As a State employee, I didn't see Mr Bryce and his union mates standing shoulder to shoulder with our unions when Walker was pushing to dismantle us. Maybe if they would have, he wouldn't be worried about the "right to work" garbage?
12
Scott Walker works for the Koch bros and Republican establishment so he doesn't represent Wisconsin. Eliminating unions altogether is not a solution to rising costs of labor in govt and business nor for paying a fair wage for work. This is Walkers solution. Right to Work is a stupid Republican slogan for the right to struggle to make a living.
23
This inside of the finest pieces of journalism on labor I have ever read.
Commenters spouting anti-union rhetoric---and I have read almost all of the 600 comments here---are missing the forest for the trees. And are living in a time warp. At the heart of union-hating is an 80s era backlash against the collective. Individualism, greed is good, taxes are theft, unions are communist and look at how we beat communism.... People forget the Cold War. The realities of labor history in this country did not fit well into this regressive, ignorant mindset.
Unions have indeed made America. Walter Reuther, Mother Jones, France's Perkins and Joe Hill , and Triangle, Ludlow and Haymarket, should be known by school children, as should the sordid and sometimes murderous anti-union actions of names lionized on buildings and in textbooks: Morgan, Pullman, Mellon, Carnegie (who donated money to build a library not too far down the street). Eisenhower and Nixon worked with unions, the latter more grudgingly. Like your weekend? Pension? Overtime? Thank a union for these taken for granted cornerstones of American life.
The suffering of low paid no benefits no mobility workers: from the adjunct Ph.D. to the landscaper to the fry cook to the middle manager at the insurance company, it's all connected to the ideological victory of the Koch brothers and their ilk, who have successfully created and strengthened class resentment and division.
Commenters spouting anti-union rhetoric---and I have read almost all of the 600 comments here---are missing the forest for the trees. And are living in a time warp. At the heart of union-hating is an 80s era backlash against the collective. Individualism, greed is good, taxes are theft, unions are communist and look at how we beat communism.... People forget the Cold War. The realities of labor history in this country did not fit well into this regressive, ignorant mindset.
Unions have indeed made America. Walter Reuther, Mother Jones, France's Perkins and Joe Hill , and Triangle, Ludlow and Haymarket, should be known by school children, as should the sordid and sometimes murderous anti-union actions of names lionized on buildings and in textbooks: Morgan, Pullman, Mellon, Carnegie (who donated money to build a library not too far down the street). Eisenhower and Nixon worked with unions, the latter more grudgingly. Like your weekend? Pension? Overtime? Thank a union for these taken for granted cornerstones of American life.
The suffering of low paid no benefits no mobility workers: from the adjunct Ph.D. to the landscaper to the fry cook to the middle manager at the insurance company, it's all connected to the ideological victory of the Koch brothers and their ilk, who have successfully created and strengthened class resentment and division.
35
Scott Walker and the fate of the Unions:
1)Destroyed many collective labor rights for public employees and unions.
2) Cut the pensions of public sector employees.
3) introduced tax breaks for the wealthy citizens and businessmen that will result for the state 2,4 billion dollars budget losses in the next 10 years.
Scott Walker is a usual populist and windbag. Better Rand Paul than Scott Walker.
1)Destroyed many collective labor rights for public employees and unions.
2) Cut the pensions of public sector employees.
3) introduced tax breaks for the wealthy citizens and businessmen that will result for the state 2,4 billion dollars budget losses in the next 10 years.
Scott Walker is a usual populist and windbag. Better Rand Paul than Scott Walker.
16
Mister Bryce is a politician and he was a member of a trades union which are little different from labor unions. Trades are masons, electricians and plumbers. Trade members are only hire if the employer likes your work.
The article should have explained how Pittsburgh lost over half of its populations since the 1960s, What happened to Gray IN, Youngstown OH and other steel towns. How the germans and japanese obliterated their companies.
USA started importing more steel and exporting by 1960.
The article should have explained how Pittsburgh lost over half of its populations since the 1960s, What happened to Gray IN, Youngstown OH and other steel towns. How the germans and japanese obliterated their companies.
USA started importing more steel and exporting by 1960.
3
This is an excellent article that factually sets out the failure of Walker's destruction of Wisconsin's unions to improve the state's economy. It is now one of the failed states in the country, with fewer jobs, lower wages, and an education system under attack. The huge fatality numbers for workplace accidents in right to work states is a statement of what happens when workers are seen as disposable.
I live in a right to work state. There are zero job protections. You can basically be fired at any time for no reason. Terrible workplace accidents occur - the 2008 sugar refinery explosion due to combustible dust, for example.
Walker attacked workers in his own state and is now attacking education. He does nothing constructive. His state's economy suffers and he has ruined Wisconsin for years. Strange man. College drop out and Koch puppet.
I live in a right to work state. There are zero job protections. You can basically be fired at any time for no reason. Terrible workplace accidents occur - the 2008 sugar refinery explosion due to combustible dust, for example.
Walker attacked workers in his own state and is now attacking education. He does nothing constructive. His state's economy suffers and he has ruined Wisconsin for years. Strange man. College drop out and Koch puppet.
22
The decline in union influence has done tremendous damage to the middle class in the USA. This is by design by most owners of businesses, who see only a short-term depression in wages as a good thing without considering the longer-term damage to an educated and engaged work force.
Young people who are not cut out for university educations are forced there because reasonable career paths without a tertiary degree are too often foreclosed.
So, what to do? Most of us are not in positions available to lobby in our jobs for better labor participation to rebuild what the US once had. We who are retired can only express our opposition to "right to be poor" initiatives in our states.
Labor organizations need to develop programs that enable us to help them! There are many opportunities, starting with identifying businesses friendly to labor so we can prefer to use them. Do this in every community in the US. I don't know which megamart food chain is better with their employees--why not publicize that?
Young people who are not cut out for university educations are forced there because reasonable career paths without a tertiary degree are too often foreclosed.
So, what to do? Most of us are not in positions available to lobby in our jobs for better labor participation to rebuild what the US once had. We who are retired can only express our opposition to "right to be poor" initiatives in our states.
Labor organizations need to develop programs that enable us to help them! There are many opportunities, starting with identifying businesses friendly to labor so we can prefer to use them. Do this in every community in the US. I don't know which megamart food chain is better with their employees--why not publicize that?
12
I little sympathy for unions. When I finished college in the early 1980s, I new people who did not have college degrees, barely finished high school, some had GDS, making more money than me. I believe unions serve a segment of the population that don't value education as way to achievement. When learned that my x-father-in-law could make up to $1,000/day in overtime, I thought I was a fool for graduating from high school and going to college. But I came to my senses and realized my education was far more valuable. So Walker can destroy the unions as far as I'm concerned. Besides my grandfather, who came of age in the early 1900s, severed in WWI, said the unions would ultimately destroy America, and I believe he was right.
3
Perhaps we can say that, like government spending money in individuals, the union movement is still a great idea but has to be done carefully or the entire society can be put at risk
1
Right, because Local 8's 4-year apprenticeship program and 7,000 hours of combined classroom and on-the-job training doesn't count as an education ...
10
Mr Bryce claims Miller Park as the project he is most proud of. Then ask him about the three iron workers that died. The union didn't protect them.
Scott Walker will do whatever the Koch Brothers tell him to do. The Koch Brothers will do whatever their father told them to do.
Driving force behind the GOP (Government Operatives for Pay)
The Koch brothers didn't just inherit their father's fortune. They also inherited his politics. In 1958, Fred Koch was a founding member of the John Birch Society, the right-wing extremist group that opposed civil rights and claimed that both the Democratic and Republican Parties were infiltrated by the Communist Party. In his 1960 self-published book, A Business Man Looks at Communism, Fred Koch wrote that "The colored man looms large in the Communist plan to take over America," and that welfare was a secret plot to attract rural blacks and Puerto Ricans to Eastern cities to vote for Communist causes and "getting a vicious race war started." The John Birch Society helped fuel a wave of hysteria against unions, civil rights groups, intellectuals, public schools, liberal clergy and others whom they considered a threat to America.
Following in their father's footsteps, Charles and David Koch have for three decades been by far the biggest funders of right-wing politicians, causes, and organizations. Their political activities are primarily dedicated to eliminating government regulation of business and lowering taxes on the rich.
Essentially, the G"OPP" are being paid by Koch Brothers to work out their father’s war on communism. If you look at it, this is the Republicant platform.
Driving force behind the GOP (Government Operatives for Pay)
The Koch brothers didn't just inherit their father's fortune. They also inherited his politics. In 1958, Fred Koch was a founding member of the John Birch Society, the right-wing extremist group that opposed civil rights and claimed that both the Democratic and Republican Parties were infiltrated by the Communist Party. In his 1960 self-published book, A Business Man Looks at Communism, Fred Koch wrote that "The colored man looms large in the Communist plan to take over America," and that welfare was a secret plot to attract rural blacks and Puerto Ricans to Eastern cities to vote for Communist causes and "getting a vicious race war started." The John Birch Society helped fuel a wave of hysteria against unions, civil rights groups, intellectuals, public schools, liberal clergy and others whom they considered a threat to America.
Following in their father's footsteps, Charles and David Koch have for three decades been by far the biggest funders of right-wing politicians, causes, and organizations. Their political activities are primarily dedicated to eliminating government regulation of business and lowering taxes on the rich.
Essentially, the G"OPP" are being paid by Koch Brothers to work out their father’s war on communism. If you look at it, this is the Republicant platform.
15
Not even a passing word of criticism for President Obama and his all-out support for a trade agreement that would ship union jobs overseas? Really? Obama's criticisms of unions and Elizabeth Warren for opposing him on T.P.P. could have come out of the mouth Scott Walker.
Kaufman seems more worried about what Walker could do to harm unions if he were president than he is about what the guy currently in the White House wants to do right now. He shouldn't have given Obama a pass on it
Thanks to Bernie Sanders, Martin O'Malley, and Elizabeth Warren (whom Obama publicly dismissed as "wrong" to oppose his effort), even Hillary Clinton has been forced, finally, to take a stance against T.P.P.
Kaufman seems more worried about what Walker could do to harm unions if he were president than he is about what the guy currently in the White House wants to do right now. He shouldn't have given Obama a pass on it
Thanks to Bernie Sanders, Martin O'Malley, and Elizabeth Warren (whom Obama publicly dismissed as "wrong" to oppose his effort), even Hillary Clinton has been forced, finally, to take a stance against T.P.P.
6
Really appreciated this article. One of my proudest moments as an attorney was when I submitted papers to the Southern District Court of NY to stop delegates of the carpenters union from changing rules to water down how many employees on a job site were to be selected by the union rather than the contractor association. I would like to highlight one element if analysis...putting more money into the hands of laborers is actually VITAL for the economic engine as these are members of the middle class who will spend their cash as opposed to their corporate overlords who will simply hoard much of their cash and hide it in offshore accounts.
12
Someone who joins a union and refuses to pay dues (RTW) is pretty much the same as someone who moves into a Homeowner Association Neighborhood- and says "I like the house ,the neighbors and the rules of the neighborhood- but I'm not going to pay dues." Then go find another house- same as a moocher not wanting to pay union dues- go find another job.
23
Wisconsin is a state. The General Election is All of the States of the US. I promise you the voters in NY, NJ, MA, MI, NV will show up in droves to trounce Scot walker if he receives the GOP Presidential Nomination. The GOP will never realize a win in these states if Walker brings this union busting garbage. As to right to work laws here in Georgia, the workers have no rights and salary increases for state workers were deferred under 2 Republican governors 2002 through 2015. I know I was an employee.
10
Walker conceals his true intention and only after he is elected does he spring things, so do not expect him to advertise his plans. The time to stop Walker is now!
10
Absolutely right!!
I worked for the State of NH, which is right to work despite what the article says. We had a Union for State Employees, but joining was voluntary so all the women who didn't want to part with their personal spending money (please forgive the misogyny) didn't join or pay toward collective bargaining. When it came time for new contracts Governor after Governor told us "sorry no money for raises" and we had no power to do anything about it. I was a State Employee from 1989--2003 and only saw any salary increases in one contract which I think was 1993--1995. NH in 1993-95 was exploding financially, in the private sector wages were going up 4-5% yearly and more. All we could get was a bonus the first year which was supposed to represent 3.5% of median income and then 3% the next year. Unions protect the middle class and wages which is why Republicans want to destroy them.
I worked for the State of NH, which is right to work despite what the article says. We had a Union for State Employees, but joining was voluntary so all the women who didn't want to part with their personal spending money (please forgive the misogyny) didn't join or pay toward collective bargaining. When it came time for new contracts Governor after Governor told us "sorry no money for raises" and we had no power to do anything about it. I was a State Employee from 1989--2003 and only saw any salary increases in one contract which I think was 1993--1995. NH in 1993-95 was exploding financially, in the private sector wages were going up 4-5% yearly and more. All we could get was a bonus the first year which was supposed to represent 3.5% of median income and then 3% the next year. Unions protect the middle class and wages which is why Republicans want to destroy them.
12
There is no such thing as right-to-work, there is only right-to-be fired.
10
"Labor's Last Stand"(magazine) or "Labor's Might Seen in Failure of Trade Deal"(Page One); what's it going to be, NYT?
2
The photos that accompany this excellent article are stunning. My compliments to Philip Montgomery.
5
Dan Kaufman's article and most of the comments focus 9n the benefits that unions are believed to bring to workers and society as a whole. That's fine as far as it goes but ignored is the moral question (implicit in right to work legislation even if proponents have other motives ) as to whether an individual should, as a condition of employment, be forced to pay dues to a private organization that he may have profound disagreements with. Perhaps Kaufman has a good answer to the question but he skips over the issue and treats right to work laws as an existential threat to unions without ever discussing why he doesn't believe they can exist without forced membership.
1
If he doesn't want to pay dues, he can work at another company. No one is taking away his choice.
2
The moral question is folks who take benefits and don't contribute to the organization that secures the benefits. These are are immoral leaches.
5
Actually, nothing is stopping anyone from refusing to be a member of the union by not paying dues, but by the same token, if they choose that option, they should forfeit any wage increases or benefits that accrue as a result of the union.
9
Scott Walker is an out-and-out liar with no character at all. That he could make and break his commitments so easily should be front-page news all over America. Voters need to know they cannot trust a word that comes out of this man's mouth.
18
Beware of this guy. He's slick, with big monied interests behind him. Here's a hint: he declined to be interviewed for this article. Just like all the rest of conservative reps in this state, who "decline" to be interviewed. If there's no interview on record stating his policies and views then there's no way for voters to be alarmed at said policies/views.
Scott Walker and the conservative state representatives are in the process of gutting this once great state. I wouldn't foist SW on the country because I see the damage being done. Citizens are naive to think this guy's going to help them in any way. Go to any non-partisan political site and see what he's REALLY accomplished: not much. He claims to have created jobs. It's not true.
His motto: "Open for business" should be "State for sale to highest bidder."
Scott Walker and the conservative state representatives are in the process of gutting this once great state. I wouldn't foist SW on the country because I see the damage being done. Citizens are naive to think this guy's going to help them in any way. Go to any non-partisan political site and see what he's REALLY accomplished: not much. He claims to have created jobs. It's not true.
His motto: "Open for business" should be "State for sale to highest bidder."
19
Scott Walker's "divide and conquer" comment may have been one of the few honest ones of his political career. There is no doubt that this son of a minister can be duplicitous and manipulating as he was shown to be with Terry McGowan of the Operating Engineers Union. The article fully outlines how Walker moved against the Unions in favor of the ALEC agenda so favored by the Koch brothers. Not mentioned was the fawning treatment Walker gave to a David Koch impersonator during the height of the 2011 demonstrations. Walker believed he was talking to the real Koch, not the Buffalo talk show host who was taping him, and he basically said, 'whatever Koch wants, he'll get.'
Now he has his eyes on the great University of Wisconsin (from which this writer graduated in 1951) to assure that the graduates will all fit into the mold of dutiful robots for business -- rather than open-minded individuals that were responsible for making Wisconsin a great place to live, work and play. In fact, all levels of education are being strapped by his leadership.
As Americans look to 2016, they would be wise to read this article to see what they're likely to get: A government by the privileged, of the privileged and for the privileged. Ken Germanson, President Emeritus, Wisconsin Labor History Society
Now he has his eyes on the great University of Wisconsin (from which this writer graduated in 1951) to assure that the graduates will all fit into the mold of dutiful robots for business -- rather than open-minded individuals that were responsible for making Wisconsin a great place to live, work and play. In fact, all levels of education are being strapped by his leadership.
As Americans look to 2016, they would be wise to read this article to see what they're likely to get: A government by the privileged, of the privileged and for the privileged. Ken Germanson, President Emeritus, Wisconsin Labor History Society
21
As I read the article, it revealed so many truths that it started to make my eyes swell, because I myself have survived a fall that could have had a different outcome. I've told people in the past how dangerous my job is and without the training I received it would result in a far worse environment to work in. This divide and conquer thinking has been going on for some time. (Decades) United We Stand/Divided We Beg. I truly believe that we see so much of whats going on and the propaganda that surrounds this topic we have become numb to the heart of what's going on behind the scene. If labor continues down this path much longer we will loose so many rights that our ancestors fought for and some even died for because of the principals of whats good for one is good for all. I'm proud of the work I do, I also fight for the rights of those who can't in fear of loosing their job. Unions are not the enemy as Politicians would have you believe because we are on the front line, defending for the voices of those who will truly loose their job for speaking up about fairness and that's the modern Union of today. I pray for my fallen brothers and sisters and I pray for our Nation, the path is difficult and we hold the key.
22
The people who live or work in the structures you helped erect are safer because you put so much effort into your crucial work. You won't run into me 60 feet off the ground on some beam.
Even Franklin Roosevelt was strongly against government employees being in unions because he could see them partnering with buy-able politicians to bleed cities dry. That isn't the case with construction unions, but so many people agree with this stand from FDR and Walker that the union movement is definitely in for lower numbers of members.
We need to start closing Asia and opening up America again. We don't even make furniture here anymore.
Even Franklin Roosevelt was strongly against government employees being in unions because he could see them partnering with buy-able politicians to bleed cities dry. That isn't the case with construction unions, but so many people agree with this stand from FDR and Walker that the union movement is definitely in for lower numbers of members.
We need to start closing Asia and opening up America again. We don't even make furniture here anymore.
8
I was in a Public sector Union, which are necessary to protect wages, every politician has shown that the easiest place to balance a budget is on the backs of its workers. However..........................Public Sector Unions should not have the right to wildcat strike. The right to strike should only be granted by a judge and that only after failure by the other side to negotiate in good faith. That will protect the public.
5
Any middle class person that makes a descent wage seems to be a target of republicans. Breaking unions is their version of a race to the bottom. The less people make the higher corporate profits are. They seem to miss the part of the equation where poor people make poor consumers. They also forget that when a state worker gets a descent wage some of their revenue comes back to the state in income taxes and consumption tax. When they spend money it also becomes someone else's wage which is also taxed. It is not the hit to the state budget that it may appear to be.
In my city non-union electricians make a descent living because non-union shops have to pay a competitive wage. If the republicans believe that a rising tide lifts all boats they should believe in unions. Also in my city a roofer or a cement worker was a solid middle class job, now those workers live with 5 of their best friends to scrape by; that is the republican vision of America.
In my city non-union electricians make a descent living because non-union shops have to pay a competitive wage. If the republicans believe that a rising tide lifts all boats they should believe in unions. Also in my city a roofer or a cement worker was a solid middle class job, now those workers live with 5 of their best friends to scrape by; that is the republican vision of America.
18
He's running on union busting on a Republican ticket supported by big corporate financial power and the ultra rich such as the Koch brothers. So what exactly has the "walker" achieved. Since his buy-in as governor, every other word out of his lippy smile has been jobs. It's been nothing about jobs at all. It's been about wages that a worker can actually live on. Instead that worker, under the "walker's" right-to-work law is finding that it takes more than two jobs to make ends meet -- with a family of four. His spouse now works and he can't wait until his two kids start "bringing money home". Most jobs in Wisconsin are created at the local level -- not by a proxy governor.
The workers in Wisconsin have had a free ride far too long doing nothing to march on employers who basically slave drivers. The price to pay for this neglect is to lose decades long gains on the labor front.
Under the "walker's" tutelage, the nation will become a two class nation of haves and have-nots. Indeed, there will no longer be a middle-class. Forget his inadequate knowledge and brinkmanship regarding America's clout internationally, both militarily and economically, this man will make sure the worker becomes part of a massively growing socialist republic.
The workers in Wisconsin have had a free ride far too long doing nothing to march on employers who basically slave drivers. The price to pay for this neglect is to lose decades long gains on the labor front.
Under the "walker's" tutelage, the nation will become a two class nation of haves and have-nots. Indeed, there will no longer be a middle-class. Forget his inadequate knowledge and brinkmanship regarding America's clout internationally, both militarily and economically, this man will make sure the worker becomes part of a massively growing socialist republic.
8
There are a couple of things about Scott Walker that every American needs to know. He will not say what he is going to do, but count on him actually being far more extreme than anything he says. Also understand that his word means nothing. He said flat out that he was not interested in passing right to work and immediately after his reelection that is exactly what he did. His almost pathological efforts to destroy the university system in this state show either a slavish devotion to ideology (i.e. smashing the liberal professors) or a petty jealousy toward an education he never achieved. I am fond of saying he is the worst misfortune ever to befall the state of Wisconsin.
21
The whole article is, of course, slanted towards getting the union's point of view across. From the use of black and white images, the shouting, the purposefully gritty images, it doesn't take a scholar to see where the article is headed.
That being said, I grew up and have lived my whole life in Wisconsin, farm background. My teachers were my heroes. Until I graduated and my brother served on the local school board. While the area's economy suffered under the usual variations in the price of goods we produced, the teachers did quite well. And, through the view of my brother on the school board, opened a window into the real personality behind some of my heroes in school, to completely unfeeling, only us, attitude towards demanding and getting higher pay, all on the backs of the struggling farmers and meager to non-existent increases in other's income.
The one great thing Walker has done is to unlink the automatic deduction of dues, whether you are a union member or not, and having the public school board do the financial work of withholding that money and making the every-two-week deposit into the union's bank account.
Since the dues are no longer automatically removed, many of my friends who are teachers have decided to not continue union membership, to take that money home, and are a little more aware of the surrounding economic situation of those paying the bills. Not all teachers are happy, of course. Some still want the old days.
That being said, I grew up and have lived my whole life in Wisconsin, farm background. My teachers were my heroes. Until I graduated and my brother served on the local school board. While the area's economy suffered under the usual variations in the price of goods we produced, the teachers did quite well. And, through the view of my brother on the school board, opened a window into the real personality behind some of my heroes in school, to completely unfeeling, only us, attitude towards demanding and getting higher pay, all on the backs of the struggling farmers and meager to non-existent increases in other's income.
The one great thing Walker has done is to unlink the automatic deduction of dues, whether you are a union member or not, and having the public school board do the financial work of withholding that money and making the every-two-week deposit into the union's bank account.
Since the dues are no longer automatically removed, many of my friends who are teachers have decided to not continue union membership, to take that money home, and are a little more aware of the surrounding economic situation of those paying the bills. Not all teachers are happy, of course. Some still want the old days.
2
I betcha the teachers who have decided NOT to continue union membership sure like taking advantage of the salary increases and benefits that the nasty ol' union negotiates for them. In fact, they probably like those goodies even more now that Scott Walker made sure they don't have to pay dues to get them.
Scott Walker and people who think like him belong in another time - a time when people were forced to work long hours for a pittance, in unsafe conditions with no benefits. Get hurt because the factory is unsafe? Too bad! You're fired!
Scott Walker and people who think like him belong in another time - a time when people were forced to work long hours for a pittance, in unsafe conditions with no benefits. Get hurt because the factory is unsafe? Too bad! You're fired!
11
Dale,
So it's farmers vs. teachers. That is a basic problem in America, that our whole focus tends to be on making sure we get what we have coming to us as individuals. We have no sense of our country as a society of cooperating people.
I think we could learn from the Germans. There union membership is high, but there's kind of an understanding between unions and management to keep wages fairly low so that German products won't be too expensive on the world market. And in Germany making a lot of money isn't as important because the country provides a strong social safety net. If you get sick you know you won't go bankrupt. If you lose your job you won't become homeless.
The Walker solution isn't going to fix this country. It's just going to make one faction (company owners) rich at the expense of another (workers).
So it's farmers vs. teachers. That is a basic problem in America, that our whole focus tends to be on making sure we get what we have coming to us as individuals. We have no sense of our country as a society of cooperating people.
I think we could learn from the Germans. There union membership is high, but there's kind of an understanding between unions and management to keep wages fairly low so that German products won't be too expensive on the world market. And in Germany making a lot of money isn't as important because the country provides a strong social safety net. If you get sick you know you won't go bankrupt. If you lose your job you won't become homeless.
The Walker solution isn't going to fix this country. It's just going to make one faction (company owners) rich at the expense of another (workers).
6
In the same way Walker and the Koch machine altered the PERCEPTION of labor unions in order to divide it, union leaders like Bryce can reshape and solidify the ideals and impact that unions have on working America, but the vision must come from the inside: To desire a new culture of mutual respect between workers and management. It all comes down to respect.
Mr Walker and the Koch machine clearly demonstrate their indifference and lack of respect for the working class of America.
Mr Walker and the Koch machine clearly demonstrate their indifference and lack of respect for the working class of America.
