FinanceDude
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
- Joined
- Aug 3, 2006
- Messages
- 12,483
As a lot of you guys know, I live in Wisconsin, near Milwaukee, so I am only about 70 miles from "Ground Zero" in the whole union/CBA debate.
Usually most other states laugh at Wisconsin and some of our bungling ways, but now the bright lights of media are firmly upon us.
I can see both points to the debate. My parents are both retired state employees who are thankful for their pensions and benefits, and generally support unions. However, as both have said repeatedly over the years, they KNEW their benefits package was better than almost anyone else. They never picketed, protested, etc. They just went to work and taught students. My dad and mom never complained about low pay or poor work environment.
I have not been to the Capitol to protest and have no intention to. I do find it interesting that now that the union bosses see that Walker is serious, they are offering to give concessions on the bill. That is an incredible turnabout from just two years ago, when a Democratic controlled legislature and a Democratic Governor passed a large spending bill that increased spending by roughly $1 billion. There was nary a protest or whining, since the bill was passed in the dead of night, around 2:30am or something........... There was no call from Republican constituents to dicsuss the bill, "slow down" the process, etc. The Republican senators were not happy but did not flee the state.
I am not sure that collective bargaining is the REAL issue. Wisconsin has LONG been a haven for public employee unions. IIRC we have the highest per capita number of retired state employees in the US. The promises that were made over the years are unsustainable.
If there is an impasse, about 6,000 state workers will lose their jobs by the end of summer. It is NOT as easy as "just lose the CBA in the bill, and we will do whatever you want". The unions are PISSED that the Republcians not only won the governorship, but control the legislature. They got whatever they wanted from the last admininstration, but that's a whole different story..........
Usually most other states laugh at Wisconsin and some of our bungling ways, but now the bright lights of media are firmly upon us.
I can see both points to the debate. My parents are both retired state employees who are thankful for their pensions and benefits, and generally support unions. However, as both have said repeatedly over the years, they KNEW their benefits package was better than almost anyone else. They never picketed, protested, etc. They just went to work and taught students. My dad and mom never complained about low pay or poor work environment.
I have not been to the Capitol to protest and have no intention to. I do find it interesting that now that the union bosses see that Walker is serious, they are offering to give concessions on the bill. That is an incredible turnabout from just two years ago, when a Democratic controlled legislature and a Democratic Governor passed a large spending bill that increased spending by roughly $1 billion. There was nary a protest or whining, since the bill was passed in the dead of night, around 2:30am or something........... There was no call from Republican constituents to dicsuss the bill, "slow down" the process, etc. The Republican senators were not happy but did not flee the state.
I am not sure that collective bargaining is the REAL issue. Wisconsin has LONG been a haven for public employee unions. IIRC we have the highest per capita number of retired state employees in the US. The promises that were made over the years are unsustainable.
If there is an impasse, about 6,000 state workers will lose their jobs by the end of summer. It is NOT as easy as "just lose the CBA in the bill, and we will do whatever you want". The unions are PISSED that the Republcians not only won the governorship, but control the legislature. They got whatever they wanted from the last admininstration, but that's a whole different story..........