Calling Out The National Guard? GOP Governors Begin Their Coordinated Assault On State Union Workers
One of the Democratic legislative leaders said it’s “hard to believe he’s even serious about this.” Really? Then why is it happening in all these states with Republican governors? I wish Democrats would learn to think like these criminals, so they weren’t caught off guard all the time: Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) said Friday that he was willing to mobilize the state’s National Guard force in order to address the potential repercussions of his stated proposal to eliminate collective bargaining rights for state employees. The Associated Press reports: Gov. Scott Walker says the Wisconsin National Guard is prepared to respond wherever is necessary in the wake of his announcement that he wants to take away nearly all collective bargaining rights from state employees. Walker said Friday that he hasn’t called the Guard into action, but he has briefed them and other state agencies in preparation of any problems that could result in a disruption of state services, like staffing at prisons. On Thursday, Walker told the Associated Press that he will propose removing nearly all public employee collective bargaining rights to help plug a $3.6 billion budget hole. Walker, a Republican who took office in January, said no one should be surprised by the move he will ask the GOP-controlled Legislature to approve next week given that he’s talked about doing it for two months. “This is not a shock,” he said. “The shock would be if we didn’t go forward with this.” But union leaders, and even some Republicans, were taken aback at the scope of his proposal. “This is a shocking development,” said Bryan Kennedy, president of AFT-Wisconsin, which represents 17,000 workers. “It ends collective bargaining for public employees in our state, after 50 years of management and workers solving problems together.” Remember: When a Republican says, “We have no other choice,” what he means is “Because I would never in a million years tax the rich instead.” I wish I could understand why people are so willing to cooperate in the stripping away of workers rights, instead of insisting that they have them, too. That kind of thinking is a sorry part of human nature — “If we can’t have a good job, nobody should!” Oh well: Gov. John Kasich and Republican lawmakers made it clear this week that big changes are coming to the public employees collective bargaining law as the state looks to close an $8 billion budget gap. “All of this is an effort to reduce the cost of government to reduce the tax burden on families and job creators,” said Rob Nichols, spokesman for Kasich. Kasich said Thursday if lawmakers don’t dismantle public employees collective bargaining then he will. “All this is rooted in job creation.” It’s a fight shaping up with unions in states across the country, particularly those with Republican-dominated governments that are in fiscal trouble. Indiana, Idaho and Tennessee all have legislation in the works that would scale back or eliminate collective bargaining. A study by the Buckeye Institute, a conservative think tank*, found Ohio’s public workers made more than private sector counterparts. Liberal counterpart, Policy Matters Ohio, released a report Thursday that found Ohio’s public employees are paid less than those in the private sector. More than 300,000 public employees in Ohio belong to unions, including teachers, police, firefighters, municipal employees and state workers. * “Conservative think tank” — as always, a contradiction in terms.
Calling Out The National Guard? GOP Governors Begin Their Coordinated Assault On State Union Workers
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on February 13, 2011. Filed under