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Scott Walker: A Fiscally Responsible Governor or a Politician Who Is Playing Favorites?

Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger

There’s been a lot going on in Wisconsin in the past week. I hope most Americans are aware of the reason why so many Wisconsinites have converged on the state capital to hold demonstrations.

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, a Republican, claims that the state is in financial trouble. He’s asking teachers, plow drivers, janitors, nurses, garbage collectors, and other public sector workers to contribute more to their pensions and to pay a larger amount of their health premiums. It appears many of those workers are willing to negotiate with the governor and to consider having more money taken out of their paychecks for their pensions and health insurance. What those employees are not willing to do is relinquish their right to collective bargaining.

I can understand why Governor Walker is asking public employees to have more deductions taken from their paychecks during these fiscally difficult times. What I question is his budget-repair bill that would strip public employees of their right to collective bargaining. If the governor believes that taking away that right will help with the state budget shortfall, why isn’t he demanding that police, firefighters, and state troopers give up their right to collective bargaining too? Could it be political payback? Does that sound like a possibility to you?

Here is an excerpt from an article that Todd Richmond wrote for Bloomberg:

Walker has introduced a bill that would strip public employees across the board — from teachers to snowplow drivers — of their right to collectively bargain for sick leave, vacation, even the hours they work. But absolutely nothing would change for local police, fire departments and the State Patrol.

The bill smacks of political favoritism for public safety unions that supported Walker’s election bid last year and sets up new haves and have-nots in Wisconsin government, said Paul Secunda, a Marquette University professor who specializes in labor law.

“That’s called ‘thank you, I got your back,'” Secunda said. “There’s no surprise there. This is the worst type of favoritism there could be.”

 Well, Wisconsin firefighters are showing their solidarity with their fellow public employees. There’s a post at Mother Jones about an interview that Uptake’s Oliver Dykstra had with Mahlon Mitchell, president of the Professional Firefighters of Wisconsin. (Mother Jones also posted a video of the interview.)

Here are some of the highlights of that interview—which I’ve taken from Mother Jones:

  • “The reason that we are here is because it’s important that labor sticks together. There was a message from the governor’s office to conquer and divide…collective bargaining is not just for us, police and fire, it’s good for all involved. It’s a middle-class upbringing.”
  • “When firefighters see an emergency, one thing we do is respond. And we see an emergency in the house of labor, so that’s why we’re here.”
  • “Every day, if you notice, we lead the AFSCME employees, the SEIU employees, all the public sector employees into the building, because we are here to fight with them.”
  • “Collective bargaining is not about union rights; it’s about rights of workers…We ask Gov. Walker to come back and negotiate with the people, negotiatie with the state workers’ unions, and get things worked out, as opposed to just putting out this bill and we don’t hear from him again.”
  • “Us as firefighters, we have been exempted from this bill…There’s a 5.8 percent pay into the pension, there’s a 12.4 percent pay into the health care premium benefits…For the betterment of the government, for the betterment of the state, we don’t mind helping to pay for that. We don’t want to price ourselves out of a job. Ever. What we want to do is have a fair and equitable treatment among our members.”

    • 

I have great respect for the Wisconsin firefighters who are supporting their fellow public employees—even though they have nothing to gain politically or financially by doing so.

“We must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately.” ~Benjamin Franklin

Sources

Mother Jones

Bloomberg

595 thoughts on “Scott Walker: A Fiscally Responsible Governor or a Politician Who Is Playing Favorites?”

  1. Buddha,
    One hell of an understatment!
    Blouise,
    Well said and Well done!! The union movement created the middle class and when all of this crap is over with, the union movement will have saved the middle class. You should be proud!

  2. Back from the front … very, very good time and very educational. We put people all over the state in different places … Cleveland, Canton, Columbus, and several other towns that sport republican reps. The message was simple.

    Don’t do it, for if you do we will make it a ballot issue which in the end will blow your budget out the window and we will defeat it at the polls. It’s hard core politics and Union folk know how to play hardball especially when it comes to protecting their families from financial hardship and or ruin.

    Republicans across the state got the message. The union folk who voted for you, will never vote for you again and you will lose your next election because all you’ll have left are teabaggers. And your bill will be on the ballet … we’ve had to do it before. It will go down … as it has before … and you will have wasted millions of dollars trying to satisfy your Corporate masters and your ever dwindling number of teabaggers.

    Strangely enough these teabaggers are realizing that the teacher, the cop, the fireman, the road worker, the grounds keeper, the accounts clerk, the engineering secretary are their next door neighbors and their neighbors don’t much appreciate a teabagger trying to take the food off their table or the roof from over their heads. Yep, individual teabaggers are feeling it.

