I’ve been gone for a couple days, sick as a dog, probably due to quitting smoking after 52 years. But during that time I did a lot of thinking about The Republican War on Unions, in Wisconsin, and elsewhere. I gave a lot of thought to why. The Wisconsin budget shortfall was manufactured by Republicans’ recent tax cuts to pay back their corporate cronies. Why create the crisis? Outlawing collective bargaining does not save a penny. Why do it? Everything Republicans do have one of two goals, establishing a permanent Republican Regime of one party rule, or making what they deceptively say will trickle down, gush up. Outlawing collective bargaining destroys unions. Since Citizens United, Unions have been a weak foil to corporate spending, but the only big players Democrats have. Bingo. Republicans want criminal corporate power unopposed to establish their permanent regime.
In a year when governors across the country are competing to show who’s toughest, no matter what the consequences, Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin stands out as the first to bring his State Capitol to a halt.
Like many governors, he wants to cut the benefits of state workers. But he also decided a budget crisis was a good time to advance an ideological goal dear to his fellow Republicans: eliminating most collective bargaining rights for public employees.
Not surprisingly, thousands of workers descended on the Capitol building, pounding on windows and blocking doors, yelling “shut it down.” So many teachers called in sick that public schools in Madison and more than a dozen other districts had to be closed. On Thursday, the Democrats in the State Senate refused to show up, vowing to prevent any action until the governor drops his plan. The state police were sent to find them.
Mr. Walker has decried the chaos, but it was entirely self-inflicted. His plan to undermine the unions, which would have no direct impact on the budget, would take away nearly all of their rights to negotiate.
They would be barred from bargaining about anything except wages, and any pay increase they win would be limited by the consumer price index. Contracts would be limited to a year, and union dues could no longer be deducted from paychecks. As President Obama correctly put it on Wednesday, that “seems like an assault on unions.” (The archbishop of Milwaukee and players for the Green Bay Packers have also come out in support of the workers.)
Benefits for Wisconsin’s state workers are currently quite generous, but they weren’t stolen. They were negotiated by elected officials and can be re-negotiated at the bargaining table if necessary.
Most pay only 6 percent of their health care premium costs and Governor Walker wants to double that. The average employee contribution to premiums around the country, public and private, is 29 percent. Most state workers contribute almost nothing to their pensions; he wants them to pay 5.8 percent, which is a little less than average for government workers around the country.
Meanwhile, the governor is refusing to accept his own share of responsibility for the state’s projected $137 million shortfall. Just last month, he and the Legislature gave away $117 million in tax breaks, mostly for businesses that expand and for private health savings accounts. That was a choice lawmakers made, and had it not been for those decisions and a few others, according to the state’s Legislative Fiscal Bureau, the state would have had a surplus… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <NY Times>
Ed Schultz has been on top of this story from the beginning. Here he brings us up to date and interviews two of the heroes that fled the Wisconsin Senate to focus national attention on this outrage.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Last night I listened to Rachel Maddow’s take on the story. I felt as though she had read my mind, because our conclusions are identical, but she documented it with impeccable precision, hammering it home in a way that only a fool or a liar could deny.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Whatever it takes, this Republican war on unions must be stopped. Unions vs the Chamber is already a David vs Goliath scenario, and David got his ass kicked in November. But for the Republican Party, any opposition is too much.
12 Responses to “Why Republicans are Warring on Unions”
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
The Republican Governors Association’s spearheading of this coordinated anti-union drive is a direct, all-out attack on EVERY American worker, union member or not. Collective bargaining is a RIGHT that must not be trampled on or removed. It is a disgusting double standard for this country to give tax breaks to billionaires and place no restrictions at all on the ever-increasing salaries and benefits of CEOs, but then to label public service workers’ union demands as inflationary and something that should be curtailed. These radical teabagger Republican moves should be STOPPED – NOW!
I am in full solidarity with the public service workers of both Wisconsin AND Ohio, and I urge others to support them as well!
Hear, Hear!
The Lone Ranger rides again….. check our Feinglold
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZ-auMLB0BI
… pass it on. 😎
Thanks Jim. I put another Feingold vid in yesterday’s Open Thread.
It is good to see that firefighters and law enforcement officials are siding with the teachers and other union people as even though Walker says that local law enforcement and fire employees, as well as state troopers and inspectors would be exempt from this attempt at union busting, only a fool would believe that. They know that their turn would come.
I doubt he would have excluded them this time were he not worried about a police/fire strike before he has defanged the other unions.
THIS HAS BEEN COMING FOR SOME TIME ; UNLESS STOPPED AND STOPPED NOW IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE— IT HAS BEEN MY POSITION FOR YEARS — IF SOMEONE ELSE SIGNS YOUR PAYCHECK– YOU ARE WORKING CLASS NO MATTER WHAT THE POSITION YOU HOLD- sEEMS TO ME THAT INCLUDES MOST OF US ; WE ARE IN THE SAME BOAT –
UNIONS CAME ABOUT BECAUSE OF THE ABUSE BY THE CORPORATIONS — BECAUSE ‘IN UNION THERE IS STRENGTH’ WE MUST NOT FORGET THAT-
WE CANNOT CONTINUE TO SAY THIS DOES NOT AFFECT ME– IT DOES—
Phyllis, I don’t blame you for shouting. I have never been a union member. I have never crossed a picket line.
Once again, the Repubs are going for the middle class. Wisconsin is one of the few states that didn’t have a deficit until Walker gave away money to businesses, as Repub are want to do. Collective Bargaining doesn’t add a penny to their deficit. This is the plainly taking away people’s right to earn a fair wage and benefits. I’m glad the Dems left the state. 😎
I agree Lisa, but even more they are going after the possibility that the middle class can win an election.
Just look at who are the most rabid anti-union, anti-worker, anti-bargaining rights forces are and the lines are clear. Fascists, Communists,…and Republicans. This is nothing less than the struggle between democracy and totalitarianism.
I know I’m gonna take some heat… The state is broke. You can call it self induced, but if it is, it’s because the state waited too long to ask union workers to join the real world. I don’t get ANY of my medical paid. I don’t get ANY pension except what I pay in. So do you think that I should have to pay their medical and pension, too? If you think that big mean companies are taking advantage of workers, it’s because they’re trying to compete with companies whose workers are in China and India. The more you tax them the less they can compete and then they have to shut down their WI operation. Either that or they have to pass the costs along to the rest of us. The FACT is that companies are leaving WI because they can’t afford to pay out the benefits to unions. You need to step back and see the big picture. Is it unreasonable to ask non union workers to dig deeper so the union workers can have it easier? The governor is trying to keep SOME of the WI businesses from leaving. You can take it personally or you can open your eyes and see that the coffers are empty. There’s just no money left. The states are wrestling with the same entitlement deficits that the federal government is wrestling with. Ultimately, the money comes from taxes. You and I have to pay for the entitlements and pensions. And if you want to talk about Communists, try looking at Trumka.
Please try to keep the hate mail manageable. I’m as broke as the rest of you folks.
Thanks