12
Yesterday there was an article in the Kansas City Star about the Kansas budget and the disaster Brownback created. I was struck by some reactions, which were essentially that some Kansans are willing to take down their state financially in the interest of a fixed ideological idea that it will all work out in the next 50 or so years. I say no federal money to bail Kansas out of anything. Some responses to this article are the same, take down the unions, take down the Democratic Party, take down any middle class quality of life that makes things bearable for a good part of the country. We have to understand that there are always people out there who would rather destroy than build, and Walker is clearly one of that group.
15
You are correct about Scott Walker's ability to destroy. Building and creating are a heckofa' lot harder. And take a lot more intelliggence to pull off.
4
The USA is no longer a Liberal Democracy. It is a Corporate Plutocracy. If you don't understand what that means, that is probably why US governance is devolving to 19th Century conditions.
15
Workers of the world re-unite. Shop at Wal Mart.
1
What worked in Wisconsin will not necessarily work in the country, and why should it? The appeal was totally based on a "great recession" type mentality to save money at the expense of the quality of life. If you call what he did an accomplishment, that in itself is troublesome. We need stronger labor laws, not weaker. States with "right to work" have not been right. They have not fared very well economically, although American business love them, since they can basically float home free. We all understand that no one likes to pay taxes, but when people do not understand that the progressive tax system in the United States has been carefully whittled away over the last 3 decades or more, they are easily manipulated so as to be against all tax increases. This is where we need to improve as a country. We need a solid, predictable revenue base. It's just like America going out and getting a descent paying job. Sooner than later the public will catch on and let's hope it's sooner. We can't really accept much more of this parsimoniousness, when only the rich get richer and the poor poorer. There is all this talk about debt and mortgaging away the future of the next generation, while oil companies pollute the air and water as if there is no tomorrow. Who's children are we talking about here when we talk about the next generation. Selfishness and narcissism blinds people, even when it comes to their own offspring, who are basically away at school and forgotten.
9
It hasn't worked in Wisconsin. But Walker, et.al. will continue insisting that it has. Whatever "it" is that they're doing.
2
When I sat title, I thought this was an article about Walker and dangers to the Union - meaning these United States. Indeed he is a danger to the Union!
Se. The link below for how Scott Walker is less and less liked in Wisconsin. The best WI poll is the one from Marquette University Law School, which, in April, found Walker favored by only 41% - his lowest number ever. Overwhelmingly voters people in WI were against his plans to decrease school funding and defunding the university system by millions.
See here: http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/scott-walkers-wisconsin-appro...
Walker is bad news for Wisconsin and would be a disaster for the country.
Se. The link below for how Scott Walker is less and less liked in Wisconsin. The best WI poll is the one from Marquette University Law School, which, in April, found Walker favored by only 41% - his lowest number ever. Overwhelmingly voters people in WI were against his plans to decrease school funding and defunding the university system by millions.
See here: http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/scott-walkers-wisconsin-appro...
Walker is bad news for Wisconsin and would be a disaster for the country.
16
'Divide and Conquer' - sounds like class warfare to me. Why are the people of Wisconsin allowing it? Do they hate themselves?
5
The "Divide and conquer" attitude is an elitist power trip. Walker-Koch LLC demonstrates that they are not only incapable of relating to and respecting working-class people, but that they have a strong negative view of regular folks who work hard for a living.
9
The so-called "right to work" legislation should be renamed the "right to abuse employees." The so-called "right to work" has nothing to do with helping workers become employed or enhancing the lives of workers and their families or helping them flourish in the job once employed.
This legislation has everything to do with giving employers power to paying something less than a living wage (look at the wages of the unrepresented in our society, especially the fast-food workers), deny employees health and sickness and disability and pension and saving plan benefits.
Thanks to organized labor, employers have provided rights and benefits to not only those represented but also the unrepresented by a bargaining unit (aka union): living wages, health benefits, sickness and accident benefits, defined pension plans and defined contribution plans that frequently provide a company matching contribution, and safe working conditions.
With someone like Walker in the White House and those like-minded elected to Congress, we can say goodbye to all the wage and employee benefit advances that have allowed working folks and their families to flourish in the past.
The Kochs and others that embrace their antisocial and niggardly propensities may be enraptured about the possibility of Walker in the White House, but no one else has reason to be ecstatic about that possibility.
This legislation has everything to do with giving employers power to paying something less than a living wage (look at the wages of the unrepresented in our society, especially the fast-food workers), deny employees health and sickness and disability and pension and saving plan benefits.
Thanks to organized labor, employers have provided rights and benefits to not only those represented but also the unrepresented by a bargaining unit (aka union): living wages, health benefits, sickness and accident benefits, defined pension plans and defined contribution plans that frequently provide a company matching contribution, and safe working conditions.
With someone like Walker in the White House and those like-minded elected to Congress, we can say goodbye to all the wage and employee benefit advances that have allowed working folks and their families to flourish in the past.
The Kochs and others that embrace their antisocial and niggardly propensities may be enraptured about the possibility of Walker in the White House, but no one else has reason to be ecstatic about that possibility.
14
There is a solution to these union busting tactics and if in federal law which require a Democratic House and Senate and a Democrat in the White House. We need grass roots activism. First we must repeal the Taft Hartley Act then we must strictly enforce the Wagner Act of 1935 and make it applicable to all states which receive federal aid. Employers get to bargain in the market place for their products and services and supplies of materials can bargain for the price of their materials there is no reason when labor can not bargain for the price of their labor and working conditions by duly elected representatives.
High wages and effective unions have created the middle class and provided tremendous prosperity until the employer class invested in friendly politicians to do their bidding. Nothing divides like jealousy, selfishness and greed.
High wages and effective unions have created the middle class and provided tremendous prosperity until the employer class invested in friendly politicians to do their bidding. Nothing divides like jealousy, selfishness and greed.
8
The biggest take away in this well researched article is that Scott Walker is like a loaded cannon on a rolling deck, not presidential material. The money backing him will call the shots if he is elected, that must be understood by the public.
15
Unions as "cartels"? Another example of Republicans using threatening words to describe an activity or entity they want to discredit.
Yes, unions have become lazy, because they have been handed to a new generation of workers. Wake up people, before it's too late. Once they destroy any semblance of union activity, very few of the 99% will ever live to retire and enjoy their golden years.
Yes, unions have become lazy, because they have been handed to a new generation of workers. Wake up people, before it's too late. Once they destroy any semblance of union activity, very few of the 99% will ever live to retire and enjoy their golden years.
8
They may be beer swilling conservative voters now. After all, welfare is for those "other" people, and likely ones of a slightly darker skin color.
But as their union jobs and benefits dry up and blow away, those proudly conservative voters will harvest exactly the freedom that they themselves hath sown. Call it the freedom from financial security, for the rest of their lives. Good work boys. A job well done.
But as their union jobs and benefits dry up and blow away, those proudly conservative voters will harvest exactly the freedom that they themselves hath sown. Call it the freedom from financial security, for the rest of their lives. Good work boys. A job well done.
10
A lot of comments from Michiganders wanting to outlaw unions. Even though it's the union jobs which allow a middle-class to even exist in Michigan and keeps the economy afloat. Without the unions, Michigan would mirror the impoverished conditions in the South, in a heartbeat.
10
How anyone could have trusted a weasel like Walker is beyond me. But what's more important at this point, knowing what we now know, is to anticipate what a hypothetical White House Walker administration may look like and do. For starters: women's reproductive rights flattened, the last of unions destroyed, a wholesale rollback on anti-discriminatory laws that protect minorities (particularly in the workplace), voting rights gutted, common cause with religious rights claims, a shuttered EPA, a tax and public expenditure structure that underwrites oligarchy and, of course, a supreme court packed with right wing lackeys to keep it all nailed in place... And that among any number of horrors we can't even begin to anticipate. There is absolutely no promise a figure like Walker can make that can be trusted. Walker is declaring war on the vast majority of us here in the US - let's make sure we give him one.
14
You have put your finger on it EXACTLY!
1
Walker and his program are no good for Wisconsin.
However, please remember that Walker was able to succeed in breaking the public employee unions only because those unions, especially the teachers, had become arrogant and (in my opinion) greedy. The reservoir of good will from the average Wisconsinite had been greatly reduced, hence little support for the teacher's union from the average citizen when Walker started his campaign to break the unions.
The current Republican Party movement in the USA is, in the short term, good for the rich and privileged, bad for the middle class. Remember when the USA was on the gold standard and had little corporate regulation, in 1929? Remember what happened after over eight years of Republican presidents? The Great Depression and 25% unemployment. Tell this to a Republican, they scoff or ignore you--their heads will explode if they contemplate it too deeply.
However, please remember that Walker was able to succeed in breaking the public employee unions only because those unions, especially the teachers, had become arrogant and (in my opinion) greedy. The reservoir of good will from the average Wisconsinite had been greatly reduced, hence little support for the teacher's union from the average citizen when Walker started his campaign to break the unions.
The current Republican Party movement in the USA is, in the short term, good for the rich and privileged, bad for the middle class. Remember when the USA was on the gold standard and had little corporate regulation, in 1929? Remember what happened after over eight years of Republican presidents? The Great Depression and 25% unemployment. Tell this to a Republican, they scoff or ignore you--their heads will explode if they contemplate it too deeply.
4
If anyone believed that unions had too much power, their erosion since Reagan should have alleviated those fears. All fear now should come from concern about the concentration of power and money by our oligarchs. Any chance their power can be broken? Where is the push back against Scott Walker by working people? Because who else besides the unions could bargain on equal footing with management for higher wages or good working conditions? Certainly not Scott Walker of the cabal he represents.
6
Interesting comment by Scott Walker regarding ISIS: “If I can take on 100,000 protesters, I can do the same across the world.” Well, he should go there and take ISIS on. Scott "Headless" Walker will definitely be a more qualified candidate for President than Scott Kevin Walker. :-)
6
Anyone in a union who votes Republican is just plain foolish. In the ongoing class war, the Republicans are the party for the wealthy and the bosses. It's that simple.
10
My college students know NOTHING about the union movement in the United States. They have heard that the unions are bad and drive up costs. The unions have not had an effective education program to inform Americans of all the good unions did in child labor reform, wages, benefits, industrial safety. These created the huge middle class of workers who were able to buy the products and services they produced. The most suggessful economy in Euroep Germany actually has Mitbestimmung in which labor reps sit on the boards of corporations and participate in corporate policy making. China does not allow unions. The USS and Russia does not allow unions. North Korea does not either. Does that tell you anything?
12
It would be nice if Scott Walker and his policies could once and for all destroy the curse of American socialism, aka communism. The problem is he may be too religious for secular society, and unable to gain national traction. As such, his abilities may never be realized. In all likelihood, Americans may again elect an incompetent poseur president who promises government largesse to their riff raff constituents. There's simply more of them, than there is of us..
I almost hope you get your wish and Wisconsin will be rid of him once and for all. Unfortunately, the Republic may not survive him.
1
Collective bargaining enables employees to organize--becoming "e pluribus unum," enabling participation in the management of workplaces--including specification of categories of work, salaries, wages and benefits and procedural and other rights to grieve against abuses of power.
It rectifies divide, conquer, eploit and oppress, recognizing the workplace "de jure" for what it is "de facto"--a polity. Collective bargaining is thus a step toward economic democracy as opposed to economic aristocracy.
Economic-Aristocracy is also known as Capitalism--private ownership and/or control of the means of production--also known as Plutocracy. Strictly speaking everything is more or less a means of production.
"Community-ism" should be the name for public works--infrastructure and government itself--otherwise it gets confused with Soviet style oppression.
The USA and all civilized polities--since Greco-Roman times--are mixed economies--continually and pragmatically updating the mix. Only barbarians lack cities, infrastructure and civility.
"Aristos" meant "best"--thus the Feudal" Nobility". But only plutocrats think themselves best--though they are better off.
They spin their preferential political treatment and the Economy itself as a force of nature as opposed to a creation of law and order. But ownership and property is a matter of networks of political/legal rights, duties and enforcement. Without them property, ownership and the economy itself collapse into barbarism.
It rectifies divide, conquer, eploit and oppress, recognizing the workplace "de jure" for what it is "de facto"--a polity. Collective bargaining is thus a step toward economic democracy as opposed to economic aristocracy.
Economic-Aristocracy is also known as Capitalism--private ownership and/or control of the means of production--also known as Plutocracy. Strictly speaking everything is more or less a means of production.
"Community-ism" should be the name for public works--infrastructure and government itself--otherwise it gets confused with Soviet style oppression.
The USA and all civilized polities--since Greco-Roman times--are mixed economies--continually and pragmatically updating the mix. Only barbarians lack cities, infrastructure and civility.
"Aristos" meant "best"--thus the Feudal" Nobility". But only plutocrats think themselves best--though they are better off.
They spin their preferential political treatment and the Economy itself as a force of nature as opposed to a creation of law and order. But ownership and property is a matter of networks of political/legal rights, duties and enforcement. Without them property, ownership and the economy itself collapse into barbarism.
3
Seems like the New York Times is conveniently conflating public worker unions and private sector unions. Mr Walker (and many Dems governors) support private sector union right to organize while battling public workers unions which are bankrupting most every state and city.
1
Wrong. A right-to-work law covers ALL unions. There is no such thing anywhere as a public sector right-to-work law.
I have seen what Walker does. If he gets anywhere close to the White House it will be an inspiration to become actively political.
5
The author collects many one-sided view points and presents them as facts. At the start he quotes 'right to work' laws have never resulted in jobs. Merely to state the obvious but tens of thousands of BMW, Mercedes, NIssan , etc workers and their parts suppliers would clearly disagree! Please also review what FDR said of public employee unions.
1
One of my grandfathers was a life-long union member working at a farm implement factory. My other grandfather was a farmer that served on the Rural Electrification Administration. FDR was a hero to both of them. As far as I know, they never voted for any candidate that was not a Democrat.
Today, I hear their children (my uncles and aunts) and their grandchildren spewing hatred for "unions" and anything with the slightest whiff of the "New Deal." Their children and most of their grandchildren now vote Republican. Why? Have these hard working folks entered the 1%? Nope. Have these 6th, 7th and 8th generation American laborers and farmers significantly changed their ways of life besides a few college degrees? Nope. So what happened?
Democrats like the Clintons and the Obamas fundamentally betrayed the bedrock principles of the Democratic Party, and have become just another element of the millionaire elites working to sustain a derelict political class feasting on their own self-interest. The Republicans did not "win over" families of the working class by changing their way of life. The Republicans are winning because Democrats laid down at every turn to promote their own political careers.
Sanders and Warren could win back the working classes if they could be heard over the din of shields and swords being dropped in surrender by leading members of Democratic Party during the past two decades.
Today, I hear their children (my uncles and aunts) and their grandchildren spewing hatred for "unions" and anything with the slightest whiff of the "New Deal." Their children and most of their grandchildren now vote Republican. Why? Have these hard working folks entered the 1%? Nope. Have these 6th, 7th and 8th generation American laborers and farmers significantly changed their ways of life besides a few college degrees? Nope. So what happened?
Democrats like the Clintons and the Obamas fundamentally betrayed the bedrock principles of the Democratic Party, and have become just another element of the millionaire elites working to sustain a derelict political class feasting on their own self-interest. The Republicans did not "win over" families of the working class by changing their way of life. The Republicans are winning because Democrats laid down at every turn to promote their own political careers.
Sanders and Warren could win back the working classes if they could be heard over the din of shields and swords being dropped in surrender by leading members of Democratic Party during the past two decades.
10
Walker is given $1.5M from Menard in dark money contributions and Wisconsin turns around and gives Menard $1.8M in tax payer funded economic development money ... Isn't this the quid pro quo relationship that Samuel Alito and Anthony Kennedy said would never take place? ... They said it was hard to believe how today politicians could walk out the door with bags of cash as payoffs ... No its now worse ... They are getting contributions and turning around and giving the money back to donors with tax payer dollars ... The dark money contributor isn't even using their own money ... This is what is also going on in Texas
7
Unions are not the problem. The Scott Walkers of this country are. Under no circumstances should anyone with a brain or a conscience have allowed a cynical individual like the Wisconsin governor to hold any office. Ergo, he is totally unqualified to be the President of the United States of America. Perhaps PR man for the Koch brothers. He loves them and with good reason.
7
A mile of road in Texas (right to work state) costs the same as in Wisconsin, union state. It is clear why billionaires support this legislation. When Scott Walker's political career is over is there any doubt he will be taken care of by the Koch brothers.
WE THE PEOPLE is under direct attack by the wealthy. Courts, politicians, big money. Time to wake up that fairy tale stories told by connected are fiction.
WE THE PEOPLE is under direct attack by the wealthy. Courts, politicians, big money. Time to wake up that fairy tale stories told by connected are fiction.
7
Had the unions not become a taxpayer funded political slush fund for democrats only enriching the public sector then this wouldn't have happened.
I don't think I should be funding the campaigns for the party of draconian gun control, illegal immigrants and rich non profit money launderers without consent.
I don't think I should be funding the campaigns for the party of draconian gun control, illegal immigrants and rich non profit money launderers without consent.
1
No one has ever proposed draconian gun control anywhere. In Wisconsin it is now legal to open-carry a loaded gun in the state capitol. I suppose you think repealing the recent law that allows this would be draconian.
As for the illegal immigrants and rich non profit money launderers, these look like throw-ins, filling the toy box. There is no funding of campaigns for illegal immigrants in Wisconsin, or for money launderers. By money launderer, maybe you mean Dennis Hastert from one state over. I voted against him once. Then came redistricting.
As for the illegal immigrants and rich non profit money launderers, these look like throw-ins, filling the toy box. There is no funding of campaigns for illegal immigrants in Wisconsin, or for money launderers. By money launderer, maybe you mean Dennis Hastert from one state over. I voted against him once. Then came redistricting.
1
The labor unions membership wanted to deny others, namely teachers, from the same rights they had. Looks like the tables have turned. It's impossible to feel sorry for them.
1
It doesn't matter how many thousands of words the NYT writes, and how many hundreds of comments are posted here to vilify Walker.
It is a simple concept.
Forcing a worker to pay dues to a private organization he/she does not want to belong or support is abhorrent, un-American and indefensible.
It is immaterial if it is good or bad for workers, it it helps or hurts efficiency. The principle itself is abhorrent. You can't convince the majority of thinking Americans to have to pay dues to support a union they don't want as a condition to hold a job. That is the very definition of extortion and pay for play, that matches union's corrupt reputation (past and maybe present).
It is a simple concept.
Forcing a worker to pay dues to a private organization he/she does not want to belong or support is abhorrent, un-American and indefensible.
It is immaterial if it is good or bad for workers, it it helps or hurts efficiency. The principle itself is abhorrent. You can't convince the majority of thinking Americans to have to pay dues to support a union they don't want as a condition to hold a job. That is the very definition of extortion and pay for play, that matches union's corrupt reputation (past and maybe present).
2
So, let's reform the system. Gutting it to replace it with a system in which workers have no voice and few protections, and where a few barons decide their fate, is throwing out the baby with the bathwater.
Great piece, Dan Kaufman!
2
When Union Leaders made their choice to be political animals who supported the oligarchy before their own workers, they destroyed themselves years before Walker's bill passed.
The only thing he did, was make the Union Leadership justify their own existence. First time the workers were given the CHOICE whether or not to pay dues, they chose to NOT pay en masse.
If there is more damning testimony of the value of the labor union to the average worker, I cannot imagine what it is. Walker's bills simply exposed Unions for what they were: Cash collectors for rich leadership who did nothing for their workers, certainly not enough to justify the collections.
WR
The only thing he did, was make the Union Leadership justify their own existence. First time the workers were given the CHOICE whether or not to pay dues, they chose to NOT pay en masse.
If there is more damning testimony of the value of the labor union to the average worker, I cannot imagine what it is. Walker's bills simply exposed Unions for what they were: Cash collectors for rich leadership who did nothing for their workers, certainly not enough to justify the collections.
WR
1
Your argument proves nothing about labour unions in particular. Few people will pay for goods or services if they are given the option to get them for free.
As a longtime employee of a labour union I can tell you that our member representatives work very long hours and work damn hard. (I am not a member rep. I work for the reps.)
As a longtime employee of a labour union I can tell you that our member representatives work very long hours and work damn hard. (I am not a member rep. I work for the reps.)
1
So glad to see the focus on the training unions provide. Democrats and other pro-labor activists need to focus on advertising this incredibly beneficial aspect of unions because it's unparalleled. At a time when private industry has completely abdicated its role in training the next generations of workers while simultaneously using the "skills gap" as an excuse to offshore or otherwise keep wages artificially low, it should be a no-brainer for democrats to change the conversation about unions. Push back! We don't have to get bogged down in the republicans' narrative.
I'm an apprentice wireman in the IBEW Local 292. The apprenticeship is 5 years and I work directly under journeymen and master electricians with decades in the industry. I'm paid while I work and learn, and I go to school one day a week. The union pays for the 5 years of school and the education is top-notch. Graduates of the program have a 98% pass rate on the state electrician's exam which must be taken before becoming a licensed journeyman electrician. It's a very difficult exam and the pass rate for those who do not go through the apprenticeship program is less than 40%.
Unions built this country and our middle class. Training the next generations to rebuild both will help the economy as well as workers because when you make more, you can contribute more. Contractors want skilled workers. This should be an easy argument but we have to make it.
I'm an apprentice wireman in the IBEW Local 292. The apprenticeship is 5 years and I work directly under journeymen and master electricians with decades in the industry. I'm paid while I work and learn, and I go to school one day a week. The union pays for the 5 years of school and the education is top-notch. Graduates of the program have a 98% pass rate on the state electrician's exam which must be taken before becoming a licensed journeyman electrician. It's a very difficult exam and the pass rate for those who do not go through the apprenticeship program is less than 40%.
Unions built this country and our middle class. Training the next generations to rebuild both will help the economy as well as workers because when you make more, you can contribute more. Contractors want skilled workers. This should be an easy argument but we have to make it.
9
" Today in America unions have a secure place in our industrial life. Only a handful of unreconstructed reactionaries harbor the ugly thought of breaking unions. Only a fool would try to deprive working men and women of the right to join the union of their choice. "
Dwight Eisenhower
Speech to the American Federation of Labor, New York City, 9/17/52
Dwight Eisenhower
Speech to the American Federation of Labor, New York City, 9/17/52
13
Scott Walker: "A thug for J.H. Blair."
3
Just keep sticking it to working folks, Mr. Walker. Heaven knows you've never worked an honest day in your adult life. You couldn't even bring yourself to graduate from college. I'm guessing your mommy and daddy paid for it, too.
Wisconsin, you voted for this drain on society. You got what you deserved. Now please keep him away from the rest of us.
Wisconsin, you voted for this drain on society. You got what you deserved. Now please keep him away from the rest of us.
16
Strange - right? Union workers voted for Walker because they thought only the 'other' Union workers would be affected. Union Presidents supported him because they were staunch conservatives and how could gun-loving, beer-drinkers support 'liberal' ideas.
Guess what, I drink beer and I own a rifle - and I love being called a liberal. Unfortunately most Republican politicians are exactly like Scott Walker - they lie to your face, the cynically use important issues to divide working people against each other. Sad to see how these folks are manipulated by Koch money to vote against their own interests. With all their money, the Koch's and their wealthy pals only have one each - just like you and I do.
Guess what, I drink beer and I own a rifle - and I love being called a liberal. Unfortunately most Republican politicians are exactly like Scott Walker - they lie to your face, the cynically use important issues to divide working people against each other. Sad to see how these folks are manipulated by Koch money to vote against their own interests. With all their money, the Koch's and their wealthy pals only have one each - just like you and I do.
6
Unions took us out of sweat shops and into 40-hr. weeks with health care. insurance, and job security. Unions gave us OSHA, and made regulations of their own to protect us on the job. Unions created the middle class!
"But to Bryce, that appealing name hid the true purpose of the bill, which was to destroy unions."
Unions have been historically a democrat party stalwart, because the dems are the only party in Washington that actually cares about working people. Walker, tool of the rich that he is, would much prefer going back to the days of serf-lord, robber baron economics.....
"But to Bryce, that appealing name hid the true purpose of the bill, which was to destroy unions."
Unions have been historically a democrat party stalwart, because the dems are the only party in Washington that actually cares about working people. Walker, tool of the rich that he is, would much prefer going back to the days of serf-lord, robber baron economics.....
8
Hey people! Stop whining!
You voted for him twice. Now...Just suffer. Maybe you learned your lesson.
You even have a chance to vote him President of the USA.
Go ahead. Make my day!
You voted for him twice. Now...Just suffer. Maybe you learned your lesson.
You even have a chance to vote him President of the USA.
Go ahead. Make my day!
2
When unions control all the work rules, the organization will suffer along with those paying for it. How's it going with public schools? Deplorable. The union people blame everyone, except themselves. In WI the municipalities could only negotiate with one entity for health benefits. That entity was a branch of the Union. Walker and the legislators broke that unfair stranglehold. And apparently the voters agreed. Little pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered.
1
I worked for over 40 years and never once had tom pay someone to find me a job or keep a job
Whom are you suggesting has to "pay" to have someone find them a job? If that is what you think the purpose of a union is, you have a very distorted view of organized labor and the vital contributions it has made to our society. If you made a living wage, in a safe environment, with benefits and a pension, thank the labor movement.
1
Were you always paid what you were worth?
If the majority of Americans who bother to get to the polls and vote decide to cut their own economic throats as well as the rest of the citizenry, those of us who don't vote have no one else to blame but ourselves. Unfortunately it will be a sad day for our children.
Throughout history it has been made clear that those who control by whatever means have no use for those they control.
We tacitly accept economic slavery by staying away from the voting booth.
REGISTER NOW AND VOTE!
Throughout history it has been made clear that those who control by whatever means have no use for those they control.
We tacitly accept economic slavery by staying away from the voting booth.
REGISTER NOW AND VOTE!
