Wisconsin Governor Aims to Limit Public Employee Unions

on February 17, 2011 at 4:55 PM

Jenny EriksonThousands of union supporters descended upon Wisconsin’s state capital this week to protest Governor Scott Walker’s budget-balancing proposal. In order to save his state from bankruptcy, the Republican governor has called for public employees to contribute to their pensions and pay part of their health insurance premiums. His budget also limits government collective bargaining to just wages, and prevents government unions from forcing taxpayers to fund their luxurious benefits.

The schools in Madison had to shut down on Wednesday and Thursday because so many teachers abandoned their students to go protest Governor Walker’s partial dismantling of union ‘collective bargaining rights.’ Nothing says, “I’m here for the kids!” quite like shutting down schools because your cushy union benefits might be slashed.

Newsflash to public sector unions: We are all struggling. We are all scrambling to pay our bills, to deal with the ever-increasing cost of living, and we generally thank God every morning we wake up and still have a job. What makes you so much more special than us?

Public sector unions claim to protect against oppression of the worker, yet they ironically force everyone in a given field to join or be fired. Take the teachers for example -- Wisconsin public school teachers have to join the union, and their wages are garnished to a tune of $1,100 a year. The union thugs are then able to contribute to handpicked candidates and get them elected, and that politician shows his gratitude by pushing legislation to give the public unions more and more taxpayer dollars.

Did you catch that? The organization that supposedly protects against oppression oppresses workers by forcing them to join a union, whether they agree with it or not.

The unions are claiming that Governor Walker is a big old meanie that’s trying to take away the voice of the people. Wisconsin Education Association Council President Mary Bell told a crowd at the Capitol Wednesday night, "This is not about protecting our pay and our benefits, it is about protecting our right to collectively bargain.”

How is it collective bargaining if the members don’t have a choice over whether or not they want to join? That’s not collective bargaining, that’s oppression by union bosses that tell you that they know better what you need than you do. No one is taking away anyone’s right to collective bargaining by stripping public sector unions of some of their power.

Martin Luther King Jr. didn’t need a union to organize the black citizens of Montgomery to boycott the buses after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white guy. No union for the bus boycotters, yet this is one of the most prominent examples of collective bargaining in history. Every person got to make a decision for him or herself as to whether to join the protest. Dr. King didn’t claim to know what was best for every black person in Montgomery and force him or her to play along. Everyone collectively came together to bargain for equal rights, no union required.

Public unions don’t collectively bargain; they force people to join, and then make decisions on their members' behalf. That’s not freedom, that’s tyranny, and it’s bankrupting Wisconsin. Congratulations to Governor Walker for having the guts to stand up to the public unions, rather than raising taxes or laying off 6,000 government workers. One step at a time, we can take away the unions’ power and give it back to the people.

Filed Under: discrimination, economy, in the news, politics, taxes

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Comments (13)

Anastazia975

on Feb 17, 2011 at 4:58 PM

It's not just the unions, and the wages people here in Wisconsin are po'd about. Read the rest of the bill. Then write and article.

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Facebook comment from Courtney Lloyd

on Feb 17, 2011 at 6:07 PM

Thank the Lord you obviously don't have a job at risk! Posting "articles" on a blog for what? Stay at home moms? Just a suggestion, you may want to actually read the bill or turn on the news before you blabber some skewed version of the truth to the rest of the world. It's close-minded Republicans like you that got Walker elected in the first place! You'd think after he ran Milwaukee into the ground you idiots would figure it out.

FourKidsSoFar

on Feb 17, 2011 at 6:33 PM

Great article! Couldn't have said it better myself!!!

Nonmember comment from Robert T

on Feb 17, 2011 at 6:54 PM

Remember that old saying you get what you pay for. If you don't pay well for state jobs then no one is going to want a state job. Effectively what this bill says is that if you are going into one of these fields you should apply in another state because Wisconsin isn't going to pay you for your expertise and schooling. Not to mention those who already work for the state that have expertise may travel to other states that are willing to pay them and thus worsen the condition of our education system in Wisconsin as teachers leave. What you refer to as "luxurious" benefits are only to offset the already relatively low pay that teachers receive in this state. Contemporaries in surrounding states are paid much higher wages than those in Wisconsin. Not to mention the matter of unions which is what this boils down to. This is an attempt to destroy unions. Not just those of the public sector but also of the private sector. As for the unions of Wisconsin, whether they are obligatory or not is not what is in question, what is in question is whether the government has a right to tell you that you can not form a union. While Wisconsin may have fallen on hard times that does not mean we should have to give up our rights to fix the situation. Whats next, we are no longer allowed to speak out against the governor and his conservative agenda that means to have us all living in the nineteenth century.

Nonmember comment from alguien

on Feb 17, 2011 at 6:59 PM

clearly, you don't know enough about what's going on in wisconsin to write an accurate report. ever think of doing a little RESEARCH before blabbering about something you obviously don't understand?

Nonmember comment from John McBride

on Feb 17, 2011 at 9:39 PM

I love it when conservatives enlist M.L. King in their arguments. I call it the "Glen Beck maneuver." This one takes the cake, though. When you cite M.L.King as part of your argument against public sector unions, you are obviously unaware that when he was shot, King was in Memphis to march with unionized City employees.

Nonmember comment from Rocin

on Feb 18, 2011 at 11:58 AM

John: MLK was a Conservative Christian fighting a bunch of Democrat politicians who were denying black citizens the right to unionize. This article is on a different topic; mandatory membership, like it or not, in a union you don't support, as a condition of employment. Would King have supported that type of coercion? I doubt it.

Nonmember comment from LarryD

on Feb 18, 2011 at 1:06 PM

Wow! To bad you have no idea what is actually happening. By the way, the Fire departments and police departments have a union. I don't see them loosing and pay or benefits.

JennyErikson

on Feb 18, 2011 at 11:52 PM

I don't know what's going on? Hahahahahaha!

So far, no one has addressed the issued of being forced into a union in order to keep your job... Anyone? Please, some explain to me how this is fair...

on Feb 19, 2011 at 10:31 AM

Gov. Walker is just doing what "progressives" want: Wealth redistribution. The wealthy should share with the poor. The private sector worker in Wisconsin makes about half of what the public sector worker does, so the wealthy public sector worker should share!