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[t_r_b]

I haven't seen any other threads on the situation in Wisconsin, so here goes:

CHE story

WashPo column

Breakdown of the impact on income (I'll add that because many of the new costs are constant across income levels, such as health care premiums, the impact on pay would be extremely regressive, with those earning under $30,000 - adjuncts, custodial and food service workers, etc. - facing a 15-20% cut in take-home pay).

There is reason to believe that both the short-term (current biennial budget) and medium-term (next biennial budget) fiscal crises are much overblown by the governor.

The governor's claims that public employees are overcompensated have been thoroughly refuted (in a nutshell, nearly all public employees are UNDERPAID relative to private sector workers with a similar level of education, even when you take into account 9-month contracts and more generous benefits).

AAUP weighs in.

In a nutshell, under the pretense of fixing a hole in the state budget, Wisconsin's governor is attempting to squash the state's public employee unions, gain the power to boot people off of Medicaid without legislative oversight, hit state and local workers with permanent double-digit cuts to compensation, and strip health care benefits from a large number of employees entirely. The Republican-controlled legislature is poised to give him pretty much everything he has asked for. Ohio and Michigan appear to be following suit. Simply put, now that only a very small fraction of private sector employees are unionized, Republicans are aiming to crush the public employee unions as well, and they appear to be on the verge of success in the very region where organized labor has traditionally been the strongest.

The implications for public higher education in these states are sweeping. The implications for the future of American labor relations generally may be more so.

Thoughts?

[tenured_feminist]

Union bashing is quite popular right now. I suspect it's a coordinated strategy among right-wing strategists because the line/frame/meme being repeated in several of these struggles across the nation is the same: unions are greedy and public employees should be sharing all the pain and uncertainty of private employees. It's not fair that they have guaranteed pensions and raises, and they shouldn't be "safer" than the average, run-of-the-mill Joe. "We" are supporting lazy public employees out of our own pockets and "we" have the right to fire them if "our" state is in financial trouble.

If the Wisconsin unions are smart, they will put Jim the custodian and Doris the food service worker on the front lines in this fight and take a "we are Wisconsin" tack.

But -- and correct me if I am wrong -- at least some of this is kabuki constitutional theatre, as a good bit of the proposed reining in of the union monster is in violation of the federal labor relations act. I presume that Wisconsin also has a constitutional provision preventing the state from abrogating contracts unilaterally, the type of provision that's been used in other states to thwart pension restructurings.

This is, however, even more pernicious in some ways, because the Republicans can pass all kinds of fire-breathing legislation, the more over the top the better, and then blame the courts for failing to let it through. This fuels further rhetorical assaults on unions and courts.  Nice work, if you can get it.

[sad_goat]

Here

...is another take worth reading.

[sad_goat]

This is fun, too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71gsnLfsbbM

[marfa]

After spending most of the week at rallies, driving to Madison, ...
it's clear that very little of this bill has anything to do with balancing the budget. 

It's about having someone to vilify and taking away all of those people's power.  Club for Growth is specifically setting the middle class against each other.  The bill, which would make public employee unions be voted on every year and would prevent employers from collecting union dues, will make unions powerless.  This means there will be no united front and, most importantly thanks to the recent Supreme Court ruling, no money to fight the Republicans in the next election.

This is an out and out power grab by Governor Walker.  With tens of thousands of people protesting at the Capitol, with K-12 schools closed across the state today as teachers/cooks/custodians call in sick, it looks like this bill will still pass as there are no moderate Republicans courageous enough to fight it.

What his attempt to separate the flagship campus, UW-Madison, will do to the UW system is a whole 'nother thread.

[plunkett]

Sad goat double posts; that's slightly impolite on these fora.
Also, Sad goat customarily offers right-wing and overly-Christian-centric views here and on other threads.
Does the right wing pay people to post on these and other fora?
Regarding the Wisconsin debacle:  Too bad Tom Barrett wasn't elected governor.

[qrypt]

After spending most of the week at rallies, driving to Madison, ...
it's clear that very little of this bill has anything to do with balancing the budget. 

It's about having someone to vilify and taking away all of those people's power.  Club for Growth is specifically setting the middle class against each other.  The bill, which would make public employee unions be voted on every year and would prevent employers from collecting union dues, will make unions powerless.  This means there will be no united front and, most importantly thanks to the recent Supreme Court ruling, no money to fight the Republicans in the next election.

This is an out and out power grab by Governor Walker.  With tens of thousands of people protesting at the Capitol, with K-12 schools closed across the state today as teachers/cooks/custodians call in sick, it looks like this bill will still pass as there are no moderate Republicans courageous enough to fight it.

