Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger
I have already written three posts about Governor Scott Walker, his budget repair bill, and the protesters in Wisconsin. People have been interested in
the Wisconsin story and have left nearly 1,800 comments at my three posts. I’ve even received requests to write up another post so that we could continue the discussion on the subject. I think there are others like me who believe the Wisconsin/Walker story is not over yet.
As I did last week, I’m posting links to some articles on the subject for you—as well as excerpts from some of the articles.
Democrats immediately file suit to halt challenges (Journal Sentinel)
By Jason Stein, Don Walker, and Patrick Marley
Excerpt: Wisconsin is now among the vanguard of Midwestern states embarking on a new era with their rules for public unions. Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, a Republican, signed an executive order in 2005 to eliminate collective bargaining for state employees. Ohio is working on a measure to rewrite its collective bargaining law with public-sector unions.
But the fight in Wisconsin isn’t over – Democrats and unions are already filing lawsuits against the proposal and recall actions against GOP senators who approved it.
“It’s just the beginning,” said Sen. Bob Jauch (D-Poplar). “This is the civil rights issue of this century.”
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Wisconsin’s Legacy of Labor Battles (New York Times)
By Kate Zernike
Excerpt: In her book, “Radical Unionism in the Midwest, 1900-1950,” Professor Feurer recounts how companies in the electrical industry in St. Louis started a network known as the Metal Trades Association in the first part of the 20th century to fight union organizing. The association had been alarmed by union protests that erupted violently with the Haymarket Square riot in 1886 and the demands for an eight-hour day, which started with the 1894 Pullman strike in Illinois — an early effort by Eugene V. Debs, the former Indiana legislator and future Socialist Party candidate for president.
“That left a legacy of the 1930s and ’40s for employers to form deep right-wing networks,” Professor Feurer said.
That network, she argues, was the precursor to the Midwestern groups that have now been assisting the fight against the unions in Wisconsin, Ohio and Indiana: the Bradley Foundation, based in Milwaukee, and Koch Industries, based in Wichita, Kan. David H. and Charles G. Koch, the billionaire brothers behind the energy and manufacturing conglomerate that bears their name, have been large donors to Mr. Walker in Wisconsin, as has their advocacy group, Americans for Prosperity, which first opened an office in Wisconsin in 2005.
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By Ryan Haggerty and Michael Muskal
Excerpt: Even as Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker on Friday signed into law a bill that sharply curbs collective bargaining for most public employees, his opponents were preparing for more demonstrations, court battles and political infighting over what has become a national test of labor’s power.
Organizers were hoping to attract tens of thousands protesters to the Capitol on Saturday for a rally featuring the return of Democratic lawmakers who fled the state on Feb. 17 in an effort to block the measure from passing. Along with the rally, Democrats are planning to ask the courts to overturn the new law and they have begun circulating petitions to recall some lawmakers. GOP supporters are circulating their own recall petitions, directed at the Democrats.
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Op-Ed: The GOP’s costly Wisconsin Koch binge is a wake-up call (Digital Journal)
The Big Shakedown: Wisconsin and the GOP’s Vision for America’s Future (Common Dreams)
Dane County sues state to block budget bill (The Cap Times)
Union Bill Is Law, but Debate Is Far from Over (New York Times)
My Previous Posts
Scott Walker: A Fiscally Responsible Governor or a Politician Who Is Playing Favorites?
Is the Scott Walker Story Just the Tip of the Koch Brothers’ Political Iceberg?
Wisconsin, Scott Walker, and Protesting Workers: The Story Continues
OS,
I think some Teapublican politicians in Wisconsin may be spending some time behind bars!
Uh-Oh! The Wisconsin State Journal sez”
“State will continue implementing collective bargaining law despite judge’s order”
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_195e7dd0-5b20-11e0-83bb-001cc4c002e0.html?mode=story
Some bloggers are already all over this:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/03/30/961763/-FitzwalkerstanHow-stupid-are-they
The latest update and analysis from our friend PDNC. She also goes after poor Rep. Duffy (R-Kochistan)who cannot support his poor benighted family on $174K per year.
Perhaps we can all chip in and get Rep. Duffy a budget book for his family. He certainly cannot afford one himself on that paltry $174 annually, poor dear. Bless his heart.
I am pretty sure that if any of us poked Judge Sumi in the eye like the Fitzwalkerstan crowd, we would be a guest in the Dane County Sheriff’s Bed and Breakfast Inn.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/03/30/961618/-Wisconsin-GOP-Cockiness-Flops-in-CourtUpdated-w-GOP-effort-to-remove-Duffy-tape-from-net
Elaine,
Great links! I wish it was better news!
Stamford,
You hit the nail on the head!