12
I work at a local school district that is being raped by budget cuts and vouchers. As a response the administration is inviting our local law makers to our district in an attempt to show them all the good and productive things that we do. They encourage us to email our local government leaders.
I just think.... why? Why would they want to work for us? We are not the ones pumping hundreds of thousands of dollars into they campaign funds! They have no reason to for for us, the people of Wisconsin. That is the problem. Money in politics... Peoples united! Next civil war.
I just think.... why? Why would they want to work for us? We are not the ones pumping hundreds of thousands of dollars into they campaign funds! They have no reason to for for us, the people of Wisconsin. That is the problem. Money in politics... Peoples united! Next civil war.
9
And ever since President Reagan, a former Union President, turned his back on the American people the nation has spiraled down the drain. For over 100 years the Republican Party has been anti-worker and today they are simply anti-world attempting to force their poisonous philosophy on not only the USA but anyone in the world that stands in their way, and reaping profits off the death of people everywhere.
5
The backlash will be interesting.
2
McGowan, the president of Ironworkers' Local 139 described in this article, supported Walker even after Walker destroyed collective bargaining rights for public employees. He, like other AFL-CIO Building Trades unions, fell for Walker's 'divide and conquer' strategy.
Why? Because Walker "promised" to build some roads. No doubt the fact that public employee union members are more likely to be minority and women entered into McGowan's decision making calculus. Unfortunately labor fakers like Terry McGowan,are all too common in the building trades.
Union officials like McGowan - and the members who keep them in office - have no idea what the labor movement was about or the multitude of struggles that working people have engaged in to carve out a modest standard of living.
If Local 139 doesn't run this 'scab' union official out of office in the next election, it's hard not to believe they'll only get the representation they deserve.
Why? Because Walker "promised" to build some roads. No doubt the fact that public employee union members are more likely to be minority and women entered into McGowan's decision making calculus. Unfortunately labor fakers like Terry McGowan,are all too common in the building trades.
Union officials like McGowan - and the members who keep them in office - have no idea what the labor movement was about or the multitude of struggles that working people have engaged in to carve out a modest standard of living.
If Local 139 doesn't run this 'scab' union official out of office in the next election, it's hard not to believe they'll only get the representation they deserve.
9
Sounds like an excellent subject for a NYT investigative article.
1
Union's are outdated...they continue to pump millions and millions of dollars into Democrat candidates and year after year memberships decline. Time for a new strategy..The Democrats are playing the unions- example: Keystone pipeline veto prevented thousands of union jobs.
Time for a new strategy..skilled workers don't need a Union and they know it!
Unions need to shift their strategy to remain relevant...I get so tired of comments that unions got us 40 hr work weeks..vacation..great.. that was 75 years ago! You cannot rest on your laurels....
Forcing people to pay unions dues is un-American! If unions are providing a valuable service members will pay without being asked.
I think unions need to focus on the low skilled Walmart and McDonald type workers- they need unions...Not a skilled ironworker like Bryce!
Time for a new strategy..skilled workers don't need a Union and they know it!
Unions need to shift their strategy to remain relevant...I get so tired of comments that unions got us 40 hr work weeks..vacation..great.. that was 75 years ago! You cannot rest on your laurels....
Forcing people to pay unions dues is un-American! If unions are providing a valuable service members will pay without being asked.
I think unions need to focus on the low skilled Walmart and McDonald type workers- they need unions...Not a skilled ironworker like Bryce!
1
All the more reason for Bryce to stay in the Union----In southeastern Wisconsin, union ironworkers earn $55 an hour and receive $33 of that in pretax income. (The difference goes to funding their pensions, health care and training.) The pretax pay for a unionized ironworker in Iowa, a right-to-work state since 1947, tops out at $26 an hour. In Texas, also a right-to-work state since 1947, the sole ironworkers’ local offers pretax wages of $18 an hour.{{{ Nonunion workers in the state doing the same job make about $8 an hour.}}}}}
To the contrary, the article states that a non-union iron worker in the state of Texas makes $8 an hour. High school babysitters in some parts of the country make more than that.
Never under estimate the power and greed of corporate america.
5
Unions in CA are fighting to exempt themselves from the minimum wage hike...uhm..cough..cough...what?! But what about the middle class??
1
I wish the Koch Brothers would take their money and shut down Koch Industries..200,000 people out of work and thousands more directly affected...Then we shall see the Democrats cry...
Don't bite the hand that feeds you..
Don't bite the hand that feeds you..
1
One third of all union households voted for Scott Walker running three times for Governor of Wisconsin? 33 to 40% of union households vote Republican in general elections. You wonder why right to work and union busting worked in Wisconsin? There's your story. If 90% of union households voted Democratic, these two items on the right-wingers agenda would have a harder time passing.
I guess these union members are lulled into thinking that it can't happen to them--that magically they are exempt from such an event. History is full to examples of groups of people who thought politicians didn't mean what they said, that it was all just political rhetoric. When will they ever learn?
I guess these union members are lulled into thinking that it can't happen to them--that magically they are exempt from such an event. History is full to examples of groups of people who thought politicians didn't mean what they said, that it was all just political rhetoric. When will they ever learn?
5
It is time to add Zola's GERMINAL to the required reading list for Wisconsin's High Schools and Colleges.
And, do it soon before the new Charter School Movement
adds "Failure to Teach Reading" to their list of Wisconsin accomplishments!
And, do it soon before the new Charter School Movement
adds "Failure to Teach Reading" to their list of Wisconsin accomplishments!
3
Scott Walker's sole achievement other than putting Wisconsin's budget in the red, is being the Koch Bros water boy. He is much like, and yet the anthesis of Huey Long, who would have said this is like taking a chicken out of every pot. Bringing the US back to Pinkerton days is not progress, and just plain wrong.
28
The problem is not unions per se, which have done much good over the last century, but unions run amok. If unions insist on reasonable wages for workers and support reasonable profits for owners, then the whole system works well. There is much management cannot do that unions can and the teamwork works well.
But unions can also destroy by obtaining a chokehold on owners and demanding too much (witness the decline of GM and Detroit). Public servants certainly should not be permitted to strike -- probably should not be unionized at all. This is not to say that crony capitalism, or owners destroying their workforce by paying wages that are too low, is a good thing.
The problem is that the unions got too powerful and were destroying the economy by forcing owners to pay too high wages and produce unreliable products (GM again). The success of right to work is a reaction to union overreaching; the pendulum is turning against the unions -- unfortunately pendulums are not fine-tuned and work against all unions, even the good ones. But the pendulum will turn again and ultimately the wanna-be robber barons will not succeed.
But unions can also destroy by obtaining a chokehold on owners and demanding too much (witness the decline of GM and Detroit). Public servants certainly should not be permitted to strike -- probably should not be unionized at all. This is not to say that crony capitalism, or owners destroying their workforce by paying wages that are too low, is a good thing.
The problem is that the unions got too powerful and were destroying the economy by forcing owners to pay too high wages and produce unreliable products (GM again). The success of right to work is a reaction to union overreaching; the pendulum is turning against the unions -- unfortunately pendulums are not fine-tuned and work against all unions, even the good ones. But the pendulum will turn again and ultimately the wanna-be robber barons will not succeed.
11
This post is 'rich' is opinion, but pathetically poor in substance. PLEASE explain how the UAW "forced" auto manufacturers to "produce unreliable products." This is the most ridiculous anti-union argument I've ever heard.
2
Unfortunately for the author, this argument is flawed. As someone who actually worked in the automotive industry, I can tell you that it was not the workers and their unions who damaged the American automobile industry, it was the people at the top, who tried to squeeze evermore profits out of the industry. I worked in a non-union factory which made products on contract for Chrysler, Ford, Jaguar and Bosch in the 1990s. We made products at the specifications of the buyers. The stuff we made for Chrysler and Ford was absolute junk compared to what we made for Jaguar and Bosch.
1
There you go again. Unions did not cause the downfall of Detroit. Germany had and has much stronger unions, better pay, better benefits. Our industry leaders became fat and lazy, did not produce products that Americans wanted to buy. Our steel industry stopped investing in better capital assets. Germany's did not. Read Dr. Seymour Melman (Columbia University Engineering) for the story about how American industry failed. It was NOT the workers. (and then, of course, our capitalists wanted our workers to compete with near-slave labor in the developing world.
Unions made America. From the five day week to the forty hour work week, unions have been the forefront of the growth of the middle class and the nation. Wisconsin has been key, along with Michigan in protection working families, advancing educational opportunities, and more. Scott Walker has the mindset of a nineteenth century robber baron.
Once more the unions must organize and take back the state governments. They could be advised that when the French monarchy and aristocracy was out of control in the eighteenth century the solved their problem on July 14, 1789. The legislators should study that epochal era for it could happen again as the middle class shrinks to near oblivion and the workers became peon for Walker and his crew.
Once more the unions must organize and take back the state governments. They could be advised that when the French monarchy and aristocracy was out of control in the eighteenth century the solved their problem on July 14, 1789. The legislators should study that epochal era for it could happen again as the middle class shrinks to near oblivion and the workers became peon for Walker and his crew.
38
Key word is "made"- past tense. Time for unions to become relevant again and quit the whining and protesting.
Quit pumping cash to the Democrats who have done nothing to help..Republicans tried to create union jobs by passing the Keystone pipeline but a Democrat rejected it!
Quit pumping cash to the Democrats who have done nothing to help..Republicans tried to create union jobs by passing the Keystone pipeline but a Democrat rejected it!
"Right to work" is nothing more than corporate America's attack on the middle class' right to a good standard of life; to establish "Govenrment backed Corporate Feudalism" where everyone works 70 hrs a week at straight $5/hr, no overtime, no vacations, no benefits...and when you die, they throw you on the the heap and force you kids into your place, while corporations collude to fix everything from prices to work standards.There is nothing good..Don't believe me? Think H1B and L1 transfers into the country of foreign workers to replace AMericans..and See what GOD has to say about it..James 5..specifically 5:5
37
How is cutting wages ever good for the economy? The workers just have less money to buy goods and services, leading to a downward economic spiral for everyone.
46
When you lie and bribe to get a wage you did not deserve in the first place thus is what happens. Someone comes a long and calls you out!
Cutting wages which are too high results in lower taxes for all workers, who therefore have more disposable income to spend. And private people can spend to suit themselves, instead of having the government confiscate their money to distribute it to those the government deems deems "worthy" of money or in the spirit of government designated "fairness."
It is interesting Scott Walker's phone call back in 2011 from a news reporter who claimed to be a Koch Brother, never gets much press attention.
Walker, who indeed did have thousands of protestors marching the streets of Madison, told the fake Koch, that he would take a baseball bat from his office to use on the protestors outside.
I was one of those protestors, most recently claimed by Walker to have a likeness to an ISIS terrorist. My husband, a retired Wisconsin teacher, and I went down to Madison and joined protestors in the winter of 2011.
We didn't vote for Walker in the 2010 election, but who knows? There may have been many Wisconsin public employees who did vote for him. After all - there was absolutely No Mention of his plans for Act 10 or any other union issue, in that November 2010 Walker campaign. The state was shocked when he did this. He did not include police and firefighters in Act 10, but they were right there protesting along with their public employee comrades.
The Wisconsin Democratic State Senators went to Illinois temporarily so they would not have to vote on such legislation. I believe they were hoping Walker and his Republican legislators would change their mind. But Walker and his lieutenants did not change their minds, and they rammed through Act 10 like all the other hideous laws they have rammed through against Wisconsin ever since.
Scott Walker is a man with power out of control. His office bat was figurative. Wake up America.
Walker, who indeed did have thousands of protestors marching the streets of Madison, told the fake Koch, that he would take a baseball bat from his office to use on the protestors outside.
I was one of those protestors, most recently claimed by Walker to have a likeness to an ISIS terrorist. My husband, a retired Wisconsin teacher, and I went down to Madison and joined protestors in the winter of 2011.
We didn't vote for Walker in the 2010 election, but who knows? There may have been many Wisconsin public employees who did vote for him. After all - there was absolutely No Mention of his plans for Act 10 or any other union issue, in that November 2010 Walker campaign. The state was shocked when he did this. He did not include police and firefighters in Act 10, but they were right there protesting along with their public employee comrades.
The Wisconsin Democratic State Senators went to Illinois temporarily so they would not have to vote on such legislation. I believe they were hoping Walker and his Republican legislators would change their mind. But Walker and his lieutenants did not change their minds, and they rammed through Act 10 like all the other hideous laws they have rammed through against Wisconsin ever since.
Scott Walker is a man with power out of control. His office bat was figurative. Wake up America.
42
You're right. If Walker had run on Act 10, we wouldn't even be talking about him now. Walker & Fitzgerald are in this together. Walker doesn't publicly say it, he just hands it off to Fitzy & HE runs with it. Walker just publicly says that he will sign it if it reaches his desk (in record time).
1
This is what I just can't get my head around: Who is voting for this cartoonish miscreant? How could the people of Wisconsin not bring him down in a recall? What can we (including the Walker financiers) conclude other than that there are enough stupid people voting, people who will believe the propaganda to vote against their own best interests, that it is a simple enough matter to pass legislation that doesn't save taxpayers a dime, but which will lower the wages of workers and put all of the money so "saved" directly into the pockets of the wealthy controllers? Stupid is as stupid votes. Someone needs to ignite the populace to the fact that they and being played for stupid suckers. And based on the voting record, that is exactly what we are. Rein in the wealthy, or as they have proven throughout history, they will happily eat us all. Please stop putting the forks and knives in their hands...
2
I saw that!
I also saw people protesting outside of Walker's elderly parents home.
I also saw people protesting outside of Walker's elderly parents home.
I honestly believe that had the unions not started donating money to politics, primarily democrats, this never would have happened.
I think the unions doomed themselves.
I think the unions doomed themselves.
15
Unions are the top groups donating money...They hold the top 5 slots on bribing politicians.
But why haven't the corporations?
1
Of course, because then Citizens United would never have happened and the Koch brothers would never have pledged almost one billion dollars to buy a President (seems like Walker is their choice). Don't be silly, it's about money and power. They have the money and are willing to use it to buy power.
1
You've missed the point, and it is a simple one....Right-to Work is about not forcing people, by law, to pay union dues. People should not be required by law to pay to hold a job. No organization, such as a union, should have a legally mandated revenue stream. It should be obvious by the rank and file support of Walker that many workers know the dues support union bosses and lobbyists accruing no benefit to the worker himself.
12
That is not what a Communist thinks like however!
That's what 'they' say it is - right to work without paying dues to a Union. But let's do a reality check, what it really means is giving owners rights to pay as little as possible, usually by hiring unqualified people and pocketing more profit.
Unions made this country prosperous. Look at history - the time of the greatest Union membership is also the era that our country was strongest because the middle class grew. The time before unions is the era of the Robber Barons, the time of unsafe working conditions, low wages, high income disparity. That's the era the Koch Brothers and their pals want to return to - and they are buying politicians, like Scott Walker, to make it happen. He's their 'guy' - that should tell you everything you need to know.
Unions made this country prosperous. Look at history - the time of the greatest Union membership is also the era that our country was strongest because the middle class grew. The time before unions is the era of the Robber Barons, the time of unsafe working conditions, low wages, high income disparity. That's the era the Koch Brothers and their pals want to return to - and they are buying politicians, like Scott Walker, to make it happen. He's their 'guy' - that should tell you everything you need to know.
1
Sorry, but it is you who have missed the point, which is that without unions, there will be no middle class. Just workers and the filthy rich who use folks like you who eat up their propaganda to "divide and conquer." It works great in war, and this is, you should have no doubt, a war of the haves against the have nots, and as your comment reveals, it is working very well for the haves.
Cutting Immigration and tightening the labor market does work, and would solve a host of problems by putting more American back to work, putting upward pressure on wages and our standard of living. increasing tax receipts by many billions while reducing welfare cost by billions....all good things.
While allowing the status quo of millions of illegals, Visa Holders and over-stays to remain in our labor market does not help Americans, it hurts us.
Right now those same American workers they refuse to employ are forced with the rest of us to subsidize these business with cheap labor under-written by our tax dollars, driving down our real wages and our standard of living, diverting needed resources away from our communities and Citizens who deserve our help, to fund public services and welfare for Illegals who should not be here at all.
Liberal and Rino,s spin and lie all you like, but that is the economic reality of the imbalance created by this flood of cheap labor subsidized by 10,s of billions of by tax payer,s money into our nation.
We should be asking our politicians when they plan to address the needs of Americans they swore to represent for a change, and stop worrying about the wants of Illegals and the Corporations who hire them at our expense?
6
Exactly if unions were really for the country how come the supported the Dems no matter what they did to the market and healthcare?
No it doesn't work - many of those immigrants will start businesses that employ workers. Our country is great because it has been able to attract immigrants - like my parents and, unless you are a Native American, your parents or grandparents.
Don't drink the cool-aid - what you espouse is just another way to separate us. Walker works for the Koch brother - he's their 'guy' - he's not the only one. They've pledged almost one billion dollars to flood the airwaves so you believe their malarkey. Immigration is good for this country. It doesn't not depress wages - busting unions does!
Don't drink the cool-aid - what you espouse is just another way to separate us. Walker works for the Koch brother - he's their 'guy' - he's not the only one. They've pledged almost one billion dollars to flood the airwaves so you believe their malarkey. Immigration is good for this country. It doesn't not depress wages - busting unions does!
You are way off topic. The article is about union busting, not illegal immigrants. This is exactly how the union busters apply the "divide and conquer" strategy. I would most certainly deport every illegal and grant no amnesty - I agree we must practice "Americans First!" - but the illegal immigration issue is peripheral to the union busting issue although it is very much related to Corporate control of our government and the continuing marginalization and impoverishment of American workers to the benefit of the permanently wealthy.
1
I was at the Capitol protests during the 2011 protests. Many union members of all kinds showed up (see whilewestillhavetime.blogspot.com/2011/03/union-solidarity-at-wisconsin-... for some pictures). I don't remember seeing any ironworkers there.
I worked in building construction for many years, mostly as a plumber. The premier trade was ironworker, because the work is so risky, and the standards so exacting. All the construction trade unions are a bit different in that they are not allied with other unions, and see their interests differently. They also tend to support "Republicans."
Now they likely have learned their lesson, but too late. Politicians tend to be sociopaths, but Walker is of an outlier even among politicians. As the ironworkers learned so painfully, his word means nothing, no person means anything, no amount of suffering inflicted matters to him, and no amount of opposition matters either.
Something else needs to be said about Walker's seeming breeze to success. The "Democrats" blew three chances to defeat him at the polls. They triangulated, Clinton-Emanuel style, played reliable constituencies for chumps, stood for nothing as a way of wooing "centrists," and relied on getting-out-the vote, which they failed to do. They deserved to lose, but Wisconsin didn't.
I worked in building construction for many years, mostly as a plumber. The premier trade was ironworker, because the work is so risky, and the standards so exacting. All the construction trade unions are a bit different in that they are not allied with other unions, and see their interests differently. They also tend to support "Republicans."
Now they likely have learned their lesson, but too late. Politicians tend to be sociopaths, but Walker is of an outlier even among politicians. As the ironworkers learned so painfully, his word means nothing, no person means anything, no amount of suffering inflicted matters to him, and no amount of opposition matters either.
Something else needs to be said about Walker's seeming breeze to success. The "Democrats" blew three chances to defeat him at the polls. They triangulated, Clinton-Emanuel style, played reliable constituencies for chumps, stood for nothing as a way of wooing "centrists," and relied on getting-out-the vote, which they failed to do. They deserved to lose, but Wisconsin didn't.
42
You should learned the 1970's watching the unions sell you out for political gain!
1
Even some educators found out the "hard way". Some blue-collar guys wanted CCW, & voted for him. You've noticed that Walker is using more pro-gun proposals in order to remain popular (state & nationwide). It's more of a diversion to keep minds off the fact that this state is being flushed down the crapper.
1
The Ironworkers were there! Just because you didn't see a banner or hear a chorus of guys chanting doesn't mean we weren't there! And as far as learning a painful lesson, it was the Operating Engineers who learned a painful lesson, not US! Our body is well informed Mr! You had better read this article again.
2
It's very sad but essentially a lot of these people funded and voted for Mr. Walker. They lit the fire that they would burn in and happily brought wood to keep it burning. Once they were actually in the fire they began to get concerned. Just a little late.
14
we live in a day where the best workers that really perform are in demand and will command higher wages purely on their merit. On the other hand there are many workers out there that simply cannot produce and others end up carrying them. This is an old antiquated system that is past its time. We live in a real time world today.
6
And you really believe that? RTW is just as "antiquated", if no more-so. The oligarchy has created a virus with it that will eventually wipe out the middle class. How often have us taxpayers carried big business in the form of governmental bailouts?
They cannot "command" the wage of their choice, when everyone around them is paid low. That is where we are at now.
"Divide and conquer" is a military strategy. Gov. Walker is at war.
...Andrew
...Andrew
26
You hit the nail on the head.
1
Divide and conquer has long been a union busting tactic.
1
I was a member of the 1099 chapter for medical personnel in Ct but 10 years ago I moved to Fl. Fl is a right to work state. This has meant lower and I mean drastically lower pay, your employer can get rid of you for anything he/she deems is not up to his standards. You have no one advocating for your job either , you have to take the pink slip. I am 100% against right to work
25
Are you serious? Unproductive/bad employees can be fired? Wow- that is horrible. Can you imagine?
Most certainly if you were a business owner and your livelihood depended on success you would keep a bad employee, right?
Most certainly if you were a business owner and your livelihood depended on success you would keep a bad employee, right?
"Right-to-work". But for less.
"They’re going after them first, then it’s going to be somebody else. Then they’re going to get to us too.”
I am reminded of Pastor Martin Neimoller's poem:
First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me.
There's a reason America's motto used to be 'e pluribus unum,' 'out of many, one' - as Benjamin Franklin noted, we all hang together or surely we will hang separately.
Scott Walker is the antithesis of an American.... and I will stand up, speak out, and spread the message that his whole agenda is anti-worker.
I am reminded of Pastor Martin Neimoller's poem:
First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me.
There's a reason America's motto used to be 'e pluribus unum,' 'out of many, one' - as Benjamin Franklin noted, we all hang together or surely we will hang separately.
Scott Walker is the antithesis of an American.... and I will stand up, speak out, and spread the message that his whole agenda is anti-worker.
70
RoughAcres - fantastic comment! That's exactly the reason why this story needs to get out to the rest of the US. Walker can not be allowed into the White House except as a visitor.
19
Beware of "flag-wavers" like Scott Walker. He is just the opposite of what the Stars & Stripes are all about.
3
Vote.
And make sure your friends, neighbors, and everyone you know votes, and give them good arguments about who to vote for.
And make sure your friends, neighbors, and everyone you know votes, and give them good arguments about who to vote for.
10
I am incredulous to read that Operating Engineers Union President Terry McGowan feels betrayed by Governor Walker. McGowan's union endorsed Walker in 2010, watched Walker crush public employee unions in 2011, and then cut a private deal with the governor heading into the Union-spearheaded 2012 recall election: Local 139's official endorsement in exchange for protection against Right to Work legislation. Walker is a self-professed enemy of unionized working people. But between Gov. Walker and Union President McGowan, it is not Walker who betrayed Wisconsin's working class.
14
if the unions hadn't allowed them selves to be separated, and required joint negotiations, there would be NO divide and conquer. stops it cold..unions simply need to become "one" to balance that philosophy. Negotiate in force. If the cops and firemen had been looking out for the public unions as well, this wouldn't even be a story, and Walker..a distant memory
13
As a union member myself, I have to say there is an alarmingly common theme in this article. Many of the union members highlighted voted for Walker, thus helping seal their own fate. In the recall election, 1/3 of union members still voted for him. It's a difficult position for many. Most of my fellow union members are very conservative on just about every issue, so it's tough for them to vote for a democrat. But we need to stop voting against our own interests. If you don't, then you have no right to complain once your own union protections are stripped away. Put the social issues and paranoia of the government coming to take your guns aside, and protect what you have.
43
Amen! Guns and gays are non-issues!
As a dragooned union member, forced to pay dues for a union that does almost literally nothing for workers like myself, which wields oversized political muscles thanks to its shoveling my dues into supporting politicians and causes I abhor, I can't say enough how much I wish I lived in a right to work state. I'd opt out in a heartbeat. As do vast numbers of union members in any state where they are released from their peonage. The desperation with which unions cling to state-mandated revenue streams tells you everything you need to know about union priorities.
As a fifth-generation Wisconsinite proud of my state’s progressive traditions, I am sickened by what Scott Walker and his corrupt, gerrymandered, right-wing Republican-controlled Legislature have done to our state and its people with their hastily ramrodded "right-to-work" and other anti-worker, anti-human legislation. Walker and his political playmates have made me and many others embarrassed and ashamed to say we are from Wisconsin.
Seemingly realizing that the day would come when Wisconsin voters would finally start seeing through them, Walker and his political playmates have shrewdly made it as difficult as they can for future Wisconsin governors and lawmakers, and most of all voters, to repair the damage. For starters, their gerrymandering of our state’s legislative districts has stacked the deck until at least 2021. Shameful — and scary.
As the article details, Walker is thoroughly arrogant and out of touch, making many of us in Wisconsin wonder what our fellow citizens somehow see in him and his party. He might as well make our state motto “Backward.” It’s long past time we take back our state and its proud record of “Forward."
Walker's divisive method, as he worded it so perfectly in his unguarded bragging to his far-right, $3.6-billion-net-worth CEO donor and supporter Diane Hendricks, is "divide and conquer." Ours in Wisconsin and throughout America must therefore be "Unite and conquer" -- even if we must make 2011 in our state -- or the 1960s -- look tranquil.