What his attempt to separate the flagship campus, UW-Madison, will do to the UW system is a whole 'nother thread.

Who knew we would long for the days of Tommy Thompson?

[tenured_feminist]

Sad_goat, are you arguing that state governments have the authority to abrogate the national labor relations act at will? And that they have the right to nullify contracts?

(I come at this problem as a unionized faculty member myself who believes the union has made some piss-poor choices. But it takes two to make a stupid contract.)

[jungle_jane]

The UW-Madison Chancellor (Biddy) supports the separation of the flagship from the System - so some accounts of Walker's actions (he was accused of unilaterally acting without input from the university) have been mis-stated by the media. This is one area that seems straightforward to me - I'd support splitting off UW-Madison. I think the university could be more competitive on a national level were it allowed to negotiate as part of the Big Ten rather than as the system.

[nebo113]

Our new prez (the same stellar leader who has a Vision/Mission statement task force of a gazillion trolls even though prez has already decided on the vision) has told the Board of Trustees not to talk to our union.  New prez simply has vanished the union from his/her radar screen.

[wet_blanket]

Sad goat double posts; that's slightly impolite on these fora.
Also, Sad goat customarily offers right-wing and overly-Christian-centric views here and on other threads.
Does the right wing pay people to post on these and other fora?

I don't think I've ever agreed with a political opinion Sad_goat has offered on the fora, and I find this post ridiculous.  Firstly, your usual position is to encourage posters not to conform to norms of politeness.  Secondly, your statement that someone "customarily offers right-wing views" is inane. Unless it's an accusation? Someone is presenting a right wing perspective on an issue!  Thirdly, the answer to your question is that both "wings" of the political spectrum probably do pay people to post to fora, but the right is as unlikely to waste its time and money here asthe left is to target Fox News' comment section.  Occam's razor suggests the explanation for right-wing perspectives on these fora is - wait for it - some forumites hold right-wing views!

Also, I would appreciate it if you could point to the line between appropriately- and overly-Christian-centric views.  Not being a Christian myself, it's unlikely I'd cross it, but I would hate to take even the smallest chance of offending you.

[canuckois]

Sad goat double posts; that's slightly impolite on these fora.
Also, Sad goat customarily offers right-wing and overly-Christian-centric views here and on other threads.
Does the right wing pay people to post on these and other fora?

I don't think I've ever agreed with a political opinion Sad_goat has offered on the fora, and I find this post ridiculous.  Firstly, your usual position is to encourage posters not to conform to norms of politeness.  Secondly, your statement that someone "customarily offers right-wing views" is inane. Unless it's an accusation? Someone is presenting a right wing perspective on an issue!  Thirdly, the answer to your question is that both "wings" of the political spectrum probably do pay people to post to fora, but the right is as unlikely to waste its time and money here asthe left is to target Fox News' comment section.  Occam's razor suggests the explanation for right-wing perspectives on these fora is - wait for it - some forumites hold right-wing views!

Also, I would appreciate it if you could point to the line between appropriately- and overly-Christian-centric views.  Not being a Christian myself, it's unlikely I'd cross it, but I would hate to take even the smallest chance of offending you.

Oh snap.

In other news, according to Yahoo none of the Democratic lawmakers showed up today, so the vote in the senate can't proceed.  The police are apparently trying to hunt down the missing Democrats.

[jungle_jane]

In other news, according to Yahoo none of the Democratic lawmakers showed up today, so the vote in the senate can't proceed.  The police are apparently trying to hunt down the missing Democrats.

No, they can't send the state patrol after them - because they are all out of state. Maybe I don't understand the political process well enough, but other than causing a delay and media frenzy - this really isn't accomplishing much, right? I mean, eventually they have to go back and have the vote....

[marfa]

Interestingly, Senate Majority Leader Fitzgerald's father is head of the WI State patrol.  He's also the father of Assembly Representative Jeff Fitzgerald.

WI Republicans are bringing back nepotism along with their new King.

[qrypt]

In other news, according to Yahoo none of the Democratic lawmakers showed up today, so the vote in the senate can't proceed.  The police are apparently trying to hunt down the missing Democrats.

No, they can't send the state patrol after them - because they are all out of state. Maybe I don't understand the political process well enough, but other than causing a delay and media frenzy - this really isn't accomplishing much, right? I mean, eventually they have to go back and have the vote....

Given who is in control there, perhaps it's better if all the Dems go hiking the Appalachian trail for a while.

Oh wait -- that's a Republican pastime.