Maine GOP Legislators Looking To Loosen Child Labor Laws
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/30/maine-gop-legislators-loo_n_842563.html
Excerpt:
WASHINGTON — Far from places like Ohio and Wisconsin, Maine has become a new battleground in the labor fight. Gov. Paul LePage (R) recently sparked the anger of the union community by ordering a mural depicting workers throughout the state’s history removed from the Department of Labor. Now, Republican members of the state legislature are attempting to loosen child labor laws that the community fought hard to put into place.
The minimum wage in Maine is $7.50 an hour, and there is no training or subminimum wage for students. But under a new piece of legislation introduced in the state’s House of Representatives, employers would be able to pay anyone under the age of 20 as little as $5.25 an hour for their first 180 days on the job.
The bill, LD 1346, also eliminates the maximum number of hours a minor 16 years of age or older can work on a school day and allows a minor under the age of 16 to work up to four hours on a school day during hours when school is not in session.
With Maine’s unemployment above 7 percent, state Rep. Paul Gilbert (D) wonders why Republicans are pushing to create a pool of cheap labor when so many people are begging for jobs.
“If we had a shortage of job applicants or potential workers, then you could look at other populations to ease that strain on the workforce,” Gilbert told The Huffington Post. “But we don’t have that right now. We have an excess of job applicants here in Maine, as well across the country.”
The state Senate is also currently considering a bill (LD 516) that would allow 16- and 17-year-old students to work until 11:00 p.m. on school nights. Currently, they’re allowed to work until 10:00 p.m. It would also allow students to work for a total of 24 hours per week, four more than current law allows. Senators on the Labor, Commerce, Research and Economic Development Committee are split along party lines on the bill, but it’s likely to pass when the full body votes on it–the Senate, like the House, is controlled by Republicans.
Ohio Union Bill Passes House Vote
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/30/ohio-union-bill-faces-hou_n_842666.html
Excerpt:
COLUMBUS, Ohio — A bill that would limit collective bargaining rights for 350,000 Ohio public workers cleared the Republican-controlled House on Wednesday, one of its final hurdles before it goes to the governor of the labor-stronghold state.
Chants of “Shame on you!” from onlookers broke out immediately after the full House approved the measure on a 53-44 vote. It was possible a vote in the GOP-controlled Senate, which narrowly approved an earlier version of the legislation, would soon follow.
About 150 protesters started to gather in the Senate chamber, singing “We shall not moved” and chanting “Power to the people!”
Standing in the Statehouse Rotunda after the vote, union steelworker Curt Yarger said he saw the bill as “a preliminary attack on working people.”
“I shouldn’t have any disillusion that I’ll be next in the private sector,” said Yarger, 43, of Mansfield.
The legislation is in some ways tougher than Wisconsin’s, as it would extend union restrictions to police officers and firefighters. But its reception in Ohio has paled in intensity with the raucous fight in Wisconsin, where tens of thousands of people demonstrated against a similar bill.
On Wednesday, an estimated 700 people went to the Ohio Statehouse to hear the debate.
The Ohio measure affects safety workers, teachers, nurses and a host of other government personnel. It allows unions to negotiate wages but not health care, sick time or pension benefits. It gets rid of automatic pay increases, and replaces them with merit raises or performance pay. Workers would also be banned from striking.
rafflaw,
“anti-agw,
There is no reason to call someone by that nasty moniker of “strumpet”,no matter how wrong your arguments are.”
No problem, raff – I consider the source. And when all you’ve got is horse manure … 🙂
“Where the hell did you pick up that so-called definition of fascism?”
Don’t you know? Many scholars! Dr. Beck … Dr. Limpballs, Dr. Insannity, Dr. O’Loofah … lol …
Actually from Wikipedia. Do your own research.
It would seem that vile invective is the norm on this site. And it all seems to have to do with the alimentary canal. From the Santorum site to here.
Great blog.
anti-agw,
There is no reason to call someone by that nasty moniker of “strumpet”,no matter how wrong your arguments are. Where the hell did you pick up that so-called definition of fascism? On the Fox News website or was it something that Dr. Beck said? How about a link to your source??
Anti,
Well, tough guy, that’s all fine and dandy but I’m talking the true definition, not what others might think.
Awww … you hurt my feelings. You’re a meanie … I shall go cry in my Cheerios …
**yawn**
Stamford Liberal:
Actually there are many scholars who disagree on the meaning of Fascism. It doesnt necessarily need to be totalitarian in nature.
But then what do you expect from some ill mannered strumpet.
Nounstrumpet (plural strumpets)
A female prostitute; a woman who is very sexually active.
A female adulterer.
A mistress. Usage – 1960’s
Usage note – often used as bit of strumpet, piece of strumpet.
A trollop.
Usage note – derogatory.
See Trollop.
Out of the mouths of anti-American worker, lying sacks of sh*t:
“Forgetting Budget Rhetoric, WI Senate GOP Leader Brags: We’ve Busted Unions ‘Once And For All’
With its union-busting “budget repair bill” tied up in court and as many as eight recall campaigns looming, the Wisconsin state GOP has apparently abandoned its argument that the fight to end collective bargaining rights was just about closing the state’s budget gap.
State Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R) has already revealed that the true motivation behind the bill was to defund unions to make it “much more difficult” for Democrats, including President Obama, to get elected in Wisconsin. Now, attempting to fend off efforts to recall eight of his Senate colleagues, he’s mailed out a fundraising letter that removes any doubt about the GOP’s motive:
“(Unions have) ruined California and Illinois, but they’re not going to ruin Wisconsin.
“That is because Republicans faced down Big Labor’s bully tactics and a Democratic walk-out in the state Senate to break the power of unions like WEAC and AFSCME once and for all,” Fitzgerald said in his letter.
Fitzgerald’s letter is in stark contrast from his all-about-the-budget rhetoric after the bill passed, when he said, “Today’s passage is a momentous step toward getting our state’s fiscal house in order.”
Fitzgerald, however, isn’t alone. In Ohio, where the state senate is expected to vote on a similar union-busting bill tomorrow, state Rep. Joe Uecker (R) made it clear that the bill isn’t merely about the budget, but about “set[ting] the framework” for further anti-union efforts.
Oklahoma has now also joined the list of states considering anti-union legislation. The state Senate passed a bill through committee Monday that would repeal a 2004 law that guaranteed collective bargaining rights for municipal employees in cities with more than 35,000 residents. If the bill passes, 13 cities could collectively bargain with unions but would no longer be required to do so.”
http://thinkprogress.org/2011/03/29/wisconsin-senate-busting-unions/
Anti,
I didn’t ask what you thought it was, brain surgeon. I asked for its specific meaning.
fas·cism noun \ˈfa-ˌshi-zəm also ˈfa-ˌsi-\
Definition of FASCISM
1often capitalized : a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition
2: a tendency toward or actual exercise of strong autocratic or dictatorial control
— fas·cist \-shist also -sist\ noun or adjective often capitalized
— fas·cis·tic \fa-ˈshis-tik also -ˈsis-\ adjective often capitalized
— fas·cis·ti·cal·ly \-ti-k(ə-)lē\ adverb often capitalized
See fascism defined for English-language learners »
Examples of FASCISM
the rise of Fascism in Europe before World War II
From the first hours of Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union, the propagandists on both sides of the conflict portrayed the struggle in stark, Manichaean language. The totalitarian nature of both regimes made this inevitable. On one side stood Hitler, fascism, the myth of German supremacy; on the other side stood Stalin, communism, and the international proletarian revolution. —Anne Applebaum, New York Review of Books, 25 Oct. 2007
Consider what happened during the crisis of global fascism. At first, even the truth about Hitler was inconvenient. Many in the west hoped the danger would simply go away. —Al Gore, An Inconvenient Truth, 2006
He collected stories about groups similar to his—Aryans, other Nazis, the KKK. Lately, he’d been flagging many stories from Germany and Eastern Europe, and was quite thrilled with the rise of fascism there. —John Grisham, The Chamber, 1995
Origin of FASCISM
Italian fascismo, from fascio bundle, fasces, group, from Latin fascis bundle & fasces fasces
First Known Use: 1921
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fascism
Maybe you just have your head shoved too far up your ass.
Stamford Liberal:
A pretty good list of fundamental elements of Fascism:
1.Anti-capitalist, but with capitalist features;
2.Economic demand management…
3….through budget deficits
4.Direct economic planning, reconciled with partial economic autonomy through corporatism;
5.Militarism and imperialism;
6.Suspension of rule of law.
Seems pretty much like 20th/21st century America to me. And Amtrak is part of that. So I guess that makes you a Fascist as well.
Maybe you didnt go to any school at all?
Stamford,
You are being too kind o Mr. Walker! 🙂
Anti-AGW,
“So you are a fascist?”
Look up fascist in the dictionary. You obviously haven’t a clue as to what it means.
“Time for some “new” ideas to be taught in the hallowed halls.”
That’s what the bottom-tier schools are for (like Hillsdale, Liberty U, blah, blah, blah) – indoctrinating good, selfish little GOP children into tinkle-on ekonomiks and how to properly kick the homeless while walking on by.
Elaine M,
I read that at HuffPo last night … I’ve said this before but I think it bears repeating:
Scott Walker = Hypocritial Tool.
Scott Walker Rejected $12 Million Of The Specific $150 Million In High-Speed Rail Funds He Now Wants
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/30/walker-rejected-12-millio_n_842481.html
“The GOP is waging war on liberal professors.”
It is about time, should have been done long ago. Professors stopped being silent about their views in the 70’s and they are decidedly far left for the most part. There are no other views, for the most part, accepted by the academy.
Time for some “new” ideas to be taught in the hallowed halls.
frank:
what benefit? I don’t see any. Maybe cheap tickets from DC to New York but other than that where is the benefit?
So you are a fascist? Isn’t that when you believe the government should own business for the good of the state?