Wisconsin Public Workers Protest Governor's Proposal

Wisconsin Public Workers Protest Governor's Proposal.

online.wsj.com

For a second straight day, thousands of Wisconsin public employees converged on the state capitol in Madison to protest Gov. Scott Walker's plan to close the state's projected $3.6 billion budget shortfall by increasing the cost of their pensions and health benefits and taking away their collective bargaining rights.

About 10,000 teachers, nurses, city workers and firefighters chanted "Kill the Bill" and held signs outside that said "Recall Walker," while others squeezed shoulder-to-shoulder inside the capitol rotunda as a key legislative panel held hearings on the bill.

(visit the link for the full news article)


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Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
Wisconsin Gov. Walker to Dissolve Public Service Unions in Budget
abovetopsecret.com...

Is this news getting out? Tomorrow even more people are going to go. Several schools around Central Wisconsin are closing.

It gives me some small sliver of hope to see this kind of stuff happen. Gov Walker is simply trying to destroy the Unions. Its shady and unnecessary in such trying times.

online.wsj.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

My personal belief is that protests bigger than this will be happening in every major American city within a year.

Just my thoughts, good to see these workers standing up for their rights.

Good for them! Standing up to this is the right thing to do. Glad they have some good organizers amongst them.

There is some discussion about the protests in this thread too: www.abovetopsecret.com...

Is this a beginning of a nation wide Egyptian style Protest? I'm sure these teachers might be considering of riot like an Egyptian

Beyond eliminating collective bargaining rights, the bill would force public workers to pay half the cost of their pensions and at least 12.6% of their health-care coverage. ...
Under Mr. Walker's proposal, public-worker unions could still represent employees, but could not pursue pay increases above those pegged to the Consumer Price Index unless they were approved by a public referendum. Unions also could not force employees to pay dues and would have to hold votes once a year to stay organized.

Am I missing something? How is any of this bad? This is a better deal than most people have.

Appears the entire world is full of PO'd people.

The governor, and governors all over the nation have no choice.

The money isn't there for the status quo.

Plus, the damned unions have just about done themselves in. And good riddance.

reply to post by starwarsisreal


It was walk like an Egyptian. These are difficult times where cool heads are important. Things did a little nuts at times, but overall they where very well behaved. If things get too far out of hand and the army has to step in it is not going to be pretty for anyone as a dictatorship steps in. Persistence and patience is the civil way through it.

reply to post by snyder007


I wonder how Bill feels about this.
I thought we weren't supposed to use inflammitory language anymore.
How about "Put the bill down for nappy time"
or
"This Bill makes us feel icky inside"
But KILL?
I think these days that may be considered a direct threat and Bill would well within his rights to "Say Something".

Unions for public employees should never be allowed,
and as for the unions wanting him recalled,
they didn't want him elected in the first place.

How are you even beginning a thread?

I work for the county and yesterday, the board of supervisors sucker-punched us by circumventing the bargaining process and shoved a 9% pay cut down our throats by way of furloughs and pension contribution cuts. It's illegal, and they know that but did it anyway and basically said F*ck You to the workers and our union. We don't make huge salaries - I get paid about $40K a year and I have a Ba.S.degree in Psychology. Our health plan includes 20% co-pays, large deductibles, including co-pays on medications. Who thinks this is "exorbitant"??? But the political elite along with the stoking of corporate-run media has convinced the dumbed-down masses that we're a bunch of spoiled, lazy, unproductive "government workers" that need to be taken down, while each day we are told to do more with less staff, less resources, more paperwork and horrendously high caseload demands. We are all exhausted, the stress is off the charts. We've had one man die with stress-related illness, 3 others had to go out on temporary leave for severe anxiety, people quitting, and many positions not being filled because the reputation of working for my county has spread far and wide. But we stick with it because we enjoy helping people - but unfortunately there's gonna come a time when some or all of us walk and tell them to stick it!