Seemingly realizing that the day would come when Wisconsin voters would finally start seeing through them, Walker and his political playmates have shrewdly made it as difficult as they can for future Wisconsin governors and lawmakers, and most of all voters, to repair the damage. For starters, their gerrymandering of our state’s legislative districts has stacked the deck until at least 2021. Shameful — and scary.
As the article details, Walker is thoroughly arrogant and out of touch, making many of us in Wisconsin wonder what our fellow citizens somehow see in him and his party. He might as well make our state motto “Backward.” It’s long past time we take back our state and its proud record of “Forward."
Walker's divisive method, as he worded it so perfectly in his unguarded bragging to his far-right, $3.6-billion-net-worth CEO donor and supporter Diane Hendricks, is "divide and conquer." Ours in Wisconsin and throughout America must therefore be "Unite and conquer" -- even if we must make 2011 in our state -- or the 1960s -- look tranquil.
42
We get occasional views of Gov. Walker through two longtime friends who have the misfortune to live and work in Walker's Wisconsin.
Wisconsin is in decline as one of the United States of America. It is in ascension as one of the Koch brothers' feudal estates. Preceded, perhaps, by Brownback's Kansas.
This is a predictable outcome for a power structure that equates, as ours does, merit to wealth. In reality, they aren't equivalent, of course. But that false equivalency will continue to concentrate power and wealth among fewer and fewer Americans until the system breaks in the face of economic realities.
That "correction" won't be pretty or comfortable. For any of us.
Wisconsin is in decline as one of the United States of America. It is in ascension as one of the Koch brothers' feudal estates. Preceded, perhaps, by Brownback's Kansas.
This is a predictable outcome for a power structure that equates, as ours does, merit to wealth. In reality, they aren't equivalent, of course. But that false equivalency will continue to concentrate power and wealth among fewer and fewer Americans until the system breaks in the face of economic realities.
That "correction" won't be pretty or comfortable. For any of us.
31
Trying to bring back a state destroyed by unions fro 50 years takes time...
"You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time."
I had always my doubts about the veracity of this. Then, here I read that the Air Traffic Controllers endorsed Reagan in 1980; I read here that McGowan from Local 139, a statewide union of 9,000 heavy-machinery operators, endorsed Walker, that the principal subject of the reporting, Randy Bryce, also endorsed Walker. I conclude now for sure: Abe was nuts.
It recalls how war heroes and people who served honorably, eg., Sens George McGovern, Gore, Bob Kerry, John Kerry were pilloried for being weaklings, unpatriotic, un-American while five time deferment Cheney and Bush43 with dubious service in the Vietnam era were hailed as pillars of strength. The American people were duped by the swift boaters like the union people in Wisconsin.
It is with immense sadness nevertheless that one reads this reporting; the amnesia for 1886 and the murdered Polish immigrants, all who were beaten, brutalized, murdered fighting for the rights of workers over more than two centuries. The amnesia for all who were maimed or were killed in unsafe workplaces, the brutality of child labor, all the occupational diseases and no compensation or health care.
Come back, Mother Jones.
I had always my doubts about the veracity of this. Then, here I read that the Air Traffic Controllers endorsed Reagan in 1980; I read here that McGowan from Local 139, a statewide union of 9,000 heavy-machinery operators, endorsed Walker, that the principal subject of the reporting, Randy Bryce, also endorsed Walker. I conclude now for sure: Abe was nuts.
It recalls how war heroes and people who served honorably, eg., Sens George McGovern, Gore, Bob Kerry, John Kerry were pilloried for being weaklings, unpatriotic, un-American while five time deferment Cheney and Bush43 with dubious service in the Vietnam era were hailed as pillars of strength. The American people were duped by the swift boaters like the union people in Wisconsin.
It is with immense sadness nevertheless that one reads this reporting; the amnesia for 1886 and the murdered Polish immigrants, all who were beaten, brutalized, murdered fighting for the rights of workers over more than two centuries. The amnesia for all who were maimed or were killed in unsafe workplaces, the brutality of child labor, all the occupational diseases and no compensation or health care.
Come back, Mother Jones.
36
To be clear. Randy Bryce NEVER endorsed Walker, nor, was supportive in any way.
5
Without public sector unions, all teachers, police, firefighters, state employees, would be paid two cents per hour; period. Most citizens do not want tax dollars to pay for state services. They want the services for free. If state employees salaries were voted on by the public every year, there would be no pay raises, ever. Keep in mind, this is labor in government, a non-profit organization. Today, police, fire and teachers, even with union representation, have not had pay raises in many states and towns for years. If your community prefers reasonable, committed, and caring adults teaching their children, protecting their community and running to your burning home, the only way to guarantee this is through public sector unions who work and live beyond each election and each political party. Their positions are determined (budgeted) by a legislative process, but their working conditions are easily ignored and politicized, beyond recognition, in weak, non-union states. Public sector unions keep corruption out of state government. They provide services that the private, corporate world will never do well, because the work is never profitable enough. Scott Walker will takes the lowest road, using his power to dismantle public sector services (unions), while making sure private corruption and paybacks never see the light of day. The ruse is working well in Wisconsin. We'll see about the rest of the nation.
44
Right to work state aren't anything like your post
8
That's absurd. Plenty of communities are willing to pay and pay well for services. What they object to is being held up by greedy unions who use their leverage to shut down vital functions even when they've signed contracts saying they won't.
The Air Traffic Controllers fired by Reagan deserved what they got. They picked the fight and they paid the price.
A few years ago the transit workers in New York did the same thing. It paralyzed the city and was based on nothing more than the observation that the MTA had a temporary surplus and the union wanted it. When fares go up, it hurts working people and the poor - who haven't had raises in years, either.
The Air Traffic Controllers fired by Reagan deserved what they got. They picked the fight and they paid the price.
A few years ago the transit workers in New York did the same thing. It paralyzed the city and was based on nothing more than the observation that the MTA had a temporary surplus and the union wanted it. When fares go up, it hurts working people and the poor - who haven't had raises in years, either.
10
I'm a state employee and not in a union. You folks are buffaloed into believing you must pay someone to be a part of a workforce. That's utter nonsense.
Walker means economic destruction, religious zealotry, a return to the Dark Ages for women, and the end of our democracy.
Does that sound extreme? It is the absolute truth. He has turned Wisconsin into a hellhole.
Does that sound extreme? It is the absolute truth. He has turned Wisconsin into a hellhole.
49
I'm not a fan of Scott Walker, but his answer about ISIS is quite good. “If I can take on 100,000 protesters, I can do the same across the world.”
1
He didn't take on the police union, so I don't think he is ready for ISIS. Now the Chinese drove over protesters in Tienanmen Square with tanks. They are ready for ISIS.
1
Then he should go to the middle East and fight ISIS.
18
Protesters argue for a fair wage in keeping with the realities of time. They are not demanding all convert to their religion. Scott Walker is so abysmally stupid about Daesh (ISIS) to equate the two as identical that he should parachute into the heart of a militant ISIS camp and with those who support the Wisconsin governor and take on the radical religionists. Those who support Walker or invasion of the rogue compounds of ISIS are gutless and withdraw themselves from any direct confrontation. Walker and his supporters, and their children and grandchildren to show their support for Walker and his bravado, should be put on a military transport and flown of the "caliphate: and jettisoned to their dream of facing off with ISIS.
12
I am incredulous to read that Operating Engineers Union President Terry McGowan feels betrayed by Governor Walker. McGowan's union endorsed Walker in 2010, watched Walker crush public employee unions in 2011, and then cut a private deal with the governor heading into the union-spearheaded 2012 recall election: Local 139's official endorsement in exchange for protection against Right to Work legislation. Walker is a self-professed enemy of unionized working people. But between Gov. Walker and Union President McGowan, it is not Walker who betrayed Wisconsin's working class.
7
As a Wisconsinite, beware of Scott Walker, he has destroyed our state.
Little but little, lie by lie.
Little but little, lie by lie.
22
Deferred pensions are not a bad thing......if they are managed correctly, and most states did not. Wisconsin, however, has the only fully funded and best managed pension system in the U.S. The pension fund is solvent. Seeing the big pot of pension money, Walker proposed "dipping" into the state's pension system to reduce the state's budget woes, claiming it could be managed differently and better. Fortunately, managers of the pension system prevented Walker from taking action.
17
Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson dipped into our pension fund back in the 90s and the courts eventually forced him to repay the money. Walker has floated the idea of changing how the fund is managed, but so far his ideas have gone nowhere.
I read many critical comments on the Scott Walter's figure, but what is important for me is the Union's story.
Certainly the Unions must be always actualized as always new threats come against the workers in USA and worldwide because the globalization.
One direct danger is Mr Marchionne, who wants to make FCA an island out of any law and overall without any Union's voice, which he hates, but the US Government gave him carte blanche to do whatever he likes. OK he saved the Company, but now he should give what the workers need.
An indirect danger is the new TTIP, strongly pushed by President Obama, which will reduce the workers' rights, their health-protection and their own personal privacy, giving to the Corporations full right to do what they want and even to ask supposed damages to States and individuals, but not vice-versa. Fare, isn't it?
That's why the Unions must be always on alert, because new threats come always in a new form, either from sides you would expect, like Republicans and Mr Marchionne, or from sides you don't expect, as the actual US Government and Mr Obama.
Certainly the Unions must be always actualized as always new threats come against the workers in USA and worldwide because the globalization.
One direct danger is Mr Marchionne, who wants to make FCA an island out of any law and overall without any Union's voice, which he hates, but the US Government gave him carte blanche to do whatever he likes. OK he saved the Company, but now he should give what the workers need.
An indirect danger is the new TTIP, strongly pushed by President Obama, which will reduce the workers' rights, their health-protection and their own personal privacy, giving to the Corporations full right to do what they want and even to ask supposed damages to States and individuals, but not vice-versa. Fare, isn't it?
That's why the Unions must be always on alert, because new threats come always in a new form, either from sides you would expect, like Republicans and Mr Marchionne, or from sides you don't expect, as the actual US Government and Mr Obama.
5
Luckily there seems to be growing pushback against the TTIP...but this will only make the idea be abandoned and go back underground "behind closed doors".
Sooo, Walker thinks busting the Islamic State is as easy as busting unions. For the good of our country and the world, we must keep him from testing that theory. Aside from which, it's pretty egregious to mention the two in the same sentence.
19
A highly skilled steel worker with the steady hands and nerve of a surgeon that can walk the top I-beam of the recently finished World Trade Center is still considered one of the 'great unwashed'. Blue collar and undervalued. Cannon fodder in the Political war.
I'm not a Union Member but the Unions MUST improve their image or they will be slaughtered. Also, How do we divide and Conquer Scott Walker and his cronies?
I'm not a Union Member but the Unions MUST improve their image or they will be slaughtered. Also, How do we divide and Conquer Scott Walker and his cronies?
10
Reagan was elected in part by carrying 62% of white working-class men. Walker should be able to match that, since that demographic often votes against their own interests. I foresee a Walker/Graham ticket, geographically balanced, with Walker's domestic appeal balanced with Graham's foreign policy experience.
3
If you liked Nixon, you will love Walker. The union story is just one of many betrayals to WI by Gov. Walker. Pending now in this budget that he's so anxious to pass so he can lie about his accomplishments and announce for president, is a move to do away with teacher certification so anyone can be hired to teach, a plan to be the only state in the nation to not fund it's state parks, and raise user fees beyond recognition, to publicly fund a new professional sports stadium in Milwaukee, whose owners are billionaires and more. 2 years back he supported a rule change to allow the use of dogs to hunt wolves in WI, again the only state who would allow such a contemptible practice. Our taxes have gone up, BTW. He is bought and paid for by the 1% and he is a nightmare.
38
And don't forget about the prevailing wage law repeal.
No matter the volume of words nor the drama nor the angst it does not change one simple fact.
The individuals involved lost the argument with the voters of Wisconsin in the favor of Mr. Walker.
Repeatedly.
No amount of verbiage will change that fact.
Railing against the fates can only get oneself so far.
If lasting change is the ultimate goal perhaps a suggestion is in order.
Try a mirror.
The individuals involved lost the argument with the voters of Wisconsin in the favor of Mr. Walker.
Repeatedly.
No amount of verbiage will change that fact.
Railing against the fates can only get oneself so far.
If lasting change is the ultimate goal perhaps a suggestion is in order.
Try a mirror.
5
Labor is facing the watershed of automation and robotics, which requires far fewer workers to produce the same goods and services. The remaining workers are necessarily better educated. They are higher paid and are less attracted to collective bargaining. Those unfortunates who are not employed in automation are surplus to the economy and society. They are the former members of unions. Making those lives productive and meaningful is one of the greatest challenges of our time. Ours is a Brave New World.
2
I started reading this article because I thought from the headline it would be about Gov. Walker's foreign policy ideas and what he would do to preserve the United States in an increasingly hostile world. Alas, it turned out to be a rehash of his achievements in squashing the public sector employee unions in Wisconsin. Yes, it would be great if he could do tht to the federal unions, too - recall that FDR was 100% opposed to public sector unions because of their inherent conflict of interest - but I had hoped to learn something new about Gov. Walker.
2
Requiring employees to vote FOR having a union only eliminates unions if they aren't offering something employees want. Give the power back to the employees, not to union bosses - that is right to work. Allow all employees to vote FOR or AGAINST a union, not just 5 people deciding. Why has union membership decreased even in non-right to work states? Some of the worst corruption in our history has been by union bosses.
6
Go Walker, go! It's about time the workers got their rights back. Fair wage for work. Not cartel/union forced wages.
5
Good luck with trusting that your employer has your best interests in mind.
My father was able to retire from the Ford Motor Company on a lifetime pension, even though he was a "white collar" worker and never belonged to the United Auto Workers.
The fact is, that whatever the UAW members gained through collective bargaining also accrued to the folks working in the "glass house" in Dearborn. Every benefit the UAW won, they won for every Ford worker, and for their families, including ours.
My mother is still living comfortably on that pension, and I would like to thank the people who sweated in the foundries, bent the metal, sprayed the paint, hung the bumpers and otherwise used their labor and their lives to provide a level of security for my mother that few Americans now realize.
The fact is, that whatever the UAW members gained through collective bargaining also accrued to the folks working in the "glass house" in Dearborn. Every benefit the UAW won, they won for every Ford worker, and for their families, including ours.
My mother is still living comfortably on that pension, and I would like to thank the people who sweated in the foundries, bent the metal, sprayed the paint, hung the bumpers and otherwise used their labor and their lives to provide a level of security for my mother that few Americans now realize.
23
Keep on thinking that, you'll sleep better at night.
There is nothing that says any benefit that the union has negotiated for their members needs to apply to another worker. You have three people doing the same job and pay can vary based on years of service, quality reviews and other factors.
But, union supporters get great satisfaction thinking they are pulling the wagon all by themselves.
There is nothing that says any benefit that the union has negotiated for their members needs to apply to another worker. You have three people doing the same job and pay can vary based on years of service, quality reviews and other factors.
But, union supporters get great satisfaction thinking they are pulling the wagon all by themselves.
One-third of the union households in Wisconsin voted for this Koch/ALEC puppet. As 19th century robber baron Jay Gould once said, "I can get one half of the working class to kill the other half." However, as one can see, none have been spared (except, at least for now, the police and firefighters.) A Walker Presidency would fulfill the dream of the 1%- a corporate state ruled by an autocratic plutocracy. If you look in a dictionary, that is also the definition of Fascism. There are very few good alternatives today- certainly not on the Republican side. Go Bernie!
19
Union supporters always make the claim that, were it not for the Republican fat cats and their Koch masters wanting to eke out more profit, the fortunes of the middle class would be rising. Nonsense. The reason that unions are wheezing and breathing their last gasps is that global competition is squeezing all companies alike and making unionized companies uncompetitive relative to their non-unionized peers. Manufacturing in unionized states is moving south or offshore. And why not? Unions had their time in protecting workers from unfair labor practices, forced overtime, unsafe conditions, underage workers etc. but those days are gone. The federal government, OSHA, etc have put in place safeguards against fundamental abuses by companies. What's left of unions is just a tyranny of numbers that demands higher wages and unsustainable pension and benefits packages year after year, without any increase in productivity. Companies can't operate under these conditions forever, and many of them have simply decided to shut their doors or move south or offshore. Without reform, unions that aren't reigned in will eventually destroy anything they touch. Walker simply tapped into the public consciousness of this reality. Being peeved at him is like being annoyed by the weather.
3
If you believe in OSHA or msha you are fool, they aren't out to protect anyone. I have been around d msha for thirty years, they no longer care about the workers.
Agree 100%.
This divide and conquer tactics should now be used by Democrats against the GOP presidential candidates. We should help them destroy each other.
1
Make no mistake: It is our collective fault. The politicians passing these anti worker laws don't come from outer space; we elect them. And some democrats are as bad as republicans.
Divide and conquer? No need to divide. We are insular and narrow minded. Class conscience - something that is abundant in Europe and Latin America - is almost non-existent here, A teacher will never strike to support a pipe fitter or viceversa. When PATCO was broken, I had been here 2 years and I naively expected a natiowide general strike. There was hardly a rumble.
Don't waste time critiiziicing the enemy: They are doing pretty well. Those of us in the labor movement and who support organized labor have to look inward.
Divide and conquer? No need to divide. We are insular and narrow minded. Class conscience - something that is abundant in Europe and Latin America - is almost non-existent here, A teacher will never strike to support a pipe fitter or viceversa. When PATCO was broken, I had been here 2 years and I naively expected a natiowide general strike. There was hardly a rumble.
Don't waste time critiiziicing the enemy: They are doing pretty well. Those of us in the labor movement and who support organized labor have to look inward.
8
I could not respond directly to Jay from Florida and his lengthy and incisive comment. But please search it out take a few minutes and read it.
Scott Walker can crush Democrats like no other GOP candidate. He is the man. I want a President who will go after Democrats and crush them. We need to get liberals out of our national institutions. Walker will do it.
That's right "crush" your fellow citizens!
unless your one of the 1%, you too will be crushed under Walker's ideal government. You are a disgrace to the ideals of FDR's Republican Party. Go read the "Republican Party Platform of 1956". You've been fooled into thinking the ultre-elite care about you. Once the coming automation revolution comes you too will be left in the street to starve along with the former union members...and people like the Koch brothers will own everything, including the water in the rivers.
It surprises me, but I suppose it shouldn't, how very many Americans, when given the choice between progressive and regressive, choose regressive. Are there no dictionaries, no worthwhile schools, no historians?
1
The first law Hitler passed was to outlaw trade unions. Koch money is turning Republicans like Scott Walker into fascists.
9
Unions have become greedy, and selfish. Their time is past. If they became more open, truly 'democratic', and looked at the big picture, they might last a little longer. Government unions need to be banned, and university unions banned.
3
Greedy and selfish? Unions are downright saintly compared to the Koch Brothers who command Scott Walker and the Wisconsin Republican Party.
1
Unions should be extinct in our society. FDR was the greatest proponent of union rights, and it was his firm view that public sector unions should NEVER be allowed. Private sector unions have natural constraints, where their greed will eventually kill their "host" company. Public sector unions and the elected officials they "buy" with votes, dollars, and volunteers represent corruption in it's purest form - with the taxpayers left holding the bag. Several states in our country are facing bankruptcy due to overly generous benefits and pensions granted public sector unions by Democrat officials they bought.
2
If you have to mislead to make your case against walker then you should not be speaking at all. When asked about ISIS Walker gave a long meandering answer. At the end of it mentioned unions but it was not some direct response to the ISIS question. This is and example of why many do not like this paper. Just tell the truth not some vision of what you want the truth to be.
1
Let me see if I have this right. The conservatives hate unions because the business owners and oligarchs aren't very bright when it comes to collective bargaining. Consequently, rather than improve their bargaining skills, they would rather destroy unions. And these are the people that want to rule the world? Pitchforks anyone?
9
How in the world could ANY union member vote for Walker and the Republicans??? Blows my mind to think that the average union worker in WI is supporting them..They don't know their history or their heritage...When will workers in the US wake up?...
11
Forcing a person to join a union is fine - in Cuba, not America.
4
It's not forcing them to join a union, it is forcing those who enjoy the results of collective bargain to pay for them. Btw, before forming a union in a workplace, a vote from the majority of the workers is needed, it's democratic. If you don't like it, go elsewhere to work more for less money.
The first sentence of this article reads: "On his first day of work in three months, Randy Bryce asked his foreman for the next day off. "
And yet, for some reasons people don't like unions.
And yet, for some reasons people don't like unions.
3
"Gordon Lafer, a political scientist at the University of Oregon, noted on the other hand that while right-to-work laws in other states had generated no identifiable economic gains, they did drive down wages for union and nonunion workers alike." This is baloney propaganda; and it is false.
Little old South Carolina is basking in the benefit of being a RTW state. Gov. Nikki Haley may have gone a tad extreme when she began her recent SOS address by stating "I hate unions"' but manufacturers, domestic and foreign, have gotten the message and the subsequent investments have been colossal. Most recently, Volvo selected SC for its US plant joining Boeing, BMW, Mercedes, Honda and countless others; all paying good wages and providing great benefits to workers.
Unions have outlived usefulness and that has nothing to do with exploitation by the above listed companies. Unions guarantee inefficiency and scloratic CYA management (witness the UAW destruction of Detroit). The only refuge for unions is government employees not subject to competition and protected by fiscally irresponsible Democrats (see public pension blues in all the blue states and cities).
Scott Walker has drawbacks to viability as a presidential candidate but he is a brave, stalwart and terrific governor - one whose like you won't find in any blue state.
Little old South Carolina is basking in the benefit of being a RTW state. Gov. Nikki Haley may have gone a tad extreme when she began her recent SOS address by stating "I hate unions"' but manufacturers, domestic and foreign, have gotten the message and the subsequent investments have been colossal. Most recently, Volvo selected SC for its US plant joining Boeing, BMW, Mercedes, Honda and countless others; all paying good wages and providing great benefits to workers.
Unions have outlived usefulness and that has nothing to do with exploitation by the above listed companies. Unions guarantee inefficiency and scloratic CYA management (witness the UAW destruction of Detroit). The only refuge for unions is government employees not subject to competition and protected by fiscally irresponsible Democrats (see public pension blues in all the blue states and cities).
Scott Walker has drawbacks to viability as a presidential candidate but he is a brave, stalwart and terrific governor - one whose like you won't find in any blue state.
2
"brave, stalwart and terrific"
The citizens of Wisconsin beg to differ...
The citizens of Wisconsin beg to differ...
1
Scott Walker can barely play Pick Up Sticks, must be larger forces at play here. Stunned to be driving around Ulster County, NY last weekend and behind pricey BMW was a SW for President bumper sticker. I was dizzy trying to decipher who might be the owner. Really, Angela Merkel would eat his lunch. I certainly wouldn't. I can't afford to live on Mars.
3
This article says it all. We wring our hands and pull our hair and wonder how we got here, but when the president of Local 139 admits he endorsed the devil, well, the devil's in the details. Vote against your own best interests at your peril. Vote for this person to lead the country (or worse, don't turn out to vote against him or his clones from Jersey, Kentucky, PA, etc.), then don't be surprised when we are all begging for alms from the 1%.
9
Funny, when I saw this headline I thought it was going to talk about how dangerous it would be to have Walker as president; i.e., the fate of the "Union" as in the U.S. Because his attitude and tactics against unions IS one reason he would be dangerous to the "larger" "union" of the U.S.
5
If Unions cant demand workers pay Union dues then why should governments be allowed to demand citizens pay their taxes? Citizens in right to work states should also have the right not to pay taxes.
2
Unions are the only organizations who are forced by law to offer their services for free.
RTW is the right to destroy the state by it becoming a cesspool of low wages and enabling the top to steal from everyone else. Thats what the GOP is all about right...
4
What a shame. Workers would have to decide to join a union instead of having the decision made for them. Pardon me while I laugh out loud.
It was Ronald Regan's genius and the continued genius of the Republican party to strip the American worker of his essence and self interest and repackage him into some half bright bubba who votes against his needs as he sends his son's and daughters to fight unnecessary wars that benefit the military industrial complex. All while loathing unions and celebrating his wonderful Republican self as a red blooded American, against the bad guys, the other fellows, the those people. It is a tragedy, one well deserved this end of the unions. The fools did not need to let it happen. But a sucker's born every minute as P T Barnum said.
9
The three most important words in this article were "massive general strike". Will American workers ever grasp hold of the power they possess comparative to the one-percenters and their paid elected lackeys?
4
Americans do not have the guts for 1) using their power of free speech and 2) waging a real battle. Too busy watching the food channel or something equally as banal.
Let's put things in perspective - the question here is whether people can be forced to join unions as a condition of their employment. Scott Walker believes in the right to choose - to belong to the union or not. I believe in the right to choose. Don't you?
2
Have you been forced to take employment in a union company at the point of a gun? Please tell us more.
Or do you wish to take a union job without joining the union, in other words, take advantage of the benefits the union negotiated for your bargaining unit, without paying a cent for this service? That sort of person is rightly called a parasite.
Or do you wish to take a union job without joining the union, in other words, take advantage of the benefits the union negotiated for your bargaining unit, without paying a cent for this service? That sort of person is rightly called a parasite.
Minnesota vs Wisconsin
Nearly five years later, one of these two states is doing quite well. Policy.mic had an interesting report this week.
Since 2011, Minnesota has been doing quite well for itself. The state has created more than 170,000 jobs, according to the Huffington Post. Its unemployment rate stands at 3.6% – the fifth-lowest in the country, and far below the nationwide rate of 5.7% – and the state government boasts a budget surplus of $1 billion. Forbes considers Minnesota one of the top 10 in the country for business.
