Now Walker is trying to lie to the people by telling them this is not a move to bust the union. That a ridiculous statement since the workers have already agreed to the pay cuts and benefit cuts. That only leaves collective bargaining. If it was not about union-busting, the governor would accept the agreement on the cuts and balance the state budget. But he knows that a union without the right to collectively bargain is no union at all, and that's what he wants to do -- get rid of the union and the protections it offers state workers.
Walker would like for people to be stupid enough to believe the the union's right to collectively bargain is the reason for the state's budget deficit. That's just not true, as the union's agreement to pay and benefit cuts shows. This argument really gets exposed when you look at a state like Texas, where state workers don't have the right to strike or the right to collectively bargain. They are completely at the mercy of the state government. And yet the Texas budget deficit ($27 billion) makes the Wisconsin deficit ($137 million) look tiny.
Obviously unions aren't the problem. The real problem is the Republican policy of continually cutting taxes for the rich and the corporations while cutting benefits and services for everyone else. It's the same old Republican "trickle-down" nonsense, and it has never worked.
The Republicans have never liked unions, because unions protect workers from the gross exploitation of corporations (and the Republicans have always protected corporations to the detriment of everyone else). And they know if they can bust the public union in Wisconsin, they can extend that to private unions and export it to other states.
I hope the people in Wisconsin can stand firm. Otherwise, they could go the way of a state like Texas -- where nearly 30% of the population have no health insurance, workers are guaranteed no benefits, and wages are extremely low for most workers. And that will do nothing to help the state budget. It will only fatten the bank accounts of the rich -- and that's really what Walker is trying to do.
Try though I may to understand Governor Walker's rationale for greatly curtailing the collective bargaining power of the teachers union, I'm afraid you're pretty much right on this one.
ReplyDeleteAt best, the proposed changes will greatly cripple the union (there will still be collective bargaining for wages, but not benefits) if not bust it altogether. I personally think it's an unreasonable overreach on the part of the GOP.
That being said, I think both the teachers and the Democratic state senators have shot themselves in the foot as far as gaining support in the court of public opinion.
First of all, some of the signs, like this, this, this, and especially this and this (barely a month after the Tucson shooting) make them look like extremists. It's almost like they're saying, "Civility? That's like soooo last month!"
And doctors writing fake excuses for the teachers to get them off of work to demonstrate makes it hard to believe that they have their students' best interest at heart (to say nothing of the bad example it sets for the students).
As far as the legislators are concerned, I think it's pretty cowardly for them to flee to Illinois rather than face the issue head on. I've even heard them referred to as "flee-baggers" Of course, I wouldn't engage in such name calling :)
Bottom line: Although I think the teachers' cause is just, I don't think they or the Democratic state senators have done themselves any favors in the way they've addressed the issue.
P.S. Your budget numbers are comparing apples to oranges. The $137 million deficit is for the rest of this fiscal year (i.e. until the end of June 2011). The two-year budget shortfall is estimated to be $3.6 billion (Here's the source).
The $27 billion deficit for Texas is likewise a two-year budget estimate. We're still in considerably worse shape than Wisconsin, but not nearly as bad as you portrayed it.
Scott Walker just blew his Koch cover. His unprecedented radical assault on public employees has nothing to do with the budget deficit (a deficit caused by the $200 million tax cut for the rich he just passed). It’s about denying basic rights to organized labor and state workers and punishing those that traditionally do not vote Republican. It’s political war, and it must be stopped.
ReplyDeleteAtlanta Roofing,
ReplyDeleteBy political "war," are you saying that union members " need to get out on the streets and get a little bloody" like Massachusetts Congressman Capuano recently suggested?