    The position of working Ohioans has been framed perfectly for this is a bill meant to destroy the middle class and take what little we have left.

    Back in the ’70’s we had teachers willing to go to jail … some sat in jail for weeks to get bargaining rights. Kasich and his teabaggers actually think these people don’t know how to fight or aren’t willing to go to the mat to protect the rights they gained.

    Kasich is nothing more than a failed investment dude who lost his job when his company went belly up. This will ruin whatever chances he thought he had of running for the U S Senate or, god forbid, the presidency.

    The work to get this on the ballot has already begun … in fact, it began weeks ago.

    As to the lock-out … pathetic reasoning that caved once threatened with legal action. Can you imagine … Republicans thinking they has the legal right to lock citizens out of their own Statehouse … the Dept. of Public Safety took the fall for it but their director was appointed to that office in Jan. 2011 by Kasich … your feel me? (Troopers were quietly muttering to the crowd)

    We, my rather large firefighter/paramedic/policemen buddies and I managed to get in … it was magic. Finally the doors were opened and everybody who wanted to entered. I know the Republicans were hoping to disburse the crowd but like I said … these Union folk know how to fight the good fight and they don’t give up because of a little cold weather and a bully of a Safety Director. So we walked around, discovering different Republican offices and leaving letters, petitions etc. … quite a few of them even took time to talk to us for they are also starting to feel the heat and wondering if they will survive the next election.

    It was cold outside, wet, but there was lots and lots of food and drink all of it provided free from surrounding restaurants and other groups … the hot coffee, cocoa, and cider were needed and we never ran out. I can tell you that without a doubt, the teachers were the most militant and not the least bit shy in voicing their dislike of Kasich and Union busters in general. I had a lovely drum that I beat in cadence to chants while my buds had air horns and whistles. We left everything in a corner of the building when we magically got through the doors … it was all there when we left.

    You all would have loved it!

    I let the guys drive my truck home while I dosed … the only time they’ll get to do that!

    P.S. Has anybody bothered to tell Sam that if he doesn’t have a signed contract with his “generous based on greed boss” outlining all those conditions he thinks he negotiated, that he has squat … and depending upon which state he works in, even with a signed contract, he has squat. The boss can always replace him as no one person is irreplaceable but … the boss would have a very difficult time replacing every single worker at one time without losing a whole lot of his “greed based profit” … collective bargaining, baby

  3. raff,

    It’s hard to believe that when Fred showed up at the studio, his resume said “Can sing, dance a little.”

    Talk about your understatement!

  8. Sam,

    You leave out that they all asked together, while negotiating their contracts as a group. If only there was a term for that sort of thing, maybe something that rhymed with “selective darning.”

    I’m not sure how you got from “the unions won’t compromise on collective bargaining because it’s a tool necessary to doing the job they were created to do” to “you need a union.”

  13. Because when more than one person asks, you are more likely to get what you ask for.

    The concept of collective bargaining is not that difficult to grasp unless you are being purposefully obtuse.

  14. Gyges:

    how does anyone? They ask for it. Like I did when I went to work. I said boss if you want me its going to cost this much money with this much time off and these benefits. These are my skills and this is what I can do for you. I show the boss my resume he makes a couple of phone calls and says I accept your conditions.

    If boss says no way you are only worth X and I know I can get X+2 at another company I say boss I can get X+2 at another company. So boss says I’ll give you X+2 but I need a couple of days of vacation back. And I say done, because I didn’t really like the other company.

    So that is how I got mine. I didn’t need a collective bargainer, I had a good resume and work history. Plus I make more than some guys I know who are in a union, they are trying to get in where I work.

    Seems pretty simple to me. I make boss a bunch of money so he likes having me around, job security. Boss also gives me pretty good bonuses at the end of the year, again because I make boss money. We have a mutually beneficial relationship, boss gets the work and runs the company and I do the work and make boss money.

    Hopefully when I save up enough I can start my own company and be the boss and make a lot of money. Then I’ll hire Stan and Gino and pay them well and give them good bonuses so they’ll keep making me money. Maybe my boss will come work with me, because I plan on giving him a run for his money. But he just laughs and tells me to bring it on. He’s trained me pretty good to so he is going to have some competition.

    Why do I need a union?

  17. Sam,

    I’m reposting an earlier comment that I addressed to you. Can you answer my question?

    “Why not put any of the blame for the demonstrations on Gov. Walker? The unions have already said that they’d be willing to pay more into their pensions and for their health insurance. What they are asking for now is to be allowed to keep their right to bargain collectively. But Walker refuses to budge on that issue.”

  19. Sam in Sheboygan:

    Since you seem genuinely mystified about the need for collective bargaining, I suggest it would be very helpful to read a good history of labor relations in this country. I think that would answer many of your questions.

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