The stress is getting to all of us so much that we're about to go ape-sh*t. There's talk amongst the workers that we'll take our imposed, 10 non-paid furlough days ALL AT ONCE and see how the county and public would like to see essential county services SHUT DOWN for TWO freakin' weeks. See if they like THAT!

reply to post by Wolf321

Agreed, this is ridiculous. I live just outside of Madison and got an email at 9 pm tonight telling me my kids would be off school tomorrow because too many teachers called in sick. It just floors me how some people have no clue. There is no money, it is either tax everyone or make cuts. The thing that gets me is that even though they will have to pay more for their benefits, they also can elect to NOT pay their union dues, which would in some cases, put people ahead. But oh no, if they were not in the union, they would have to actually care about their performance, how fair is that! Total crap.

reply to post by Rockerchic4God


So, if you all walk, do you not think that there are two people that will be in line to take your opportunity? Walker has said that he made this decision over laying off thousands of people, would that have been better? If my employer is doing poorly and losing money every year, I would expect to get a pay cut or lose my job, it is the way the world works.

Yep state workers the gravy train is over get used to it.Can't wait till this gets to NY state.The workers have better benifits here than anyone in the private sector.The county workers in Erie county have it better than the state workers.after having 8 years of service (and it's nearly impossible to get fired)they get ready ....drum roll please 19 weeks vacation.How about them apples.I was flabbergasted when I read that in the paper.Not to mention that their pension is based on the last three years of service so for the last three years before thewy retire they put in more hours than they ever have and get sometimes a pension that pays more than their original salary.Nice deal huh....get that where you work?That's what too much union control gets ya.They also get their healthcare payed for that's state and countyThey put nothing toward their pensions.

Isn't it ironic/hypocritical that Gov. Walker and the legislators can legislate themselves a salary increase on the backs of the taxpayers that actually work for a living.

reply to post by Dwigt


That is called a sick-in.
Unions do it from time to time to flex their their muscle.

My dad and other union members used to do it all the time.
How nice, in this case, to be able to pick and choose when you actually care about the children.

It's disgusting.

reply to post by whaaa


I agree that legislators voting for their own pay at any level of government is wrong.

I think that the pay for regular legislators should equal the average pay for full time employees in the county/state/nation, depending on the level they govern. Governors would get a 50% increase above that. Nationally, Speaker of the House would get 25% above the national pay average, the President would receive the average of the pay of the governors of the states. Seems more than fair to me.

reply to post by Rockerchic4God

the board of supervisors sucker-punched us by circumventing the bargaining process and shoved a 9% pay cut down our throats by way of furloughs and pension contribution cuts.

My wife, a V.P. at a banking institution, just received notice her 401-k match was being drastically reduced.
There has been no pay increase across the board (on which she sits) for two years.
Last year (2010) there was no profit sharing, as there was no profit.

I recently had to cut my entire staffs hours, from 40+, to around 32.
These people are like family to me, and I did it, literally, with tears in my eyes.
Had I not cut hours, I would have had to lay a few off instead.

My brother, a union electrician, has had 11 days off, unpaid, since Christmas.
There is just no work.

Things are tough all over, but this statement:

There's talk amongst the workers that we'll take our imposed, 10 non-paid furlough days ALL AT ONCE and see how the county and public would like to see essential county services SHUT DOWN for TWO freakin' weeks. See if they like THAT!

pretty much sums up why unions get so little sympathy from the rest of the working class.

If my wife tried that maneuver? Fired.
If my staff tried that? Fired.

If I tried that?
Bankrupt.

Welcome to the real world.

reply to post by lonegurkha


Several analyses of average wages and benefits in the public and private sectors reveal that state and local government workers earn more than private sector workers. According to the most recent Employer Costs for Employee Compensation survey from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, as of December 2009, state and local government employees earned total compensation of $39.60 an hour, compared to $27.42 an hour for private industry workers-a difference of over 44 percent. This includes 35 percent higher wages and nearly 69 percent greater benefits.

Data from the U.S. Census Bureau similarly show that in 2007 the average annual salary of a California state government employee was $53,958, nearly 32 percent greater than the average private sector worker ($40,991).

Link

I see the Haves and the Have-nots.

Players Back Unions...........


Present and former members of the Green Bay Packers, all members of the National Football League Players Association, have signed a letter in support of the AFL-CIO's efforts to derail Gov. Scott Walker's plan to cut some union bargaining rights.

The letter was signed by Curtis Fuller, Chris Jackie, Charles Jordan, Bob Long, Steve Okoniewski, Brady Poppinga and Jason Spitz.

Link


Even more Ironic that that the "Players" back the Union...........

Again the haves and have-nots........

I need a Government Job.

I think the thing that scares me the most is how little the media is reporting this.
This should be HUGE today.
I guess we'll see tonight if the news is full of protests from the rest of the world.