As Patrick Caldwell recently explained very well, Minnesota’s gains come on the heels of tax increases on Minnesota’s top 2% and higher corporate taxes, both of which state Republicans said would crush Minnesota’s economy. As for their neighbors to the east:
By a number of measures, Wisconsin hasn’t fared as well as Minnesota. As the Milwaukee Sentinel Journal reports, Wisconsin’s job growth has been among the worst in the region, and income growth is one of the worst in the country. It has a higher unemployment rate than Minnesota. And the budget is in bad shape.
Back in January, the editorial board of LaCrosse Tribune wrote, “The governors of Wisconsin and Minnesota each presented their versions of new year’s resolutions in various media interviews last week….Which approach is better? As we enter the new year, Minnesota is clearly winning by a long shot.”
Nearly five years later, one of these two states is doing quite well. Policy.mic had an interesting report this week.
Since 2011, Minnesota has been doing quite well for itself. The state has created more than 170,000 jobs, according to the Huffington Post. Its unemployment rate stands at 3.6% – the fifth-lowest in the country, and far below the nationwide rate of 5.7% – and the state government boasts a budget surplus of $1 billion. Forbes considers Minnesota one of the top 10 in the country for business.
As Patrick Caldwell recently explained very well, Minnesota’s gains come on the heels of tax increases on Minnesota’s top 2% and higher corporate taxes, both of which state Republicans said would crush Minnesota’s economy. As for their neighbors to the east:
By a number of measures, Wisconsin hasn’t fared as well as Minnesota. As the Milwaukee Sentinel Journal reports, Wisconsin’s job growth has been among the worst in the region, and income growth is one of the worst in the country. It has a higher unemployment rate than Minnesota. And the budget is in bad shape.
Back in January, the editorial board of LaCrosse Tribune wrote, “The governors of Wisconsin and Minnesota each presented their versions of new year’s resolutions in various media interviews last week….Which approach is better? As we enter the new year, Minnesota is clearly winning by a long shot.”
24
I'll wager if we could dig deeper, we would find the corporations owned by the upper elite have still someone recorded huge profits despite the overall downturn. They now have far cheaper workers, who in turn aren't paying nearly as much in taxes. All the gained profits go to out-of-state shareholders, hedge fund managers, etc. They in turn use this money to push other states to follow ALEC's march into dystopia.
When the history of the demise of the American middle class and (correspondingly) unions is written, no small amount of attention will be paid to ordinary workers' complicity in this sorry outcome.
That some unions would be so thick as to believe plutocratic attacks on other unions would not eventually be directed at them, or that non-union workers would fail to grasp that downward pressure on wages/benefits by way of mortally wounding collective bargaining would eventually affect their own paychecks, truly boggles the mind.
H.L. Mencken's observations of the American public were apparently spot on. From where I sit, at least, it's clear that this country is too full of narcissists to organize effectively. The oligarchs thank you heartedly. Say it with me now: What's good for my master is good for me.
That some unions would be so thick as to believe plutocratic attacks on other unions would not eventually be directed at them, or that non-union workers would fail to grasp that downward pressure on wages/benefits by way of mortally wounding collective bargaining would eventually affect their own paychecks, truly boggles the mind.
H.L. Mencken's observations of the American public were apparently spot on. From where I sit, at least, it's clear that this country is too full of narcissists to organize effectively. The oligarchs thank you heartedly. Say it with me now: What's good for my master is good for me.
10
The movie "V for Vendetta" had a monolog on this. Something about the US being the dumping ground for all of Europe's "socially unacceptable". Luckily many of them flourished. Eventually we did TOO well, now the oligarchs have decided it's time to finish crushing the US too. Automation and "austerity financial policies" will finish off the US.
When an army gives real weapons to real people and they stand ready to fight, that army can win.
However, when an army resorts to the easy things for SHOW, like balloons that only look like tanks and paper men holding paper guns, that army has taken the easy way - and always loses.
The Wisconsin union movement took the easy way long ago by forcing employers to deduct dues and the political-contribution extra part from workers' checks before they ever saw them. How fair was that? Did the workers get to VOTE on that trick?
So finally the state allows the workers to CHOOSE to pay their dues and any political extra they want to send in, and the unions' budgets bust overnight.
That is playing sloppy, fast, and cheap.
Either convince your worker- members that you are providing a service WORTH all the cash you ask them for or - Go Out Of Business. Truth won here.
The D.A. in Milwaukee can imprison every Walker voter he wants to or break all their doors down in John Doe raids but the truth will still be known. Free at last, free at last! Thank God Almighty, they are free at last.
However, when an army resorts to the easy things for SHOW, like balloons that only look like tanks and paper men holding paper guns, that army has taken the easy way - and always loses.
The Wisconsin union movement took the easy way long ago by forcing employers to deduct dues and the political-contribution extra part from workers' checks before they ever saw them. How fair was that? Did the workers get to VOTE on that trick?
So finally the state allows the workers to CHOOSE to pay their dues and any political extra they want to send in, and the unions' budgets bust overnight.
That is playing sloppy, fast, and cheap.
Either convince your worker- members that you are providing a service WORTH all the cash you ask them for or - Go Out Of Business. Truth won here.
The D.A. in Milwaukee can imprison every Walker voter he wants to or break all their doors down in John Doe raids but the truth will still be known. Free at last, free at last! Thank God Almighty, they are free at last.
4
This is simplistic and naive. When you buy your smartphone contract, do you have to explicitly renew it every year, or is it renewed automatically unless you withdraw? If you have to ask, it costs more money, many people will forget their payments, especially if the economy tight and there is pressure on their income. That does not mean that the unions are not fighting for the people.
This gimmick is well known: it starts this way, forcing union to have to ask for renewal every year, and it finishises with lower wages for everyone.
This gimmick is well known: it starts this way, forcing union to have to ask for renewal every year, and it finishises with lower wages for everyone.
Perhaps the fact the Union movement in the US really took off after the success of the Bolsheviks in Russia, might have something to do with the decline of the Union movement in the years when the Soviet Union began it's slow decline to its final implosion in 1991. By the late 90's except for government unions every US union was in decline.
I remember attending a fairly large Union gathering in Atlantic City during the 1980's, and the featured speaker at our first breakfast was a college professor who lectured us on the importance of marxian thought to the future of the Union movement. Something to ponder with our scrambled eggs.
I remember attending a fairly large Union gathering in Atlantic City during the 1980's, and the featured speaker at our first breakfast was a college professor who lectured us on the importance of marxian thought to the future of the Union movement. Something to ponder with our scrambled eggs.
3
Let's red-bait ourselves in poverty . . . .
1
Union people are commies, wow, that's original; I'll have to tell that to people on the railroad. What other chestnuts can you dig up? I'm retired now but every job in the contract Class One railroad industry is unionized so those are not in decline. That said, Gov. Walker will have to come up with a better issue than unions for a national campaign. Since he can barely link two sentences together, ala Ms. Palin, this should prove interesting.
1
I remember many years ago talking to workers who participated in strikes to improve working conditions. Up till then worker safety, fair wages, and health care were but dreams. Most people living today don't understand this. We are headed, if Walker has his way, back to the "good old days". Only we won't like it when the reality hits.
6
Fortunately OSHA and other supervisory agencies have removed this need. Now all workers enjoy the improved safety that OSHA brings.
"It will not make it to my desk.’ He was looking for a contribution, and I was looking for a commitment. We both got what we came for. He kept his, and I lost mine.”
And that is Scott Wlker. Anything to get what he wants. And then he wraps himself in the robes of Christianity. It makes me nauseous.
He is arrogant, self absorbed, ruthless and wants power.
And that is Scott Wlker. Anything to get what he wants. And then he wraps himself in the robes of Christianity. It makes me nauseous.
He is arrogant, self absorbed, ruthless and wants power.
16
I haven't keep totally informed about Walker, but what I have read so far and if I extrapolate he comes across as an opportunists looking totally out for himself and will do anything to gain power. These are not admirable character traits for a presidential candidate.
12
I'm not voting for a Koch puppet, period.
13
I left a successful business career to teach high school. It is the hardest and most exhilarating profession. To those who complained about teacher unions, come spend a month in my shoes. Teachers pay for more and more of their own supplies and spend many, many hours working at home Our schools are so hot these days, I challenge anyone who works with air conditioning to spend one day in total heat and humidity and maintain a pleasant and energetic demeanor in front of students. Every year for the past six, my take-home salary has gone down due to policies of governors like Chris Christie and Scott Walker. I shudder to think how much more I would have lost without a union. Teachers interact with kids more than many parents do. We are moral, social, economic, and intellectual supporters, every day. No breaks and, except from our students, no thanks. When I do retire, I have the right to a pension toward which I have contributed heavily. No one, no politician, has the right to not fund his or her share as a supposed representative in government. So far, no politician has had the guts to spend a day teaching in the conditions in which I do - and, I have asked.
21
Would you believe some teachers in NJ voted for Chris Christie?
My daughter,a teacher, knows few of them
My daughter,a teacher, knows few of them
6
"“People think that unions are useless today, that we’re dinosaurs,” he said. “Well, how did that happen? We let it happen. The labor movement has become lazy, because it’s something that’s been handed to us.”
_______________
Maybe. Maybe not.
But somewhere in the many streams that led to the decline of union membership was the stream of intellectually mediocre, unimaginative, narrow minded union leaders.
In another stream are all the unions with no connection to the left, to FDR who have no knowledge of the early labor union movement or the tradition those leaders came from. Building a labor union where the members and the leadership are socially conservative, pro business and have a narrow world view is like building a house with a weak foundation.
It's bound to fall.
_______________
Maybe. Maybe not.
But somewhere in the many streams that led to the decline of union membership was the stream of intellectually mediocre, unimaginative, narrow minded union leaders.
In another stream are all the unions with no connection to the left, to FDR who have no knowledge of the early labor union movement or the tradition those leaders came from. Building a labor union where the members and the leadership are socially conservative, pro business and have a narrow world view is like building a house with a weak foundation.
It's bound to fall.
3
The film noir photo (as excellent as Fritz Lang) which accompanies this article seems just a tad like - "let's get after the maniacs who support unions".
"Scott Walker and the Fate of America" does nothing but add fuel to this college dropout that attacked the weakest in our culture - professors, and teachers.
His imbecilic argument against tenure (and I trust most readers of the N.Y.T. realize how difficult it is to get tenure in any university today) seems more than appropriate for a Wisconsin constituency of Packer fans with refrigerators in their front yards.
"Scott Walker and the Fate of America" does nothing but add fuel to this college dropout that attacked the weakest in our culture - professors, and teachers.
His imbecilic argument against tenure (and I trust most readers of the N.Y.T. realize how difficult it is to get tenure in any university today) seems more than appropriate for a Wisconsin constituency of Packer fans with refrigerators in their front yards.
3
There is a limit to everything. You can only exploit people to a certain point and then they catch on. The day may come when the Republicans will rue the day that they threw in their lot with the NRA and supported universal ownership of guns.
3
as opposed to those who bought into the lies known as hope and change??
And Walker is ruining the economy in Wisconsin. He is going to devastate the university system so it becomes a third rate institution instead of a great one. Why Wisconsin puts up with him I will never know.
6
Living in a one-party state as I do..and not like Texas's one-party state I can state unequivocally that when you collectivize someone's political or economic power you may enfranchise that individual's economic and political associations but you destroy that individual's right (responsibility? --is that word even allowed in today's shame-less society) to act for the betterment of him/herself. To me as someone who DID make $9000 a year while I was in school, acquired student loans that I paid off and now generally have negotiated just for myself a better standard of living I have to say that the collective bargaining "world" I see as a 'threat'. If my skills are not valued I have the right to acquire others that are that pay me more. THAT is freedom. I work harder than other people in my profession so I expect to be compensated more. That is Darwinian. That is how nature works, too. Right to Work to me means my right to choose. In California, my political rights have been taken away because of public policy that has consciously degraded the value of my vote. Applying "Collective bargaining" rights in a political arrogates to some more power as a group than they would have as individuals and ultimately makes our political system less democratic and less republican (notice small 'd' and 'r' please). In short, Right To Work to me symbolizes my covenant with the state that I have the right to choose how, when and with whom I will work. That is freedom.
1
If you have no economic security, you have no freedom. If you have no rights at work, you have no freedom. If you have no access to health care when you need it, you have no freedom. If you face an old age in poverty because the GOP took away your pension and Social Security, you have no freedom.
Even as a Democrat, I welcome Scott Walker into the presidential race, even though I will certainly not vote for him. Nevertheless, I think that his record makes it clear how he would act as President and his nomination would offer a clear choice to the electorate of what kind of America they want; he will not be able to hide his true colors now. He would almost certainly be a divisive president, but at least he is a clear representative of everything I hope America can avoid in the future. Walker won't be able to dissemble like Romney did until he was caught by that waiter's cell phone.
On the plus side, Walker doesn't have the charisma of Reagan or G.W. Bush. From the video clips that I have seen, I doubt his ability to win on "beer buddy" likeability alone. My hope is that he will have to confront issues more than the average candidate in order to win.
Maybe I'm just naive or have a political death wish, but I think a Walker presidency would last one term, help Democrats win state legislature elections ahead of the 2020 census, and consequently curtail Republican gerrymandering. Along with the coming demographic shift that is predicted to be favorable to Democrats, a failed Walker presidency could force the change that Obama could not. I have great esteem for Obama, but I think he just came along at the wrong time to accomplish systemic change.
I fear that things may need to get even worse in the short term in order to get better in the long run.
On the plus side, Walker doesn't have the charisma of Reagan or G.W. Bush. From the video clips that I have seen, I doubt his ability to win on "beer buddy" likeability alone. My hope is that he will have to confront issues more than the average candidate in order to win.
Maybe I'm just naive or have a political death wish, but I think a Walker presidency would last one term, help Democrats win state legislature elections ahead of the 2020 census, and consequently curtail Republican gerrymandering. Along with the coming demographic shift that is predicted to be favorable to Democrats, a failed Walker presidency could force the change that Obama could not. I have great esteem for Obama, but I think he just came along at the wrong time to accomplish systemic change.
I fear that things may need to get even worse in the short term in order to get better in the long run.
3
A few years ago he eliminated public employee collective bargaining.
The massive demonstrations slowed his agenda.
Earlier this year Walker began the process of deunionization.
Now in order to prove his conservative credentials in his presidential run, he is in the process of destroying what is (was) one of the best public higher education systems-- the University of Wisconsin System.
The massive demonstrations slowed his agenda.
Earlier this year Walker began the process of deunionization.
Now in order to prove his conservative credentials in his presidential run, he is in the process of destroying what is (was) one of the best public higher education systems-- the University of Wisconsin System.
7
Charles Krauthammer gives Walker a 25% chance of securing the GOP 2016 nomination.
Well, since money is speech these days Krauthammer is likely correct. If money was NOT speech, Walker's chance would be around 1%.
In 17 months, we will know who the Billionaire Boys have installed in the White House.
Well, since money is speech these days Krauthammer is likely correct. If money was NOT speech, Walker's chance would be around 1%.
In 17 months, we will know who the Billionaire Boys have installed in the White House.
4
Hmm. I don't see how providing people the choice not to join the unions can be bad. They can still join if they want to.
There is a significant difference between government employee unions, and private industry unions. I quote from another NYT article, July 23, 2014:
"The founders of the labor movement viewed unions as a vehicle to get workers more of the profits they help create. Government workers, however, don’t generate profits. They merely negotiate for more tax money. When government unions strike, they strike against taxpayers. F.D.R. considered this “unthinkable and intolerable.”
And we are seeing the tragic results of government unions now, as they selfishly and thoughtlessly bankrupt countless cities, counties and states. They negotiate with politicians who know they will never have to face the consequences of giving away golden retirement packages to government employees. It is a recipe for ruin, and Scott Walker put a stop to it. Good for him.
"The founders of the labor movement viewed unions as a vehicle to get workers more of the profits they help create. Government workers, however, don’t generate profits. They merely negotiate for more tax money. When government unions strike, they strike against taxpayers. F.D.R. considered this “unthinkable and intolerable.”
And we are seeing the tragic results of government unions now, as they selfishly and thoughtlessly bankrupt countless cities, counties and states. They negotiate with politicians who know they will never have to face the consequences of giving away golden retirement packages to government employees. It is a recipe for ruin, and Scott Walker put a stop to it. Good for him.
3
Pay levels, in real dollars. have been stagnant for decades. During the same time, union membership and power have declined. There's certainly a connection. Non-union workers looking for a raise will often be told "it's a bad time" for increases. Either the company is in a slump or building reserves during boom times. Only collective bargaining can open the books.
5
The majority of workers of NJ's Sandy Relief program were fired and re-hired by a "staffing agency," that did not provide health benefits or sick days until required by the ACA and a sick-day provision passed by the city of Newark. I see this as the "future" of government administration if not for public service unions. Morale has declined due to draconian work policies. In addition, most applicants likely believe a qualified state employee is handling their claim, while the employees are treated no better than a glorified temporary employee.
5
I don't understand this incessant talk trying to present this second rate GOP operative as a serious presidential contender. This college drop out dude would do anything his billionaire patrons told him to; but, what does that has anything to do with being a real presidential material? Nothing.
4
What other qualifications does he require?
It is not illegal to join a union in Wisconsin. It IS illegal for unions to extort money from people.
So easy to understand.
So easy to understand.
2
This is so disturbing, so retrograde.
An anti-intellectual "leading" us in a world economy, where every other country sees education as the key to progress!
How can this lead to any good?
An anti-intellectual "leading" us in a world economy, where every other country sees education as the key to progress!
How can this lead to any good?
42
Like most of the commenters here, and certainly the author, Lori has obviously not meet and spoken with Scott Walker. Had she done so, she would not have hung the "anti-intellectual" tag on him.
Let's see. Scott Walker:
1. Busts as many unions as he can, using one type of union (private) against another type of union (public) in trying to make one jealous of the other (Jay Gould was right),
2. Coopts the unions he can't bust (cops)
3. Goes after the intelligentsia in the universities.
4. Gins up rage at #3 for tuition hikes which are actually his fault
5. Now all we need is public burring of "degererate art" and a disciplined group of street thugs in uniforms (see #2?)
What does all that spell? Hint: it starts with the letter "F" and its symbol is a bundle of rods with an axe-head at the top.
The word "fascist" gets thrown around far, far too much to denounce anybody on the right. In this case, it fits. Scott Walker scares the crap out of me in a different way than any other candidate from either party.
1. Busts as many unions as he can, using one type of union (private) against another type of union (public) in trying to make one jealous of the other (Jay Gould was right),
2. Coopts the unions he can't bust (cops)
3. Goes after the intelligentsia in the universities.
4. Gins up rage at #3 for tuition hikes which are actually his fault
5. Now all we need is public burring of "degererate art" and a disciplined group of street thugs in uniforms (see #2?)
What does all that spell? Hint: it starts with the letter "F" and its symbol is a bundle of rods with an axe-head at the top.
The word "fascist" gets thrown around far, far too much to denounce anybody on the right. In this case, it fits. Scott Walker scares the crap out of me in a different way than any other candidate from either party.
186
He may have been "using one type of union (private) against another type of union (public)," but then he turned around and made Wisconsin a right-to-work state, thereby hurting the private unions. And as far as the police go, he needed them to keep the protesters in line. Also, did you ever see a mini-riot by the cops when their power is challenged? We saw it here in Mass. when they tried to replace police on highway construction sites with flagmen, thus cutting police assignment pay. I doubt Walker wanted to deal with that.
2
Any one who participated in the recall process will know that undisciplined thugs assaulted some people who worked tables collecting signatures against Walker.
Still, they managed to collect a total of 25% of the total those who voted in the Walker election and initiated the recall.
After the election, Walker's McCarthyite allies publicly posted digital copies of the signed petitions to intimidate the signers.
Still, they managed to collect a total of 25% of the total those who voted in the Walker election and initiated the recall.
After the election, Walker's McCarthyite allies publicly posted digital copies of the signed petitions to intimidate the signers.
2
Thank you. He is indeed fascist.
3
Do not be fooled by Scott Walker. He will do anything, say anything, promise anything just to get elected. Once in power he will carefully implement policies that will destroy the American worker. Look at what he has done, and that grinding sound is your job, wages, and benefits being outsourced.
American workers are fair minded people who believe a man will keep his word. Scott Walker is a college drop out, who has no understanding of what makes America great. Skilled labor builds this country. Unions protect workers.
American workers are fair minded people who believe a man will keep his word. Scott Walker is a college drop out, who has no understanding of what makes America great. Skilled labor builds this country. Unions protect workers.
58
These despicable attacks on the working people of Wisconsin are only the latest in the 35 year campaign by the Republicans and the wealthy corporations they serve to destroy any power for workers.
Over these decades the circumstances of the American middle class have grown increasingly precarious, and the most potent and consistent reason for that has been the Republican/corporate attacks on unions. More than globalization, more than automation, the unrelenting assault on the unions has been decisive in the weakening of the middle class. The American middle class arose and prospered with the rise of the American labor movement, and the middle class has grown weaker with every successful attack on the unions, whether public sector or private.
Republican and corporate bosses understand this perfectly. The really sad thing is that they have been able to pit workers against one another to carry out their attacks. And the contemptible Scott Walker brazenly crows about this with his "divide and conquer." They stoke resentment - "why should those union members have that benefit when it has been taken away at my workplace?" - and steadily they have eviscerated the American unions and the American middle class.
Wake up, America! Which side are you on?
Over these decades the circumstances of the American middle class have grown increasingly precarious, and the most potent and consistent reason for that has been the Republican/corporate attacks on unions. More than globalization, more than automation, the unrelenting assault on the unions has been decisive in the weakening of the middle class. The American middle class arose and prospered with the rise of the American labor movement, and the middle class has grown weaker with every successful attack on the unions, whether public sector or private.
Republican and corporate bosses understand this perfectly. The really sad thing is that they have been able to pit workers against one another to carry out their attacks. And the contemptible Scott Walker brazenly crows about this with his "divide and conquer." They stoke resentment - "why should those union members have that benefit when it has been taken away at my workplace?" - and steadily they have eviscerated the American unions and the American middle class.
Wake up, America! Which side are you on?
48
Unions represent a shrinking minority of the population, and yet they have an outsized influence on policies at the state level. Public-sector unions and their Democratic allies have caused long-term financial problems in states all across the US - problems worse than the last financial collapse.
Just like global warming, it's probably already too late to stop the fiscal armageddon caused by public-sector union pensions and benefits. However, you have to start somewhere.
Just like global warming, it's probably already too late to stop the fiscal armageddon caused by public-sector union pensions and benefits. However, you have to start somewhere.
21
State and local politicians of both parties have long found it easier to provide deferred compensation rather than appropriate current compensation. It is called kicking the can down the road. Republicans hypocritically complain about a practice they have embraced. What else is new?
15
You wanna talk about "armageddon"? Just watch as millions of "Boomers" find they can't retire because their companies have offered only 401Ks, which were never intended to replace pensions. Usually only the highest paid individuals -- or, possibly two-paycheck families -- can put aside the huge amount of money it takes to live in today's economy. And with stagnant wages, it's becoming harder and harder.
5
Plutocrats represent a shrinking minority of the population, and yet they have an outsized influence on policies at the state level. (See ALEC.) Trickle-down tax cutters and their Republican allies have caused long-term financial problems in states all across the US — problems worse than the last financial collapse. (See Kansas). Just like global warming, it's probably already too late to stop the fiscal armageddon caused by Republican economic policies that fail to work. (See Reaganomics, NeoConomics, fiscal austerity, WI, etc) However, you have to start somewhere.
(see how easy that is?)
(see how easy that is?)
4
If you look at Chris Christie he's a similar type of smarm. He took from a pension fund to balance the budget. They ( Walker/Ryan and allies) want the police, fire fighters and other public servants to protect and save lives BUT they see the union as an entitlement or perk. Who is searching for two escaped convicts?
It's ok to put your life on the line to protect citizens but you can't have collective or any bargaining. Don't forget teachers and the every day battles they face in under funded schools. Educate my kids but you can't have benefits. The party is a complete and utter joke.
It's ok to put your life on the line to protect citizens but you can't have collective or any bargaining. Don't forget teachers and the every day battles they face in under funded schools. Educate my kids but you can't have benefits. The party is a complete and utter joke.
51
Republicans see Unions not as a threat to workers but as a threat to their existence. If workers are empowered then the owners, the oligarchs, the super wealthy have more money to pursue their conservative political agendas. They can disembowel workers and gut laws that protect families. They can have workers on demand. Like a commodity that can be used up and thrown away. Across America workers are losing jobs, rights, homes, healthcare, vacations, retirements, education benefits, overtime, and even the right to minimum hours when called to work. In other words we're going back to the labor relation standards of late 1800s and the early 20th century. A time of no standards, no rights for workers and no job security. The Republicans love it.
Republicans paint unions as welfare agencies of the Democratic party and gotten away with it. The pernicious use of mis-leading language by Republicans, to sell conservative ideas of the previous century is an art form.
At some point workers will rebel. But not until the pain is so great and the social differences and gaps in America have grown so wide and so divisive that a real revolution will be needed. Another article today in the NYT lamented the increase of the homeless of LA. It is a symptom of a lack of jobs, and a lack of unions and fair trade. Republicans are taking America apart piece by piece. Democrats are allowing it to happen; Piece by piece, union by union, worker by worker, job by job. Our communities are next.
Republicans paint unions as welfare agencies of the Democratic party and gotten away with it. The pernicious use of mis-leading language by Republicans, to sell conservative ideas of the previous century is an art form.
