Over the last three weeks, Gov. Scott Walker and his allies in the Wisconsin Legislature made a mockery of representative government. Rather than listen to the citizens of Wisconsin, who are strongly opposed to stripping teachers, nurses and other workers of their rights, Walker rammed through a bill that was a blatant political payback to his out-of-state major campaign donors and cronies, who have sought for years to crush the aspirations of workers who dare to demand a voice in the workplace. This charade culminated when Walker shredded 50 years of labor peace, built through bipartisanship and a democratic process, and signed a bill into law against the wishes of a majority of the voters in Wisconsin.
The governor may have won a short-term political victory, but history and Wisconsin voters won't be so kind. Power exercised without discretion and prudence is corrupting. And based on Gov. Walker's actions -- his underhanded maneuvering to get the bill passed, his misrepresentations that the bill was part of reducing the budget deficit, and his manipulation of the process so the bill could be brought to a vote -- it is clear that the process was indeed corrupting. The people of Wisconsin watched this sorry spectacle and took to the streets to protest it. It was deeply unpopular, and record numbers of Wisconsinites are signing recall petitions to force Republican state senators to stand for election again to defend why they stripped workers of their rights. As brazen as Walker was by stripping workers of their rights in the workplace, he can't strip their democratic right to check his abuse of power at the ballot box.
Walker's unpopularity was in further evidence when, during the past three weeks, faculty at the University of Wisconsin at the Stout and La Crosse campuses ignored his threats and insults, and voted to unionize and be represented by AFT-Wisconsin. Hundreds of employees expressed their desire to have their voices heard in the workplace.
Many champions have emerged from these fights, including the 14 Democratic Wisconsin state senators whose principled stand provided the time and space for Walker's true intentions to be revealed. The champions also include the tens of thousands of workers in Wisconsin who agreed to help address the state's fiscal problems -- which were not of their making -- but would not hand over their rights. That sentiment of shared sacrifice was echoed, day in and day out, by Wisconsinites of every stripe, who raised their voices and even slept on floors in the Capitol.
Our challenge now is to take this moment and turn it into a movement. And the way to do so is by renewing America's labor movement, which is the only institution able to fight for working people at both the ballot box and the bargaining table. What happened in Wisconsin is a blow to anyone who values democracy and fairness. But it is also a clarion call to defend these principles, and the call is being answered by thousands from across Wisconsin and beyond, who will not be cowed or silenced by this act. They are emboldened and determined to right this wrong. And Gov. Walker probably never imagined that his disregard for fairness and justice would inspire people to stand up for the very values for which he has shown such disdain.
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That relationship does NOT exist in the public sector. There is no BALANCE. The elected officials have NO stake in standing up to a union demand that it too big. All that happens is the debt or taxes increase (see CA and NY).... The Gov has acted as the boss for the TAXPAYERS.... You know, the people who pay the public employees...
OK, you may attack the messenger - as all good libs do - since you can't attack the message..
Attacking the working class for the state of the economy is as low as you can go. And taxes have actually never been lower.
This is also the lesson of Wisconsin! Its not only immigrant labor they hate, its American labor as well, all labor I suppose.
=President Obama is, obviously, hopeless when it comes to defending the rights of American workers--imagine what he'll be like when he doesn't even have to pretend to care about the middle class if he manages a second term!
=So, the goal of organized labor should be to reverse the gains Republicans won in the last election in state legislatures. After all, that's where the collective bargaining-stripping laws are initiated, that's where the governors are refusing to fund their states' pension & health care plans, and that's
where, just like in the White House, tax cuts for millionaires are the order of the day.
=Some progressives think it's a sign of the strength of organized labor that two out of three "union households" in Wisconsin voted Democratic in 2010; I say it's a sign that there's more work to be done: the goal should be three out of three!
Remind you of another Republican in a higher office?
The rain is Bess, the wind is Blessed,
But we call the pariah Walker.
couldn't help myself ...
Time for Weingarten and the Teachers out there to do a learn a little .. learn about the hard realities of a budget and economics .. just like the rest of us, who are not net recipients of taxes, have been forced to do these past few years.
Only in the context of working America being crushed by corporations and banks are the teachers doing just fine. What country are you rooting for?
I'll agree the Banks laid waste to America along with horrible Government Policies pushed by Fannie / Freddie then bet on by such hacks as AIG, the Goldman Sachs, and Lehman Bros. But now that virtually every Government Entity is far in the Red .. it's time to reduce some of the massive unearned FAT sucked down by Public Employees. Enough is enough.
Teachers and Public Unions need to get some "skin in the game" and stop "getting in people's faces" .. rather than rob the kids of their future .. help ensure they have one but considering the 'Public' in so-called Public Service ... not just your own Collectively Bargained stuffed pocketbook.
maybe YOU can explain?
We aren't pulling the teachers down. Teachers and overpriced Public Employees are bringing the US Taxpayers down with their bloated costs.
Nobody on here has countered my original assertion at the top. Rather, you've all provided sideline or tangential arguments which don't address the points stated.
What Walker did is about breaking the very right of workers to sit down and negotiate with ther employers over the PRICE of the sale of their labor to that employer. You say there is to be no give and take, no negotiation, no discussion, you say the employer has all the power, and none of the responsilbity, yet labor does all the real work.
You, therefore, are a thief. If you were consistent, you'd oppoe the AMA as well.
I hope this signals the demise of the GOP in WI, not just a few short-purposed recalls. Hopefully WI can be the incubator for a national purging of the GOP as well, just as they intended it to be the template for eradicating unions. In my estimation, they are a scourge on this nation.
The poor deluded fool probably thought he'd be rewarded with a nomination to the GOP ticket in 2012. Instead he'll be a pariah.
George Soros has been impacting the Media, Elections, and whole economies for Decades ... he is a huge Socialist / Progressive ... I don't understand the outrage here regarding the Koch Bros given that you guys have Soros ... Hypocrisy?