implies, is merely a puppet for the interests of billionaire corporate giants, the Koch brothers. They donated over $100,000 through various ways to Walker’s campaign, making him clearly in debt to them with his legislation. Their “astroturf” movements like Americans for Prosperity and The Reason Foundation have been against public-sector unions for a long time. Walker is merely doing what these people are telling him to to, which is not in the best interest of any middle class, public sector employed person.
So with this bill in motion, the stage was set for some craziness to go down in Madison, the state capital. People started organizing in the town square and in the halls of the capitol building. Teachers in Madison called out sick a majority of last week in order to protest the legislation and to join the masses at the capitol. Best of all, all of the Democrat legislators have fled the state in order to prevent quorum, effectively not allowing a vote on it until they return. Walker has tried to make the state police bring them back to force a vote, but since they are beyond state borders, they can’t do anything In response to these protests, the Tea Party (also largely funded by the Koch brothers) has been organizing counter-protests, and will be busing in these people this weekend to show support for the bill.
So what do I think? I think Scott Walker needs to go. Within the first month of his installment as Governor, he spent $140 million on his corporate buddies who financed his campaign and then blamed it on public employees. He gave back an $810 million grant from the federal government to build a high-speed rail system in the state. He is doing just what his corporate sponsors tell him to do, and this does not ever benefit the working and middle class.
dan on 02.20.2011
First off, referencing a terribly biased article leads to lack of credibility when writing an article. Secondly, Scott Walker “spending $140million on corporate buddies” really means, not taking $140 million that original never belonged to them; he didn’t spend it. Giving back an $810 million grant for that railroad was done by many states including Florida, because the states don’t want to get stuck paying for a stupid idea after the federal funds run out. He is not doing what his corporate sponsors are telling him to do. He campaigned on a platform that the people of that state elected him to do. People need to realize that the working class and middle class IS under attack and that they need to understand what is happening. Other countries are doing what the US has done for years and they are doing it CHEAPER. Labor and typical “working” class jobs are GONE. Other people do it or a machine does it. Think about all the pointless jobs people do.
Now back to the point of whats going on. PUBLIC UNIONS ARE A PARASITE OF THE STATE. There is no reason at all for a public workers to be unionized. The pensions, healthcare benefits, etc. do not compare to the private sector. Think about all the holidays government workers have, that no one else has. This is due to the unions forcing the hand of the taxpayer with collective bargaining. Unions have a purpose and have been a part of the capitalist check and balance since the 1900′s. But you have to ask yourself, are the taxpayers trying to take advantage of you? And even if they are that makes it ok right, considering the will of the people is what democracy is. Walker has balls, the teachers care about their pay nothing else. Walker is going to get alot of heat for what he is doing, but he is correct. The teachers union have had plenty of time to negotiate, it to them years battling with the state, holding out for more money and benefits, until they got blindsided by a republican victory. The democrats running away and not taking the vote is a perversion of the democratic process. I would have loved to see the democrat reaction if the republicans did that with obamacare. I would also love it if the Florida governor would get rid of public unions in florida. Louisiana did it undercover after the aftermath of that hurricane, every school is a charter school in the state.
Honestly i see removal of public sector unions as a legitimate benefit to the state regardless of political parties; where other issues are debatable. The only reason democrats would support public unions would be because they themselves are ‘puppets’ for the power hoarding interests of the Union. You don’t bit the hand that feeds you, and the democrats have no choice but to back their sugardaddy. Haha.
dan on 02.20.2011
my bad for the grammar. NBA allstar took priority