At some point workers will rebel. But not until the pain is so great and the social differences and gaps in America have grown so wide and so divisive that a real revolution will be needed. Another article today in the NYT lamented the increase of the homeless of LA. It is a symptom of a lack of jobs, and a lack of unions and fair trade. Republicans are taking America apart piece by piece. Democrats are allowing it to happen; Piece by piece, union by union, worker by worker, job by job. Our communities are next.
70
Your argument fails when people recall how hard Dems pushed for trade deals that sent all the high-school educated workers' jobs overseas. It got the Wall Street donations but at the cost of Real Jobs.
And your own party did it to you.
And your own party did it to you.
The birth of the labor movement arose from the pain of losing lives and limbs with no recompense to the oligarchs of the Gilded Age. We can't let it get that bad again before fighting back. Whether unionized or not, those of us privileged to work an 8-hour day with weekends off, health insurance, 401ks (or even pensions) owe a lot to those who bled and died for the right to organize and bargain. We have to stand together, because few enlightened companies truly see our welfare as contributing to their bottom line. And for the record, I've never been in a union, but I know history.
Those displaced American workers at Disney who had to train their replacements were also blackballed from other jobs in their field, could sure as h$$$ used a union. Germany understands that allowing their workers to have a voice at the table doesn't try and kill their unions. With millions of American jobs in IT being outsourced and replaced with H-1B visas, we could darn well use UNIONS ! Multinational corporations are stateless and predatory, they will drive down wages to unlivable wages if they could. Some politicians, as I remember, wanted to do away with our child-labor laws...seriously ! Unions still have a very important place in our over monopolized, globalized world !
56
You are correct, a union could have helped at Disney and PG&E when they brought in H-1Bs (illegally, BTW), but unions have failed to grow up and adapt. The old industrial unions are never going to organize IT workers, they're too independent. Unions need to prove their worth, and they could do that by organizing IT workers along the line of the most successful labor union out there, the Major League Baseball Players Association. Organize, establish a floor salary, benefits, and working conditions, and then share salary data among the members. Negotiate individual contracts, limit free agency to a few at a time, help them maximize their salaries, and play both sides of the political aisle, and you might have something - but you'll never organize them by treating them as interchangeable cogs in a machine that are to be milked to fund only one party.
The first union that figures out how to do that will have no problem succeeding. Unfortunately, all the existing unions seem to do is turn off those they should be helping.
The first union that figures out how to do that will have no problem succeeding. Unfortunately, all the existing unions seem to do is turn off those they should be helping.
Take a look at the statistics; unions in Germany are in the same downward spiral there as they are here in the U.S. Plus Germany is adamantly, thoroughly "right to work". No German worker can be compelled to pay any time of due or fee to a union as a condition of his employment. And, until an EXTREMELY short time ago, Germany had no statutory "minimum wage" WHATSOEVER, either.
No we do not need unions today. Just look at the Northeast where they have decimated these states with the cost of living. If you feel you have been wrongfully terminated then seek an employment attorney. State workers (teachers) here receive 80% of their salary in retirement benefits. Everyone I know has a master's plus 30 credit so they are earning over $110,000 a year and the cops earn $100,000 plus in just three years. It is a real racket in NJ. Luckily cost-of-living increases were recently eliminated. The taxpayers cannot afford it. Most people are lucky be in corporate America or other industries if age 60 due to the deployments, age discrimination, etc., mergers. State workers stay until whenever and then many of these retirees leave the state to avoid the taxes. No, we cannot keep increasing taxes because union leaders insist on pandering to the democrats in office for ridiculous demands.
19
Nonsense. Wages and quality of education are much higher in the Northeast and that isn't a coincidence.
Would you really rather live in Texas, where there are virtually no unions?
To make it clear to simple people: we are wedged between Canada and Mexico. One has higher taxes than us, universal healthcare and longer lifespan, and better education, and happier people. The other has massive poverty, gated communities for the rich and their servants, terrible social problems and schools. Do you want us to rise up to be more like Canada, or sink down and be more like Mexico? Hint: Mexicans want to move here, Canadians don't. That should tell you something.
Would you really rather live in Texas, where there are virtually no unions?
To make it clear to simple people: we are wedged between Canada and Mexico. One has higher taxes than us, universal healthcare and longer lifespan, and better education, and happier people. The other has massive poverty, gated communities for the rich and their servants, terrible social problems and schools. Do you want us to rise up to be more like Canada, or sink down and be more like Mexico? Hint: Mexicans want to move here, Canadians don't. That should tell you something.
4
Typical conservative comment. Janis looks at special case and never at the bottom line.
"Teachers and other non-administrative professional staff received a base salary on average of $68,302 in 2013-14, a fraction of a percent less than in the prior year, an NJ Spotlight analysis of salary data for more than 140,000 professional school employees found."
And as you remark, these are people who mostly have graduate degrees.
"Teachers and other non-administrative professional staff received a base salary on average of $68,302 in 2013-14, a fraction of a percent less than in the prior year, an NJ Spotlight analysis of salary data for more than 140,000 professional school employees found."
And as you remark, these are people who mostly have graduate degrees.
4
Youre a fool. The blue states have the highest paying jobs and arent decimated. You cant compare Texas' 3rd world GDP with even the US average. Higher an employment attorney if wrongly fired? How is a 3rd world wage slave going to do that you bozo.
Why is a college dropout like Walker getting more press from NYT than Bernie Sanders who polled 41% against Hillary's 49% in Wisconsin straw poll?
79
Corporations love Mr. Walker. He has managed to convince working class people to fight the only thing that can counter balance the enormous power of corporations UNIONS! Workers complain about no benefits, no pensions and terrible wages and yet they vote for WALKER. Insanity!
4
And he's a college graduate: U of Chicago.
Because they are very, very afraid of Scott Walker.
I know one thing: teacher's unions are looking out for teachers, not students. To the extent that Scott Walker or anyone else can change that I'm all for it.
19
Teacher unions are not Soviet-style militants. Grow up (and discipline your kids; teachers shouldn't have to do the job that lousy parents fail to do).
2
From a retired teacher , the one thing you know - you don't. Unions are between teachers and the school board or administration
1
Of course, you think it's OK that police unions look out for the police and not the citizenry, correct?
I wholeheartedly support the right of workers to organize into unions to negotiate all manner of work, pay, safety, training and work rules.
As long as there is capitalism, there will be a need for strong unions.
As long as there is capitalism, there will be a need for strong unions.
29
And the right to work laws do not take that right away. All they do is to make Union membership (and dues paying) voluntary. Unless you believe that the workers are too ignorant to recognize what is in their best interest, you should support this.
Instead of using their time and effort fighting these laws, utilize the same effort into promoting Union membership. If membership is such a wonderful thing, convince the workers to voluntarily join and there will be no problem.
Instead of using their time and effort fighting these laws, utilize the same effort into promoting Union membership. If membership is such a wonderful thing, convince the workers to voluntarily join and there will be no problem.
What everyone needs to pay attention to is how quality of life is diverging between Wisconsin and Minnesota.
Walker is taking a race to bottom trickle down approach (break unions, low min wage, state spend cuts) which all have the effect of reducing demand.
Minnesota is taking opposite approach.
Take a guess which state has had higher job creation and higher median wages? Demographics and industrial base are similar. Policy explains the differences.
Walker is taking a race to bottom trickle down approach (break unions, low min wage, state spend cuts) which all have the effect of reducing demand.
Minnesota is taking opposite approach.
Take a guess which state has had higher job creation and higher median wages? Demographics and industrial base are similar. Policy explains the differences.
106
Try and live a middle class lifestyle on the wages that "right to work" states brag as the going rates to the corporations they woo to relocate to their region. By the time that the average American worker wakes up to what is being done, it will be too late to reverse and the middle class will have vanished. This is great for corporate America but not so good for the rest of us. Republicans argue that the largest new markets for American products are overseas, and therefore cutting American wages won't hurt corporate profits. Watch the same strategy with public school funding and infrastructure and healthcare. None of that matters any more to corporate America since both labor and markets are offshore.
36
Jack;
Perhaps you're right...but, by way of comparison, try to live on the NO WAGES that the NO JOBS which is what essentially the non-RTW states are being left with provide.
I'll be honest; I don't understand where you are coming from. The "logic" people like you seem to use comes up with "nothing is greater than something" and/or "zero today and twice as much tomorrow" reasoning.
Ask the guys "bragging" in the RTW states if, instead of the wages they're receiving while being employed in those states, they would prefer to be UN-employed and receiving NO wages in some other non-RTW state. What do you think their answer might be?
What would be "so good for the rest of us" is if "gimme, gimme" artists such as yourself got off your dead butts and offered a market-based COMPETITIVE labor alternative that could actually function on the world stage. By that I'm not meaning "least wage", but rather "most bang for the buck".
You see, like many other Americans, I'm getting rather sick of subsidizing those who think the nation owes them a living. Face it; "corporate America" is what makes the American worker's existence possible. If it weren't for those corporations, who WOULD create and maintain the jobs that sustain America? People like YOU?!?! [smile]
Perhaps you're right...but, by way of comparison, try to live on the NO WAGES that the NO JOBS which is what essentially the non-RTW states are being left with provide.
I'll be honest; I don't understand where you are coming from. The "logic" people like you seem to use comes up with "nothing is greater than something" and/or "zero today and twice as much tomorrow" reasoning.
Ask the guys "bragging" in the RTW states if, instead of the wages they're receiving while being employed in those states, they would prefer to be UN-employed and receiving NO wages in some other non-RTW state. What do you think their answer might be?
What would be "so good for the rest of us" is if "gimme, gimme" artists such as yourself got off your dead butts and offered a market-based COMPETITIVE labor alternative that could actually function on the world stage. By that I'm not meaning "least wage", but rather "most bang for the buck".
You see, like many other Americans, I'm getting rather sick of subsidizing those who think the nation owes them a living. Face it; "corporate America" is what makes the American worker's existence possible. If it weren't for those corporations, who WOULD create and maintain the jobs that sustain America? People like YOU?!?! [smile]
@Jack McHenry "Try and live a middle class lifestyle on the wages that "right to work" states brag"
You mean like renting an apartment in Dallas or Houston vs San Francisco or New York, while making the respective cities median income?
Or buying a week's grocery in those cities? Or paying for summer camp for the kids? Or paying for car insurance and parking?
You mean like renting an apartment in Dallas or Houston vs San Francisco or New York, while making the respective cities median income?
Or buying a week's grocery in those cities? Or paying for summer camp for the kids? Or paying for car insurance and parking?
1
I've got questions for the photo editor, who seems to have picked the scariest pics to represent working class people. Visually, a far from dignified portrayal. It seems tailored to white-collar fear of unruly, inconvenient, unkempt strikers.
20
Thanks you. Great catch and great comment.
I am wondering a bit about your real agenda and the diction you use in pointing this out.
This continues to be ignored about Scott Walker: he broke the unions SAVE fire and police, the strongest in this country. That is a telling sign of what he and his party hoped and hope to accomplish, which is NOT to break the unions.
It is to break the Democrats.
It is to break the Democrats.
34
If that's what it takes to get the country back on track.....
Whew! What a load of leftist claptrap! Anyone who wants to join a Union can do so - but no one should be forced (or rather coerced) into ding so. While individuals certainly have the right to band together to negotiate, to the extent they are able to artificially raise wages for themselves, they do so at the expense of others, including other workers who will not get employed because of reduced demand for higher salaried workers. Why is this any different from Crony Capitalists who band together to promote anti-competitive practices? In the end, what benefits society are Free and Efficient markets that price goods and services effectively and with the least amount of artificial "markup" possible.
22
Exactly. There's nothing keeping people from joining a union or peaceably assembling to promote their common interests. There's,also nothing keeping them from making sure their members have the reputations of being the best trsined, hardest wirking, and most productive workers in their industry, therefore being the most worth the employers' money. What they don't (or shouldn't) have the right to do is monopolize labor in a particular trade or industry, force non-members to pay dues, or interfere with individual employment agreements between employer and employee. Those who sell their labor often forget that they are in business too, and their employers are their best (and often their only) customers. It is in umbent upon the laborer to offer value to the employer and entice them to buy at their desired price. Employers are free people with property rights and the freedom to direct their capital in ways they see fit. Unions make their members, both good and bad, poor businesspeople and ultimately rob the entire market of those employees' highest and best use of their talents. Teach people to seek their highest value to the marketplace and then let the market work.
1
We await your word on how you first dismantle the government subsidies of Big Agriculture, Big Pharma, the Mil/Ind Complex, the National Security State, Big Energy and so on. These subsidies distort more than your fear of unionization.
4
So what you are saying is that business owners aren't bright enough to negotiate wisely with their unionized workers, thus they need to be protected from organized labor. Got it.
4
IN 2010, Ohio republicans gained the governor's mansion and the legislature. Like Wisconsin, they passed a similar right to work law and Gov. Kasich signed it into law. This all happened within weeks of taking office. Unlike Wisconsin, instead of trying to recall the governor, Ohioans forced the legislation, not the governor, onto the ballot. In the ensuing special election, the whole law was voted down in an overwhelming landslide. In hindsight, the Wisconsin democratic party erred in going after recall. Recalls, historically, are rare and also rarely successful. Had Wisconsin Democrats followed Ohio's method It is likely they would have also got rid of the law through the ballot box and denied Gov. Walker his great shining achievement. Next time, they'll know better. One would hope.
9
Walker is easily the most loathesome Wisconsin politician since Joe McCarthy, whose tactics of smearing the opposition, lying, and character assassination he regularly uses. He has made a career of looking people in the eye and lying to them, as described in the article. His 2010 campaign was an utter fraud which never mentioned the real agenda which was that of the Kochs- destroy public unions by dividing working people against each other in order to enrich a few billionaires. Truly despicable.
23
Walker practices the politics of deceit and revenge.
1
Why, in America, to OK for companies to "take advantage" of their workers, but not OK for workers to "take advantage" of their companies?
12
KS, let's SEAL OFF the borders so that the workers can have a chance to make a decent living. We won't need any more 3rd-world refugee workers for a century at least.
This really touches a cord because for 3 years I was president of a small local of utility workers. I was militant and found many of my members were always behind me - 1 mile behind. Rallying a picket like was like pulling teeth. Then I would be asked what I was doing for them. Herding cats was easier. Individualism is a healthy thing but sometimes collective action is a must. In general, I always found the atmosphere toward labor unions very negative in the US. Organized labor only thrieved with the influx of European immigrants. As the article points out, people who do not agree with what the politicians are doing still vote for them; the Reagans and the Walkers of America. I never saw so many voting against their own interest. What in heavens' name is wrong with these folk? I live in a quasi rural, relatively working class county in New Jersey and they send to Congress the wealthiest and most anti worker member of the House, term after term. The man sends a newsletter evey two years, when re-elction comes up, and that is that; enough to make one weep.
Then take Christie: He is not only destroying the public unions and wrecking the NJ economy but he just recommended college students to sell themselves to investors in order to finance their collge education. And he is a hero to many. It's scary.
Then take Christie: He is not only destroying the public unions and wrecking the NJ economy but he just recommended college students to sell themselves to investors in order to finance their collge education. And he is a hero to many. It's scary.
15
Walker is an un-noble savage, a remarkably ignorant man being pushed toward the presidency by some of the most malignant people and forces in America. Politically and culturally he is a descendant of Torries, Know Nothings, Copperheads, American Firsters and Isolationists. Theirs is a dark, indelible stain on American life and history and the stain is now being spread by the modern Republican Party of which Walker is one of the foremost examples of placing ignorance before knowledge and bias and prejudice before progress.
He will be their nominee and if elected president, the United States will be place in great peril and face great jeopardy by having as its elected leader a man unfit, unqualified and unready to be president
He will be their nominee and if elected president, the United States will be place in great peril and face great jeopardy by having as its elected leader a man unfit, unqualified and unready to be president
21
I would like to remind The Times readers that every writer at The Times belongs to a union.
Just keep that in mind as you read the story.
Just keep that in mind as you read the story.
5
>
Unfortunately the Union workers will be the losers as to Walker as has been already proven. Workers who don't have a Union hate Unions and Unionized workers, humans being what they are. Since the vast majority of workers are non-unionized the Unions lose, just on the math without even factoring in the stupidity and selfness of human beings.
If the dialectic of history is prologue, then this argument will be settled at the barricades. In other words who wants it more.
Unfortunately the Union workers will be the losers as to Walker as has been already proven. Workers who don't have a Union hate Unions and Unionized workers, humans being what they are. Since the vast majority of workers are non-unionized the Unions lose, just on the math without even factoring in the stupidity and selfness of human beings.
If the dialectic of history is prologue, then this argument will be settled at the barricades. In other words who wants it more.
6
By now there is plenty of evidence that virtually all the initiatives that Scott Walker and the Republicans in the Wisconsin State Legislature have pushed through have made conditions substantially worse for most of the people of this state. The results of many surveys also show that Walker's approval ratings among residents of Wisconsin have been under water for a long time. Despite those facts, Walker prevailed in the recall election and was reelected last year because (a) his campaigns were much better financed and (b) his supporters were much more likely that his victims to vote. His pugnacious attacks against unions, minorities, progressives and intellectual elites, etc., have evidently made him attractive to a highly mobilized segment of the population, but the cost to the once-great state of Wisconsin have been terrible.
34
Freedom is more important than unions. Being forced to pay someone just to have a job is insane. If Unions were useful people would not have to be forced to join them.
So, it is your contention that the people of Wisconsin are too stupid to recognize what is in their best interest? How fortunate they are to have people like you to tell them who to vote for. What's next, an ideology test before allowing voter registration?
Oldest trick in the GOP book is to get American workers to vote against their own self interests. American workers are drowning in their own ignorance.
36
Well, thank goodness for people like you who can tell people what they really ought to be thinking, and how to protect their own self interest!
9
There is a large body of proof that Wally Wolf is correct. This topic was covered well in WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH KANSAS? (Frank, Thos.) for example. And given the fiscal madness that is Kansas today, this 10yr-old-book proved prescient.
The pendulum swings back and forth. Will there be a day when the working people of this country are pushed too far? Unions were needed at one time, then they went too far and everyone knows it. Now the corporations and the ultra rich are going too far. Will we ever treat each other fairly, I doubt it.
10
I must live in a different world. In the Northeast except in big cities there are no unions except public unions which governors like Christie, Walker , Scott , Daniels and a few others are working on to prevent them from sending cities and states into bankruptcy..many cities have (San Bernadino, Detroit) and more will(Chicago). Only 6% of the private sector workforce is unionized and negotiations between union and management in those result in decent wages balancing profits(like like Illiniois, etc where the unions willingly bankrupt the state as there is no profit). I think this is small potatoes compared to the big issue which must be addressed(see Paul Voelker this week) of public union pensions bankrupting NJ, Conn, RI, Penn etc.
15
Private sector unions should never have made Gov. Walker their enemy, but they did at their own expense. Public sector unions living off of the taxpayer dime believe there is no limit to tax and spend, but there is a limit, at least in Wisconsin. I don't thinks the governor needed to be so harsh in his approach, but he was physically threatened and harassed using the courts and the electorate. The governor, a union-made Harley rider, won the battles. I'm with the Gov.
16
If you don't live in Wisconsin, how can you possibly understand the effect this mean, narrow man has had on the people of the state?
2
Scott Walker is Wisconsin's enemy, and always has been, Walker is for Walker.
3
From the Harley Davidson website...
"Harley-Davidson Employees In Wisconsin Approve New Labor Agreements"Harley-Davidson has a long history of working with our union partners to manage the business. We thank our employees and the union leaders for their important contributions to the success of these negotiations and to the success of Harley-Davidson," said Harold Scott, Harley-Davidson Vice President, Human Resources.
I partially agree with you, the American people (myself included) do not like the idea of overturning elections (i.e. recalls) but, I'm not with the governor.
"Harley-Davidson Employees In Wisconsin Approve New Labor Agreements"Harley-Davidson has a long history of working with our union partners to manage the business. We thank our employees and the union leaders for their important contributions to the success of these negotiations and to the success of Harley-Davidson," said Harold Scott, Harley-Davidson Vice President, Human Resources.
I partially agree with you, the American people (myself included) do not like the idea of overturning elections (i.e. recalls) but, I'm not with the governor.
Scott Walker will make an awesome president. He is the candidate that actually understands and wants to help the middle class.
14
Wow. I cannot fathom how you got to your conclusion about Walker.
3
Yes, the middle class Koch brothers.
There is zero evidence of that, either from Walker or his handlers, the Koch Bros.
Walker did not break the power of unions. He broke the power of unions that support Democrats. He left untouched the power of unions that support Republicans, public-safety unions.
We see in Baltimore the evils of allowing cops to unionize. A work slowdown that leaves dead bodies in the streets.
We see in Baltimore the evils of allowing cops to unionize. A work slowdown that leaves dead bodies in the streets.
23
It strikes me as disingenuous to cherry-pick a union such as McGowan’s, which not only spends its money on training programs but has the art to placate both its conservative members and its business clientele, then to use its example as justification for an argument that unions generally should be protected against ideological adversaries such as Walker and means such as right-to-work laws.
When union managements as a general matter long ago decided to use significant parts of their members’ dues to air ideologically interested ads supporting very liberal political candidates, they opened themselves to legitimate attack by their adversaries, both in laws aimed at requiring member-approval of the use of dues for political sloganeering, and for right-to-work agitations. They’ve had at least as great an opportunity as the right to convince Americans that unions offer the same necessary protections and benefits today that they did in the 1950s … and they’ve failed to convince, not only in Wisconsin but all over America; but perhaps most emblematically in places like Wisconsin, one of the places where the union movement was born.
So we have a dying tradition whose proponents now cry foul because they’re being bested.
But don’t worry too much about Scott Walker. This election won’t be a one-issue one, and he has massive dead-spots in his 360° political vision that will become all too evident as he contends with others for the Republican nomination.
When union managements as a general matter long ago decided to use significant parts of their members’ dues to air ideologically interested ads supporting very liberal political candidates, they opened themselves to legitimate attack by their adversaries, both in laws aimed at requiring member-approval of the use of dues for political sloganeering, and for right-to-work agitations. They’ve had at least as great an opportunity as the right to convince Americans that unions offer the same necessary protections and benefits today that they did in the 1950s … and they’ve failed to convince, not only in Wisconsin but all over America; but perhaps most emblematically in places like Wisconsin, one of the places where the union movement was born.
So we have a dying tradition whose proponents now cry foul because they’re being bested.
But don’t worry too much about Scott Walker. This election won’t be a one-issue one, and he has massive dead-spots in his 360° political vision that will become all too evident as he contends with others for the Republican nomination.
9
Doesn't management use their money to air ads supporting candidates and ideas? Is that $899 million the Kochs are pledging just for cookouts and ice cream socials?
Unions and ownership/management have similar, yet diverse goals. Unions provide some power to laborers, and management/ownership always has the power of the purse strings. To say that workers should not be able to air their opinions sounds like slavery to me. Disagree and you'll get a whippin'.
Unions and ownership/management have similar, yet diverse goals. Unions provide some power to laborers, and management/ownership always has the power of the purse strings. To say that workers should not be able to air their opinions sounds like slavery to me. Disagree and you'll get a whippin'.
One commenter wrote that Walker was elected three times, so he must have the support of the people of Wisconsin. As this article has made clear, he is duplicitous and does not govern as he campaigns; he has built his success on "divide and conquer," not the pursuit of the common good. His state's lackluster economic performance is proof of the latter.
12
Mr. Obama, similarly, is duplicitous and does not govern as he campaigned; he built his total lack of success on "divide and conquer," not the pursuit of the common good. This country's lackluster economic performance is proof of the latter. We got sold a very pretty but empty suit.
We're definitely devolving into a country where the only ones with any say in anything are those with the money. And they don't want to share. I've never understood the view taken by management that employees are all lazy. How do they think buildings are put up? How do they think the roads were built? Who serves them in restaurants? People, not robots, not pets. People who go home at night and then come back the next day to do it all over again. How do they think hospitals stay clean? Or do they think it's done by elves?
Unions were formed because of employer abuses. People died for the benefits and rights we thought we had but which are being stripped from us by entities that lobby for it: ALEC, the Koch Brothers, big businesses who don't seem to understand that what's good for their bottom line could destroy the consumer economy they depend upon. Most of us don't even time to think about getting ahead because we're too busy trying to stay where we are. We're worried about making it to the next paycheck.
Here's the problem; keep on voting for representatives and governors who are members of the GOP and you are giving a gift to every corporation that wants to underpay you, fire you for no reason, and cut the programs that may keep you afloat if you need assistance. Those programs are nearly gone now unless you are a corporation. That's the legacy of the Reagan presidency: a hollowed out middle and working class.
Unions were formed because of employer abuses. People died for the benefits and rights we thought we had but which are being stripped from us by entities that lobby for it: ALEC, the Koch Brothers, big businesses who don't seem to understand that what's good for their bottom line could destroy the consumer economy they depend upon. Most of us don't even time to think about getting ahead because we're too busy trying to stay where we are. We're worried about making it to the next paycheck.
Here's the problem; keep on voting for representatives and governors who are members of the GOP and you are giving a gift to every corporation that wants to underpay you, fire you for no reason, and cut the programs that may keep you afloat if you need assistance. Those programs are nearly gone now unless you are a corporation. That's the legacy of the Reagan presidency: a hollowed out middle and working class.
32
It is one of the lesser human qualities to be a freeloader off of others if one can get away with it. Indeed, if one has the pay, the benefits, and the working conditions of union membership without actually being a paying union member, why pay?
Perhaps the solution is to turn back the clock to the work place as it was when workers found that unionization was necessary to protect their self interest. Repeal all labor laws, including safety, mandated overtime pay, and everything else that has accrued to the benefit of labor over the last 140 years. Make those matters the subject of collective bargaining. And let those who want to race to the bottom win their race.
