Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (R) has made the claim that dismantling collective bargaining rights for most state workers is necessary to balance the budget:
“The bottom line is we are trying to balance our budget and there really is no room to negotiate on that because we’re broke,” the Republican governor said.
This is a lie. In fact, the public employee unions have offered fiscal concessions close to those imposed by the controversial legislation:
Top leaders of two of Wisconsin’s largest public employee unions announced they are willing to accept the financial concessions called for in Walker’s plan, but will not accept the loss of collective bargaining rights.
This isn’t enough for Walker, whose real motive is to destroy most public employee unions. (The exceptions found in his legislation are the unions that supported his election campaign.)
Even today Walker continues his lie on the Sunday morning talk show circuit:
“If we do not get these changes, and the (state) Senate Democrats don’t come back, we’re going to be forced to make up the savings in layoffs, and that to me is just unacceptable.”
In fact, Walker could have had all the budget savings necessary simply by negotiating compensation adjustments with the unions.
You know…like Gov. Christine Gregoire (D-WA) did!
This morning on NPR’s Weekend Edition, host Liane Hansen spoke with Gregoire (who is suffering laryngitis) about public employee unions and the Washington state solution:
Last fall, Gregoire was elected Chair of the National Governors Association, establishing that she has the trust and respect of her peers.
So in this forth year of the Bush Recession, when almost every state is struggling with budget issues, maybe newly elected gubernatorial nut cases like Scott Walker should study and emulate the successes of the more experienced and respected Governors in the nation.
Fiddlesticks I say!
I am at my limit with these “workers” and their incessant demands to be “paid” for their “efforts”.
Why can’t we just “offshore” the government?
@ 1
It is already being done. The military, the IRS being two examples.
@1 A great example of why it’s really hard to parody the Tea Party. Who’s to say this isn’t authentic?
huh?
gregoire raised the health insurance contribution from 12 to 15%. big deal. she was bailed out by obama and the democrats last year as they merely added to our kids credit card.
the unions are crushing our kids futures.
to paint government employee union members as middle class doesn’t make any sense.
they actually are better off than before the recession unlike private sector employees and the 19% real unemployment (when you consider people no longer looking for jobs)
it’s a joke.
You don’t understand, Darryl. Taking away collective bargaining rights is just a first step toward their real agenda. They want to use public employees for medical experiments.
ww.aolnews.com/2011/02/27/horrific-us-medical-experiments-come-to-light/
http://www.aolnews.com/2011/02.....-to-light/
@4 If government jobs are so great why don’t you have one?
Well, how else can we in the ownership class recoup our substantial investments in the public sector?
These mindless drones may be of some marginal utility in their youth providing stoop labor to keep my lap pool clean or clean the insects from the windscreen of my auto-gyro. But eventually they begin to tire and their inherent weakness owing to their inferior breeding catches up with them. At that point they can be of no further use to us other than as guinea pigs for medical experiments. And perhaps after that, their bones may be used to pave my driveway.
the queen is leading something?
oh yeah, leading this state into financial ruin.
Yep, she’s leading something alright…
Poor Maxie. He thinks his mind has something in it.
@9. She does an all cuts budget, not raising taxes or demanding an income tax, and that STILL is not enough for Max.
One thing you have to give to tea party automatons, they absorb their media mind meld really well. I really think the baggers have some sort of stupidity chip in their head. They get about 3 different scripts they can select from and they repeat them over and over.