Perhaps the solution is to turn back the clock to the work place as it was when workers found that unionization was necessary to protect their self interest. Repeal all labor laws, including safety, mandated overtime pay, and everything else that has accrued to the benefit of labor over the last 140 years. Make those matters the subject of collective bargaining. And let those who want to race to the bottom win their race.
20
"Indeed, if one has the pay, the benefits, and the working conditions of union membership without actually being a paying union member, why pay?"
There is a very simple solution to your concern. If you do not pay union dues you do not work under the union contract. You give up the benefit of being laid off ahead of less skilled / less productive worker as often happens to teachers. If you are an exceptional worker, you give up the benefit of negotiating your own salary commencement with your merit, and working for a lower salary based only on time of service.
Of course if you remove the need for a company to hire a monopoly labor source defined by all workers being covered by a union contract, a business may decide that the nonunion employees offer better value. Protectionism has a value for those who need to be protected. Aside from a brief teenage job, I have not been in a union, and having good motivation and skills have benefited from that.
There is a very simple solution to your concern. If you do not pay union dues you do not work under the union contract. You give up the benefit of being laid off ahead of less skilled / less productive worker as often happens to teachers. If you are an exceptional worker, you give up the benefit of negotiating your own salary commencement with your merit, and working for a lower salary based only on time of service.
Of course if you remove the need for a company to hire a monopoly labor source defined by all workers being covered by a union contract, a business may decide that the nonunion employees offer better value. Protectionism has a value for those who need to be protected. Aside from a brief teenage job, I have not been in a union, and having good motivation and skills have benefited from that.
Your assumption that superior workers will be paid more is faulty. I worked for the State of New Jersey, and was familiar with its Public Defender system. The attorneys working in the Public Defender office were just as able, often more able, than their brethren at the prosecution table. Yet the prosecutors were paid significantly more than their Public Defender peers. Only through unionization were the Public Defender attorneys able to achieve parity. No elected official in NJ wants to spend anything on criminal defense, even though it is a constitutional requirement. And most of those Public Defender attorneys had high motivation and skill. You are naive if you believe that superior skill and work habits are always rewarded.
2
I'm sitting here in my beautiful state of Wisconsin reading all the blogs about our illustrious governor and watching the social, economic and educational standards being torn apart at the seams. It's frustrating to say the least! However, I have a few questions to ask of my democratic friends and colleagues in Wisconsin; where were you in June of 2012 when the recall election ws in process, and in November of 2014 when Mr. Walker was reelected? They are not retorical questions.
You can write all the blogs about Mr Walker you wish, but the only way the legislative panarama of our state can change (looking blue again) is by your vote!
You can write all the blogs about Mr Walker you wish, but the only way the legislative panarama of our state can change (looking blue again) is by your vote!
30
I voted in all three of those elections, for the same reason. Tired of paying $7K a year in property taxes on a three bedroom ranch house. Add in FICA and income taxes, and taxes added up to 40% of household income. Also our former governor bought train cars with no bid, for a system that wasn't even built (let alone needed), and the Democratic legislature routinely had sessions and passed legislation in the wee hours of the morning.
The electorate probably voted the way they did because most Wisconsinites found the prospect of paying lower taxes more attractive than paying for the commonweal. They may also have given up on the Democratic Party after it collectively abandoned the little guy in favor of the banksters in the great recession. Who could blame them?
I vote early in every election, and I will never vote for a Republican, ever. I recommend that voter registration be automatic, and ballots sent out by mail, with a postpaid return envelope.
Let's make union members, our fellow Americans, our enemies. Let's deny them a decent wage and the ability to support their families, their churches and charitable organizations. Let's make sure we pound the middle class into the ground and make sure no one willing to work for a living has the ability to better themselves or contribute to economic growth with their purchasing power. Than let's congratulate ourselves on denying workers a safety net of any kind including unemployment or Social Security, because they don't deserve "our" money. That's the ticket, that will make America great. Just ask Scott Walker, he'll tell you. Hate your neighbor, I'm sure it's in the Bible.
91
"At the Capitol, dozens of state troopers (who kept their bargaining rights) and Capitol police officers (who lost theirs) were now patrolling the rotunda to prevent it from being occupied again." - NYTIMES
I thought the state capitol belongs to the people of the state. Does this remind you of a country across the Pacific Ocean? What do people pay taxes for?
I thought the state capitol belongs to the people of the state. Does this remind you of a country across the Pacific Ocean? What do people pay taxes for?
13
To quote Martin Niemoller:
"First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me."
The union movement is obviously on a slow death march. To say as some of the other readers who posted comments that unions have grown past their usefulness is extremely short sighted. While many times the pendulum swings too widely, it is all too clear that without the union movement management would have an unfair advantage. Complacency is the problem. The union movement, or lack of it it, is a microcosm of society. People tend to complain but for the most part do not act until it is too late. One need only look at voter turnout in the US compared to other civilized democratic societies to see complacency at work. Sadly, we get what we deserve.
"First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me."
The union movement is obviously on a slow death march. To say as some of the other readers who posted comments that unions have grown past their usefulness is extremely short sighted. While many times the pendulum swings too widely, it is all too clear that without the union movement management would have an unfair advantage. Complacency is the problem. The union movement, or lack of it it, is a microcosm of society. People tend to complain but for the most part do not act until it is too late. One need only look at voter turnout in the US compared to other civilized democratic societies to see complacency at work. Sadly, we get what we deserve.
18
Unions are Democracy. Those against Unions are not.
14
We want to get rid of unions because they, largely, support the Democrat party? Should we get rid of big business and chambers of commerce because they tend to support the Republicans?
I will be the first to admit unions have gotten lazy and have sometimes done things contrary to their best interest. However, they are the best voice speaking for the laborer, and removing that from the workplace leaves only the owners and administrators, whose interests are self-serving.
Take down the unions now, and in five, ten, fifteen, or twenty years, we will be fighting the battles of the early twentieth century all over again. How blind can we be to think that the Koch brothers and their megalopolis of businesses will always support the best interests of their employees. When they use the terms "we" and "our" and "us" they are talking about only those at the top with the power. Everyone else can be replaced with a button or by the next most desperate unemployed person who will gladly take a job that pays unlivable wages and provides no benefits.
I will be the first to admit unions have gotten lazy and have sometimes done things contrary to their best interest. However, they are the best voice speaking for the laborer, and removing that from the workplace leaves only the owners and administrators, whose interests are self-serving.
Take down the unions now, and in five, ten, fifteen, or twenty years, we will be fighting the battles of the early twentieth century all over again. How blind can we be to think that the Koch brothers and their megalopolis of businesses will always support the best interests of their employees. When they use the terms "we" and "our" and "us" they are talking about only those at the top with the power. Everyone else can be replaced with a button or by the next most desperate unemployed person who will gladly take a job that pays unlivable wages and provides no benefits.
20
Unfortunately many, many of the comments are on thread are too stupid to realize that. They think the Kochies are going to look out for them. Just wait until its their turn.....then they'll be screaming
1
I've never understood people who's life's ambition is to be a "worker". As a small business owner, it is I, and those like me, who risk it all to start a business and employ people! My goal is to make a profit to support my family comfortably. Labor is by far my biggest expense every month. If you want a living wage, improve your employability by acquiring the training and skills required to make you more valuable to an employer. Don't expect me to "give" you a living wage if don't put forth the effort to make it worth it to me.
And don't even get me started on public employee unions. I retired out of the military 8 years ago and the pay scale was what it was. I knew that going in and could've chosen to get out at anytime but the benefits were worth it to me at the time for my young growing family. I have seen government unions at their worst with shipyard workers making more than me who were lazy slackers that were untouchable due to their union status. A 30 minute valve replacement job taking 24 hours to complete because of ridiculous union rules requiring 4 different shops involvement. I sometimes wondered how anything got done at all.
And don't even get me started on public employee unions. I retired out of the military 8 years ago and the pay scale was what it was. I knew that going in and could've chosen to get out at anytime but the benefits were worth it to me at the time for my young growing family. I have seen government unions at their worst with shipyard workers making more than me who were lazy slackers that were untouchable due to their union status. A 30 minute valve replacement job taking 24 hours to complete because of ridiculous union rules requiring 4 different shops involvement. I sometimes wondered how anything got done at all.
No one is forced to buy and products from any business.
Likewise, no one should be forced to join a union.
It's all about freedom.
Likewise, no one should be forced to join a union.
It's all about freedom.
1. No public employee is now, or has ever been, required to join a union or oay union dues. It is ILLEGAL to do that. IF there's a union at all, you may a) join, b) pay about 70% to cover your fair share of costs, or c) opt out of paying anything on religious or philo grounds.
2. Walker a) said he wouldn't go after unions when he was first running, b) said he's only go after teachers unions, c) is now going after cops and firefighters.
3. Charitably put, his state's economy is weakish.
4. He's pushing this nonsense--and abortion rights, and university tenure, and, and and, because he's running for Prez. period.
2. Walker a) said he wouldn't go after unions when he was first running, b) said he's only go after teachers unions, c) is now going after cops and firefighters.
3. Charitably put, his state's economy is weakish.
4. He's pushing this nonsense--and abortion rights, and university tenure, and, and and, because he's running for Prez. period.
23
Funny how he's against unions for all but cops and corrections workers. If he thinks unions are so awful then he should put his money where his mouth is. Let's see him deal with the cops and corrections workers. Unfortunately most American's are too stupid and blinded by Republican lies to know what the truth
4
b) pay about 70% to cover your fair share of costs
Which is a pathetic joke. Money is still being extorted from workers for the sake of the Union and its attendant creatures.
Which is a pathetic joke. Money is still being extorted from workers for the sake of the Union and its attendant creatures.
What a silly comment. Police are there to repress protest and "keep order". No government is going to alienate the armed force which they depend on.
This is a false narrative in part -- nothing stops a group of people from forming a union with this act, NOTHING. Unions have had done both good and harm to our nation, like many organization -- they must adapt and change and demonstrate their value again if they wish to thrive. There are many ways unions can offer value for their members and grow --- but forcing a person to join to be able to take a job is simply wrong. Being in a union should not be a prerequisite to accepting a job at a wage you are willing to work for.
9
Except for one thing. A federal low MANDATES that a union, once in place, MUST provide all its services (such as expensive legal services) to ALL workers, even those who are NOT members are therefore are NOT paying dues. This of course bankrupts unions because they are forced to provide free services to non-payers. That is exactly the purpose of "right to work" laws: bankrupt unions, because many workers will free-load: why pay for membership when the union is required to represent me anyway? You should first know what you are talking about before opening your mouth.
Unions like any human group have made missteps, gotten complacent. But the forces that made unions necessary are still with us, and if workers (even cube farmers) know what's good for us, we will stand by unions because we owe them so much, historically.
At the beginning of the 20th Century there were perhaps valid reasons for labor unions. But now there are thousands upon thousands of laws on the books protecting workers & their rights. Plus, there is a federal Department of Labor & each state has a Department of Labor and/or Labor Commissioner looking out for their welfare & protecting their safety, benefits, & rights. Moreover, there are armies of lawyers ready, able, & willing to sue any employer that doesn't provide a safe workplace for its employees.
So, the original safety purposes for labor unions have been outdated & outmoded.
Today all unions do is force above market wages & benefits for members only (using threats of strikes, sickouts, & slowdowns) & act as Political Action Committees for Democrat candidates (PACs). And since public unions can't strike, they are just glorified PACs.
But Democrats & their media supporters know how to twist the story & photos to advantage.
So, the original safety purposes for labor unions have been outdated & outmoded.
Today all unions do is force above market wages & benefits for members only (using threats of strikes, sickouts, & slowdowns) & act as Political Action Committees for Democrat candidates (PACs). And since public unions can't strike, they are just glorified PACs.
But Democrats & their media supporters know how to twist the story & photos to advantage.
14
We still need unions. Ask any person who's been fired for no reason but their age, gender, or whatever reason the employer says. Individually we have no rights but if we have an organization standing with us, we can get a better deal. Employers get away with unsafe work practices, not maintaining equipment, underpaying employees, all the things that went on before there were unions. Corrupt unions have hurt all of us. But what hurts more is being unable to find a job, being fired for no reason, being treated unfairly and having no way to resolve it, and listening to people like you say unions are not necessary.
9
Tell that to the coal miners.
4
What Republican think tank are you working for? Either you are naïve or a lobbyist for the right wing. Your tired argument of the media and democrats is pathetic. NO ONE cares about paying people a "decent moral wage"...from wages to widgets no one wants to pay anything they all want it for free or cheap i.e. Uber, forget about good wages mean tax support for health care infrastructure repair which would create good jobs etc...but keep blaming dems and media
3
Thanks for this excellent article! I am now convinced that Scott Walker should be our next president and I will do whatever it takes on my part to help him get there.
8
Walker is in the vanguard of the recolonization of America by the oligarchs. These people despise the Middle Class and will step on the fingers on the ladder rungs of those who are attempting to improve their lot, while simultaneously sawing the legs of the ladders with their absurd austerity philosophies.
We deserve the pain that we will get from these political perverts.
It is a shame that our children and future generations will have to suffer under their heels. But the shame is on us.
We deserve the pain that we will get from these political perverts.
It is a shame that our children and future generations will have to suffer under their heels. But the shame is on us.
17
Public Unions ...making over $100,00 ...
Shame on US if we burden our kids with THAT
Shame on US if we burden our kids with THAT
5
You're flat out lying. I'm a public worker and I and no one I know makes a $100,000. Pulling figures out of you a** and making up lies doesn't make they true regardless of how many times to try
2
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross."
35
What do you mean, when?
Trigger-Warnings in this article: Rush Limbaugh, Koch brothers, Heritage Foundation, Tea Party, oligarchs (as in NOT Clinton billionaire supporters)…
Unmentioned ?
Why did Walker keep winning ? in blue-county Milwaukee as Executive ? in blue State Wisconsin as Governor ?
Because Walkers reforms worked !
- Privileged white public-servants now have to pay a small portion of their benefits.
- Wisconsin taxpayers saved $3 billion dollars … and
- Union due payers willingly abandoned the Unions in droves; sick of forced payments to support a left-wing anti-Walker agenda
Unmentioned ?
Why did Walker keep winning ? in blue-county Milwaukee as Executive ? in blue State Wisconsin as Governor ?
Because Walkers reforms worked !
- Privileged white public-servants now have to pay a small portion of their benefits.
- Wisconsin taxpayers saved $3 billion dollars … and
- Union due payers willingly abandoned the Unions in droves; sick of forced payments to support a left-wing anti-Walker agenda
7
Walker's so-called "reforms" have done nothing but bring a once good state that actually worked for its citizens to the brink of ruin. Of course, Walker ruined Milwaukee County, why would anyone think he would do anything different at the state level? The fantasy that WI taxpayers have "saved $3 billion dollars" is exactly that - a fantasy. And it has come at the cost of a crumbling and nearly devastated state for the vast majority of its citizens.
Too bad about the ironworkers union. Three of them died building Miller Park when Mitsubishi management insisted on lifting a roof section on a day that was too windy for it. I know because I had taken the day off from work to change storm windows at my house -- then couldn't; gusts 35-40 mph. The families of those workers received millions in settlements. But under Walker's regime, bolstered by tight gerrymandering that has put Wisconsin under one-party rule, ALEC-modeled legislation has capped such settlements at $250K. And don't get me started about education here. I dropped $20K on putting my wife through school to become a public school librarian just in time for Walker to cut her pay 20 percent and destroy her career path. But they voted, you say. Sure: Koch money has just about negated opposing political campaigns, saturating the airwaves even in this off year. We are drowning in right-wing largesse, and it's only getting worse.
33
Governor Walker was elected three times by some of the same people who are in unions because the NYT fails to see that these union folks are willing to disagree with him on the right to work law, but very strongly agree with him on other more important issues that define them, their families and friends (e.g., the Governor has hardened his opposition to abortion lately and favors eliminating affirmative action etc). These other non-union issues take primacy over the survival of unions which seem antiquated as the black and white photos in this story, especially the one with the gentlemen with the Brixton newsboy hat.
4
people in WI do NOT agree with what you call "more important issues" - if you paid attention, they strongly DISAGREE with what he is ramming through. And he is doing it with the collusion of the WI legislature - by cutting off debate, refusing to hear citizen testimony, taking votes in secret and in the small hours of the morning to avoid the light of day. Wisconsin voters will soon vote out both the uneducated and lying governor as well as the ignorant Republican legislators who don't have an independent thought of their own.
With enough support from enough people with enough money, even a chimpanzee in baby diapers can get elected to public office. In the case of Scott Walker, it only took two: the Koch brothers.
23
I'm guessing you vote Democrat. Bravo.
1
Companies - and thus their workers - have to compete with the whole world now. All the furniture manufacturing left this country because that industry could not compete here.
While I don't think all unions are perfect, I believe the strategy the Republicans are following is misguided, even from a corporate executive point of view.
The basis is: it isn't a supply side economy, it is a demand economy. Without a strong middle class able to purchase products and services there is no market for the executives to try to dominate.
Also in the long term, making people feel disenfranchised by their government leads to their lack of respect for it and a belief that they participate in the society so have a responsibility respect and support the rules of the society.
The basis is: it isn't a supply side economy, it is a demand economy. Without a strong middle class able to purchase products and services there is no market for the executives to try to dominate.
Also in the long term, making people feel disenfranchised by their government leads to their lack of respect for it and a belief that they participate in the society so have a responsibility respect and support the rules of the society.
17
Henry Ford recognized this when he instituted the $5 daily wage. He wanted workers to have enough disposable income to buy his products. And by paying substantially more than the other auto manufacturers, he was able to attract the brightest and best to his work force. His competitors found that, in order to maintain their labor forces, they needed to pay more as well.
1
The next time you enjoy a two-day weekend or a paid holiday, go to the AFL-CIO website and buy a hat or a button and email the receipt to Scotty Walker
14
In that same time frame ... Democrats were the party of the KKK ...
Republicans freed the slaves ...from democrats ...
Republicans freed the slaves ...from democrats ...
6
And don't forget the 8 hour work day and overtime pay
3
Uh, no Ron. Your ommissions are absurd. Those Southern "KKK Democrats" to which you refer, switched to the Republican Party in opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (see "Southern Strategy"). And today make up the Republican Base. And if you believe Abraham Lincoln would be welcome in today's Republican Party, well, I have nothing more to say to you, as your assertion speaks for itself.
1
The premise of this commentary is a crock. The "labor movement" which Walker has at least temporarily defeated is that of the entrenched unions which are widely perceived (and in part, correctly) as the fatcat unions, whose members have largely never-get-fired jobs on the public payroll, with pension and accumulated-leave plans which, in some cases, are utterly obscene.
Let Scott Walker go up against UNITE HERE, which represents the truly low-paid workers slaving at convention hotels and other stinking low-paid jobs. He would get his patoot kicked.
Let Scott Walker go up against UNITE HERE, which represents the truly low-paid workers slaving at convention hotels and other stinking low-paid jobs. He would get his patoot kicked.
5
yes ...he fought PUBLIC Unions ...not private ones ...
and NOT ones from 1880's ...
and NOT ones from 1880's ...
1
I am intrigued that the Bay View Massacre (which I hadn't heard of ) occurred May 5, 1886, just days away from the Haymarket Square riot, and also days away from the most important anti- worker action of all, which was the U.S. Supreme court ruling (Santa Clara County v Southern Pacific Railroad) that was used to establish corporate personhood. While it seems that unions are the bigger story, corporate personhood essentially ended the powers of the states and localities to regulate corporations. They then have to answer only to the federal government, and that elitist set up has given us what is basically a fascist system, with both Republicans and Democrats pursuing an agenda of big business and big government against the interests of the working people.
I don't believe we will solve our problems of economic and ecological industrialism until we go back to before 1886, restoring the powers to control corporations to states and localities, and then fight the battles for justice. It will still be many battles, but if we are fighting them seated as citizens around a level, round table, the outcome will probably be better than if we are in the position of workers v management v big capital v big government v consumers. In that mode we are too easily divided and conquered. In the mode of citizens around the table of equality, we might well end up finding compassionate and wise solutions to the challenges of changing international competition and changing technology.
.
I don't believe we will solve our problems of economic and ecological industrialism until we go back to before 1886, restoring the powers to control corporations to states and localities, and then fight the battles for justice. It will still be many battles, but if we are fighting them seated as citizens around a level, round table, the outcome will probably be better than if we are in the position of workers v management v big capital v big government v consumers. In that mode we are too easily divided and conquered. In the mode of citizens around the table of equality, we might well end up finding compassionate and wise solutions to the challenges of changing international competition and changing technology.
.
7
I’ve held management positions in two different organizations where we encountered many difficulties firing incompetent employees due to the protections afforded to them by unions. Maybe my opinions of unions are jaded from my experiences dealing with them, but I certainly recognize that being anti-union is one thing and demonizing people for trying to protect their best interests (as Mr. Walker did in his CPAC speech) is something entirely different. Despite my frustrations with them, I do recognize that unions serve a purpose in our society; particularly in traditionally "blue collar" forms of employment. While Mr. Walker continues on his crusade to destroy unions, he refuses to acknowledge that the majority of companies could care less about the average American worker. The only thing that most companies care about is the bottom line, and that’s perfectly fine. That’s capitalism. But capitalism is a system which lends way to individual employees feeling compelled to collectively bargain for a better work environment since it is up to the employees to look out for their own best interests. Although I believe that some of the procedures that unions have implemented to protect members least worthy of protection are rather inconvenient, I recognize that unions are a collection of people looking out for their livelihood. Mr. Walker should do the same. Being able to feel the impact your decisions make on the average American is something all public servants should be able to do.
41
I would add that good, farsighted leadership in the union can be counted on about as much as you can count on it anywhere. But it exists. I recall that I once had to fire a unionized worker who was did not want to do all of her job. The Steward was helpful in managing an orderly, fair, and respectful parting of the ways.
The biggest problem that employers of any stripe have in getting rid of union employees for cause is that the employer side doesn't have the training to do it the right way, according to the union contract. You can't complain for years about non production when you keep giving the individual decent performance reviews. You have to follow the parameters when giving a less than outstanding review, you MUST back it up with documentation. Unfortunately, too many "supervisors" don't want to attend to the necessary details, don't want to get trained in how to effectively supervise and so find themselves in a mess when they finally have to fire a union employee who should have been gone long ago, if only the supervisor had properly been trained and followed the regulations. There ARE ways to fire lousy union employees, but you can't do it without the appropriate documentation which almost all supervisors don't know how to do and mostly REFUSE to learn.
Several months ago, the shipping ports of Los Angeles were shut down for weeks because the union dock workers [who make over $145,000 plus lifetime gold medal benefits] did not like the idea of having to co-pay $5 dollars for medical insurance. They shut down the entire port system. Gov. Jerry Brown hid and said NOTHING! The economic loss is in the tens of millions, yet the unions could care less! Unions have a stranglehold on our democratic leadership at all levels. It isn’t trade agreements that kill American jobs; its American labor unions who selfishly choose to abandon their own jobs! Democratic leaders like Pelosi, and Brown are an indentured servant to these clowns and represent the pinnacle of union corruption and stupidity!
12
Good grief, get a grip already.
Labor unions have dwindled to the point of near non-existence. They don't wield nearly as much influence as they used to, and it shows, vis-a-vis a dwindling middle class.
Why can't you figure that out for yourself?
Labor unions have dwindled to the point of near non-existence. They don't wield nearly as much influence as they used to, and it shows, vis-a-vis a dwindling middle class.
Why can't you figure that out for yourself?
8
He can't figure it out because he believes whatever misinformation and lies spews out of Faux News and Rush Limbaugh. I personally know dock workers and whoever told you they are making $145,000 is a LIAR!!!
1
2 things.
First, American unions have grown past their usefulness. They never considered what impact a global economy had on their own validity. That validity vanished completely with NAFTA, the bill signed by a Democrat, Bill Clinton. Second... and worse, unions are nothing more than a political wing of the Democrats, the very party that sold them out to begin with.
It's like Einstein said, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over again expecting different results.
First, American unions have grown past their usefulness. They never considered what impact a global economy had on their own validity. That validity vanished completely with NAFTA, the bill signed by a Democrat, Bill Clinton. Second... and worse, unions are nothing more than a political wing of the Democrats, the very party that sold them out to begin with.
It's like Einstein said, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over again expecting different results.
7
Right--and I do mean RIGHT--corporations love their workers so much, so very much, that there's no need for unions.
try now ore than since the 1920s, buddy.
try now ore than since the 1920s, buddy.
1
Which exactly describes any citizen who would vote for a Republican for ANY office.
I do not begrudge any public or private employee fair wages and benefits. However, there is scant attention given to the amount of taxes private citizens and business pay and how those taxes are spent. Wisconsin has consistently been in the top for taxation for many decades. When taxpayers question how their money is being spent, the liberals use ad honinem attacks to shut down the discussion, paint bleak pictures of the future if X or Y isn't done, and go to the default argument that rich people are bad. Maybe these are the reasons why Wisconsin is now in the top 10 states for people leaving. Those who are asked keep giving and expect accountability are finally wising up.
8
Well, we do have a oenchant for asking people where the heck they're getting their numbers on taxes feom, given that they often seem--like now--to be completely made up.
1
Actually, people are leaving WI now because of Walker and the corrupt Republican legislature which won't do anything to listen to those they dictate to. It isn't the "liberals" who shut down citizen input by cutting off comments, it isn't the "liberals" who take votes in the middle of the night to pass legislation under cover of darkness. It isn't a "default argument" to expect those who are well off to contribute to the state resources that those well off clearly expect to be there for them; the well off though are doing their damnedest to keep any of the other citizens from getting anything whatsoever from their state under the guise of "they don't deserve it".
It is certainly to be hoped that the WI voters are indeed "wising up" and will soon vote out these venal Republican politicians who suck at the public teat all their lives. Including Walker, who couldn't even manage to graduate from college and is a cheat and a liar.
It is certainly to be hoped that the WI voters are indeed "wising up" and will soon vote out these venal Republican politicians who suck at the public teat all their lives. Including Walker, who couldn't even manage to graduate from college and is a cheat and a liar.
How can a Presidential candidate base his campaign on taking power away from and lowering the wages of the American working class? Ask Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton and all those who support amnesty and work permits for illegal immigrants and refuse to commit to enforcing immigration laws. Until the supply of labor is better controlled, all the labor laws in the world mean nothing to American workers.
6
I see we're repeating this lie--okay, these TWO lies--apparently on the theory that at some point, they magically become true.
4
When I heard that 38%, or something like it, of UNION members voted for Walker, I knew I had to accept that the Great Society was so dead it could not be revived. We are in new terrain, and we just ought to accept that if we intend to take the country back from Wall St Dems and Repubicans, we're going to need a lot more than Great Society/New Deal rhetoric. It ain't working with...working people!!!!
What has been destroyed over the last thirty years is an understanding that a healthy PUBLIC and a healthy WORKING CLASS go hand in hand. Fewer and fewer working people understand or are prepared to act on this idea.
Workers now seem to accept that their only hope is to kiss up to wealthy folks. And newspapers, radio, union leadership itself, universities, public schools are not really saying much that would lead workers to think there is any alternative. Periodic outrage at the latest scam pulled by Wall St seems to be all we have left of the New Deal-Great Society alliance in America.
Shark Tank anyone?
What has been destroyed over the last thirty years is an understanding that a healthy PUBLIC and a healthy WORKING CLASS go hand in hand. Fewer and fewer working people understand or are prepared to act on this idea.
Workers now seem to accept that their only hope is to kiss up to wealthy folks. And newspapers, radio, union leadership itself, universities, public schools are not really saying much that would lead workers to think there is any alternative. Periodic outrage at the latest scam pulled by Wall St seems to be all we have left of the New Deal-Great Society alliance in America.
Shark Tank anyone?
25
The fact that the rich are systematically robbing us all doesn't justify the obscene pension and leave plans some public workers receive. The labor movement is very much alive. Just look at all the successful minimum-wage initiatives in the last election on behalf of people the fatcat unions ignore.
1
I agree. Have you seen the teachers driving Mercedes and Ferraris? And their fancy mansions and their retirement villas in the Riviera all paid by the exorbitant pensions. It is obscene. All they do is teach our children. Seriously, is that really important? I mean, anyone can do that.
1
Much of the genius of the neoconservative movement lay in convincing many working-class Americans that voting against their own interests in this way is an expression of rugged self-reliance and even patriotism: not just in labor organization but also in globalization, corporate tax law, and political speech by the corporate "citizen." By the time they realized (inasmuch as they ever did) that the benefits were accruing only to the shareholder class, it was rather late in the game.
(The other, somewhat related masterstroke, of course, was a divide-and-conquer strategy in which anyone sufficiently worse off than oneself as to need government benefits -- which may or may not subconsciously encode for "racial minority" -- must be a shiftless parasite upon the commonwealth, whereas anyone better off than oneself by virtue of a union must be a coddled parasite upon his employer.)
(The other, somewhat related masterstroke, of course, was a divide-and-conquer strategy in which anyone sufficiently worse off than oneself as to need government benefits -- which may or may not subconsciously encode for "racial minority" -- must be a shiftless parasite upon the commonwealth, whereas anyone better off than oneself by virtue of a union must be a coddled parasite upon his employer.)
2
It's important to distinguish between private and public sector labor unions.
The former have sadly been decimated with the decline of US manufacturing jobs.
The later are a plague on society that should be illegal.
Even Franklin Roosevelt was against them.
If we want to turn into Greece, government employee unions will help ensure we get there.
The former have sadly been decimated with the decline of US manufacturing jobs.
The later are a plague on society that should be illegal.
Even Franklin Roosevelt was against them.
If we want to turn into Greece, government employee unions will help ensure we get there.
9
Never trust Scott Walker. He is a devious con artist. Deceitful and arrogant. Out to defeat those who oppose him. Anti-democratic. More a dictator than anything else. Gerrymandered districts and a compliant legislature and court system have enabled his so-called victories.
He would be a disaster for this country. As he has already been for Wisconsin.
He would be a disaster for this country. As he has already been for Wisconsin.
31
yea ...I'd HATE to have a healthy economy and a balanced State budget ...
Must be HORRIBLE!!!
Must be HORRIBLE!!!
1
Unions. Responsible for:
-the 40 hour work week
-weekends
-paid time off
-child labor laws
...and myriad other things that benefit us all
Walker. Responsible for:
-nothing good so far
-the 40 hour work week
-weekends
-paid time off
-child labor laws
...and myriad other things that benefit us all
Walker. Responsible for:
-nothing good so far
36
Regarding what unions are responsible for you forgot:
- bloated, excessive pensions pushing cities to bankruptcy
- archaic work rules allowing train employees to get perks after 40 miles
- an educational system costing like a Cadillac but performing like a Yugo
- bloated, excessive pensions pushing cities to bankruptcy
- archaic work rules allowing train employees to get perks after 40 miles
- an educational system costing like a Cadillac but performing like a Yugo
I blame the people of Wisconsin. There's always going to be and always have been anti-worker opportunists like Scott Walker doing the bidding of the rich and the business class. However, the people of Wisconsin at one time vigorously fought those forces that strived to keep them poor and oppressed. But recently those same working class Wisconsin residents have turned against their own self interests by wilfully and repeatedly voting for the anti-union, anti-working class candidate in the person of Scott Walker.
Simply put, a majority of Wisconsin residents have turned against each other, taking up the Republican mantra of I got mine, and good luck if you don't. These people have utterly failed the test of what it takes to be Americans united for the betterment of society.
Too many are the racist wannabe rich fragmenting their communities for the futile dream-nightmare of hitting their own personal lottery. In the grim aftermath, the vast majority of our nation will be left penniless and broken.
Simply put, a majority of Wisconsin residents have turned against each other, taking up the Republican mantra of I got mine, and good luck if you don't. These people have utterly failed the test of what it takes to be Americans united for the betterment of society.
Too many are the racist wannabe rich fragmenting their communities for the futile dream-nightmare of hitting their own personal lottery. In the grim aftermath, the vast majority of our nation will be left penniless and broken.
13
The Koch Brother's daddy was one of the founders of the John Birch Society. They were born with silver spoons in their mouths! Scott Walker should be facing legal prosecution for his gubernatorial campaign's violation of laws. He is an uneducated, creep who has destroyed Wisconsin's economy with trickle-down vodoo economics and now is taking his axe to the once-great University of Wisconsin. All you need to know about Walker is Wisconsin is rapidly losing population due to his policies!
26
Wisconsin had a chance to recall this reactionary. Not enough cared. The state deserves the consequences.
1
They did care; they re-elected Walker. Doesn't it suck when democracy doesn't go your way?
7
Madison is an island of liberalism in a sea of conservatism-which is the rest of Wisconsin.
You see, the Rich and the Powerful, use their acolytes to spread misinformation and pit the working man against each other. They will convince the world that Unions are lazy moneygrubbers that waste money but provide no value.
And when ordinary people turn against the Unions, turn their backs on making sure you get your fair share of the spoils of your hard work, the worker man will stand alone and get picked off one by one and the people will cheer.
Until the Rich and the Powerful come for your job and once you realize what they have done and you want to fight back. You can't.
There's barely anyone left.
And when ordinary people turn against the Unions, turn their backs on making sure you get your fair share of the spoils of your hard work, the worker man will stand alone and get picked off one by one and the people will cheer.
Until the Rich and the Powerful come for your job and once you realize what they have done and you want to fight back. You can't.
There's barely anyone left.
12
Here in Miami, the mayor just decided one day he needed to balance his budget on the backs of labor. All non union members got a 5% cut in salary with no warning. I bet those guys would have joined a union if they could.
The worst part of right to work in Miami is that those who do not contribute to the union still get the benefits of collective bargaining. If there was fairness, those who are not union members would make their own deals with management. I guarantee you those deals would not be as good as what the unions negotiated. Anyone who's ever suffered irresponsible management knows the value of unions.
The worst part of right to work in Miami is that those who do not contribute to the union still get the benefits of collective bargaining. If there was fairness, those who are not union members would make their own deals with management. I guarantee you those deals would not be as good as what the unions negotiated. Anyone who's ever suffered irresponsible management knows the value of unions.
25
Exactly. The Right to work is really the Right to Freeload while undercutting the union's resources for engaging in collective bargaining.
1
Walker is a hypocrite. He's not consistently anti-union. He's only against some unions, like the teachers' unions. He has no problem with police and firemen unions. I don't understand why this fact does not get more press. How can any anti-union advocate truly back this guy when they know he is such a cowardly hypocrite? I guess there's no such thing as ideological purity in the GOP....
32
Walker needs his police to keep people out of the capitol - Walker's kingdom without the people.
Private sector Unions have become nothing more than job offshoring anachronisms. Public Unions , well their contracts should all be declared invalid as they are nothing but corrupt bargains between the union masters and the Democrat Party. Corrupt bargains that threaten the financial health of many states and municipalities. Walker is a hero for his actions and his bravery when his family was threatened by union thugs.
11
Online I find a story about protestors holding picket signs in the street in front of Mr. Walker's parents' home. Not everyone would agree with such a protest tactic, but is this what you describe as a threat by thugs? You must approve when Walker likens American protestors to ISIS terrorists.
Thank you, Dan Kaufman, for a wonderful, informative article. May God protect us from the likes of Walker!
36
Don't wait on God. Vote.
How pathetic that Mr. Walker and co. represent "Christian compassion." That's increasingly becoming a misnomer.
14
as my alabama sunday school teacher told us: "jesus was a captalist!" That must be true.
1
One of the factors at work in the Wisconsin debate is the divergence of interests between workers in private industry represented by unions and the interests of public employees who are represented by unions (but who also intrude mightily into the political process in order to elect the public managers who will be their bosses.)
This intrusion of the latter category includes payroll deductions from paychecks written by the public treasuries and going directly to a lavish union hierarchy and more crucially, directly to the campaigns of public officials who will give the unions all they could desire.
It is the latter kind of union/government cozy relationship that has Republicans and conservatives so fired up. By pushing fast-track authorization for the pet trade deals President Obama has been nurturing for six years, Obama is basically signaling that he doesn't care two cents about union workers in private industry, because all those jobs are going away in the global economy anyhow (if not to China, then somewhere else.)
So Obama has made the calculation that Democrats should rely on the strong unions representing public sector workers ALONE.
Today we learned that a lot of Democrats aren't really ready for that brave new world. We will see how this shakes out, but it will be unusually fun to watch Gov. Walker hack up divided Democrats against the backdrop of these realities.
This intrusion of the latter category includes payroll deductions from paychecks written by the public treasuries and going directly to a lavish union hierarchy and more crucially, directly to the campaigns of public officials who will give the unions all they could desire.
It is the latter kind of union/government cozy relationship that has Republicans and conservatives so fired up. By pushing fast-track authorization for the pet trade deals President Obama has been nurturing for six years, Obama is basically signaling that he doesn't care two cents about union workers in private industry, because all those jobs are going away in the global economy anyhow (if not to China, then somewhere else.)
So Obama has made the calculation that Democrats should rely on the strong unions representing public sector workers ALONE.
Today we learned that a lot of Democrats aren't really ready for that brave new world. We will see how this shakes out, but it will be unusually fun to watch Gov. Walker hack up divided Democrats against the backdrop of these realities.
7
Corruption is inherent in any power structure, because power tends to attract pathological personalities. Pointing out the corruption in unions earns you no special recognition as an intellect, and it also does not distinguish unions from any other powerful political organization or institution.
Walker is an exceptionally hollow tool for the Kochs (et al.) in their campaign to revert culture to medieval conditions in a post-industrial context. An absolutely ruthless exploitation is intended by this group. Their vision for the future has no place for workers' advocacy on any level, and would guarantee desperately minimal prospects and for millions.
People sufficiently insulated from these realities can take leisurely, insular glee in the political gamesmanship they witness, but the demise of rights for the working classes is nothing to celebrate.
Walker is an exceptionally hollow tool for the Kochs (et al.) in their campaign to revert culture to medieval conditions in a post-industrial context. An absolutely ruthless exploitation is intended by this group. Their vision for the future has no place for workers' advocacy on any level, and would guarantee desperately minimal prospects and for millions.
People sufficiently insulated from these realities can take leisurely, insular glee in the political gamesmanship they witness, but the demise of rights for the working classes is nothing to celebrate.
Why is it OK for a CEO to have a contract but not a worker? How do workers get contracts without a Union? If you wonder why the middle class is doing so poorly in this country look no further than the dismal rate of union membership, almost as low as the dismal rate of voting.
31
I don't agree with everything Walker stands for, but he is remarkably courageous in taking on the Big Unions.
Walker realizes that the Big Unions have been profoundly harmful to our democracy.
Walker realizes that the Big Unions have been profoundly harmful to our democracy.
5
This is a perfect example of getting people to vote against their own best interests. The GOP has a formula that pulls the wool over people's eyes, resulting in the destruction of the middle class, what's left of them, and the escalation of riches for the one percent. Why can't people see through this charade? They are literally drowning in their own ignorance.
7
Scott Walker and his ilk represent everything that is going wrong with America today. Unions (and government programs like the G.I. Bill, Social Security, Medicare, etc.) are what raised the American working poor into the middle class. Walker and his cohorts are actively fighting to roll back all the gains that the middle class made in the 20th century. We will all soon be serfs if Walker gets his way. He is nothing but a tool for the 1% oligarchy like the Koch brothers.
20
Two things to remember about Scott Walker. Number one: his policies take money out of the pockets of the middle class (Act 10 effectively cut public employees' pay by increasing pension and health-care costs, then limiting their ability to bargain for better wages) to reward the wealthy with tax cuts. Number two, he's never won as many votes in Wisconsin as Mitt Romney, and Mitt Romney lost the state to President Obama.
8
Walker provides a perfect bridge between the Christian right and free market capitalists. He owns the core of the Republican Party better than any other candidate. His other strength is that he speaks clearly to all of those disaffected working class white men and women who are tired of hearing about "minority" rights, and struggling to make ends meet in an ever more competitive employment world.
In all, he is the golden boy for the right, but I fear he has feet of clay. Walker has travels very close to the edge in his campaign and official actions. Numerous of his underlings have been convicted of offenses while working for him. Democrats have called for a Federal investigation just this past month for his involvement in a $500,000 unpaid loan to a campaign donor.
Walker's fast national appearance, funded by the Koch's and their friends, is striking, and interesting. From my perspective, he is a petty person and entirely ego driven. His success was built with bigoted, self righteous attacks on unions, women, minorities, and the working poor. He has done great harm to the education system of Wisconsin, and reduced much of his government to political patronage. I hope American voters get that if he continues his rise in the ranks of Republican candidates.
In all, he is the golden boy for the right, but I fear he has feet of clay. Walker has travels very close to the edge in his campaign and official actions. Numerous of his underlings have been convicted of offenses while working for him. Democrats have called for a Federal investigation just this past month for his involvement in a $500,000 unpaid loan to a campaign donor.
Walker's fast national appearance, funded by the Koch's and their friends, is striking, and interesting. From my perspective, he is a petty person and entirely ego driven. His success was built with bigoted, self righteous attacks on unions, women, minorities, and the working poor. He has done great harm to the education system of Wisconsin, and reduced much of his government to political patronage. I hope American voters get that if he continues his rise in the ranks of Republican candidates.
9
People can still band together and negotiate.
It's just that these groups of people are not given special privileges.
Now it is time to end the legal fiction of corporation.
Let's truly level the playing field: no special privileges for anyone.
Think for yourself?
It's just that these groups of people are not given special privileges.
Now it is time to end the legal fiction of corporation.
Let's truly level the playing field: no special privileges for anyone.
Think for yourself?
Walker's anti worker--period. Doesn't like teachers, truck drivers, cops, firemen, government employees, anyone who works for a living. Walker will learn very soon this is not a positive in the USA> He will not win a single primary.
14
"In the fall of 1980, Ronald Reagan, then a Republican presidential candidate, Reagan wrote,.... “that if I am elected president, I will take whatever steps are necessary to provide our air traffic controllers with the most modern equipment available and to adjust staff levels and workdays so that they are commensurate with achieving a maximum degree of public safety.” The union gave Reagan its endorsement."
We all know the end of that story.
No union anywhere in the United States should trust or be supporting any Republican candidate. That Republicans protest as to unions supporting their political opponents, well tough luck. Their only recourse is to destroy, as Walker admitted, by dividing and conquering.
We all know the end of that story.
No union anywhere in the United States should trust or be supporting any Republican candidate. That Republicans protest as to unions supporting their political opponents, well tough luck. Their only recourse is to destroy, as Walker admitted, by dividing and conquering.
22
Private sector workers, you once had good salaries and good benefits. Why have you given them up so easily? Why don't we all join together instead of tearing each other apart?
17
I suggest that the demonstrators in the "right to work" protest look a little less crazed. I thought they were extras for the Shining the way they looked. Everyone knows that Union zealots are inept and greedy but to add crazy to their list of attributes is not the way to influence others..
Full steam ahead Scott. Hopefully one day the only union left will be the Soviet Union.
Full steam ahead Scott. Hopefully one day the only union left will be the Soviet Union.
6
Well, here's an indication of what era anti-unionists are still living in. There has been no Soviet union for 25 years. Is John Smith hoping to bring it back???
2
Dear, in this context "right to work," protesters would be ANTI-union.
You really need to look a little more critically at editorial choices in news coverage. As it is you are allowing yourself to be totally manipulated by them.
Unions are like any other service. They need to continually prove their value. Over the years, they became inwardly focused, politically bound, inflexible, and perceived as no longer working for the benefit of the middle class. Having 1%er leadership doesn’t help, especially with public sector unions.
Scott Walker’s not unions’ problem. They themselves are.
Scott Walker’s not unions’ problem. They themselves are.
5
It's no wonder that Walker is an admirer of St. Ronnie. As the article points out, they share the quality of being bald-faced liars who sold out working people please their pay masters.
10
Hopefully Union members in Wisconsin and across the United States have and are still learning their lesson when it comes to supporting Republicans. Union busting is nothing new for them but a large percentage of our members buy into their propaganda about guns, law and order and their racist agenda. They can do that because Unions have negotiated good wages and benefits and their members have come to think of themselves as something other than Blue Collar workers. Guess what, in the eyes of the enemy they are still looked down on and considered nothing more than human labor. At this point our only hope (Unions) is that history will truly repeat itself and our movement will be reborn. There may be bloodshed among us and THEM but such is the cost of a working man's revolution. We owe it to or brothers and sister who before us gave of their blood, sweat and tears to make a better life for all working people!
10
Unions were once needed but like every growing bureaucratic entity they have become a nightmare. Union politics are the worst, selling yourself to a union is a dirty thing now. You learn from early on in life that you are capable of whatever you set your mind and will upon. But as soon as you join a union you're told that you're nothing unless you join the group. What a twisted and outdated concept. Union corruption put them all in jeopardy. The union men and women in the rank and file are the same good and powerful people they were without the union but they no longer believe it after the union brainwashing. They will all be better off once they separate themselves from that cult.
6
Billionaires have become a nightmare. Perhaps we should ban them by limiting outrageous income.
2
This is fantasy. Unless you can explain how non-union workers, i.e. individuals employed entirely at the pleasure of the employer, are "powerful".
2
I hope all unions die out, especially teacher unions, which are undermining our children's education.
Workers are paid what they are worth. If someone feels like they are paid too little, they are free to leave. There is no slavery in this country.
We have anti-trust laws in this country to prevent monopolization and undue price-fixing. We should also have laws against unions to prevent undue wage-fixing.
Workers are paid what they are worth. If someone feels like they are paid too little, they are free to leave. There is no slavery in this country.
We have anti-trust laws in this country to prevent monopolization and undue price-fixing. We should also have laws against unions to prevent undue wage-fixing.
7
"Workers are paid what they are worth. If someone feels like they are paid too little, they are free to leave. There is no slavery in this country."
And they do. Roughly half of new educators leave the profession in the first three years.
And they do. Roughly half of new educators leave the profession in the first three years.
5
Yes, blame the teachers. Their greed is destroying our children. They're too busy driving around in their fancy cars and sitting by the pools in their multimillion dollar homes.
4
I'm still trying to understand the hatred of unions by the middle class.
I get why the rich want to break unions.
I even think I see why many working-class voters elect anti-union candidates (social issues, race, false promises of more jobs).
But I don't see why a professional or semi-professional would so adamantly favor "right to work."
I get why the rich want to break unions.
I even think I see why many working-class voters elect anti-union candidates (social issues, race, false promises of more jobs).
But I don't see why a professional or semi-professional would so adamantly favor "right to work."
81
Maybe the reason is a lot more self centered, people see themselves paying more for things because of the unions. They believe that if the unions were to go away, they would see lower prices and lower taxes. Its easy to get someone to vote against their neighbor if you convince them they stand to gain something from it.
2
At the very least, the term "right to work" has great propaganda value.
If course "right to work without being required to join a union" makes sense, but it has gone way beyond that, and as a means to destroy unions.
I see the use and manipulation of language as one part of the attempt to "persuade" middle class. Its rhetoric, not logic.
If course "right to work without being required to join a union" makes sense, but it has gone way beyond that, and as a means to destroy unions.
I see the use and manipulation of language as one part of the attempt to "persuade" middle class. Its rhetoric, not logic.
4
Lori - you're right. Probably a better term for "right to work" laws would be "free rider" laws - you get the union benefits without the dues. Maybe "parasite" laws would be even better.
1
Sadly it's not walker who broke the unions but the American people, worker and bosses alike, who have bought into the conservative anti-union rhetoric without thought. Today American workers who need union wages and union benefits are more likely to want those thing but still be anti-union when asked if they support unions. We have had 40 years of anti-union rhetoric and its impact is going to be felt for a long time even if today we started being an America full of people who support unions. Walker is just exploiting this setting to his political advantage.
53
No where to I see it mentioned that anyone who wants to join a union still can join a union. Or that if you want your dues spent on a liberal agenda, you can vote to spend those dollars.
People call Scott Walker all sorts of horrible names. But who was it sending death threats to his family? Who was it behaving like spoiled children in the rotunda? Who was it damaging private property or utilizing physical intimidation against people who disagree with them.
Guess what...it wasn't Scott Walker.
People call Scott Walker all sorts of horrible names. But who was it sending death threats to his family? Who was it behaving like spoiled children in the rotunda? Who was it damaging private property or utilizing physical intimidation against people who disagree with them.
Guess what...it wasn't Scott Walker.
5
True. Walker was in a position to use his political powers to unjustly wreak havoc on the workers of his state; now he will do the same to their system of higher education. Guess what? Econ 101 is not enough to get you folks out of the mess your boy is creating.
5
Who was it who lied to union leaders in the private sector, as recounted in this article? Who was it who lied about changing the mission of the University of Wisconsin, attributing it to an editing error? Who was it who used armed police officers against citizens in the state capitol? Who is it who is so divisive?
Guess what...it was and is Scott Walker.
Guess what...it was and is Scott Walker.
9
Unions have had their day, and that day is now over.
Machines have supplanted most of the heavy and dangerous work that used to done by industrial workers, and the predominant unions now are in the public sector. Those have systematically corrupted our political process by buying off compliant politicians so that they can be granted bloated pensions and other benefits. These pensions now threaten to bankrupt several states, including bright blue Illinois and New York.
Kudos to Mr. Walker for standing up for the taxpaying little guy and gal, who doesn't get a free ride for life like so many in the public sector.
Machines have supplanted most of the heavy and dangerous work that used to done by industrial workers, and the predominant unions now are in the public sector. Those have systematically corrupted our political process by buying off compliant politicians so that they can be granted bloated pensions and other benefits. These pensions now threaten to bankrupt several states, including bright blue Illinois and New York.
Kudos to Mr. Walker for standing up for the taxpaying little guy and gal, who doesn't get a free ride for life like so many in the public sector.
6
As was mentioned in the article, you're "I got mine, screw you" attitude is what's wrong. This has nothing to do with public vs private sector. It's ANTI-UNION all the way.
7
Those "tax paying little guy and gal" are teachers, linemen, electrical workers, nurses and other hard working Americans who just saw their wages and benefits get cut. Ask a teacher about getting a "free ride" as he or she buys classroom supplies out of their own pocket.
9
Those in the public sector do not get a free ride. They pay taxes just like everyone else. To think otherwise is delusional.
8
For those of you who want, and need, the unions to stand up for your best interests, the death of unions will mean that 40 hours will be the new part-time, that benefits will not be provided by your employers, that the gap between your wages and executive salaries will continue to grow, that eventually your family will not be able to afford to live anywhere near your job. Remember that college you wanted your children to attend? Fergit it. What a terrible, terrible idea. One-party government steps on the" little people," just as in the 19th century. Gubna Walker wants to do for the nation what he has done for Wisconsin. Lucky us!
69
This article demonstrates the divide and conquer method Walker used which should have been rejected by the unions upfront. He said, I'll go after the teachers, but don't worry cops, firefighters and private unions and they bought into this. I'm sorry, but they should be ashamed of themselves. I wish them the best, but anybody that could believe the snake oil salesman at the expense of other union members needs a reality check. Appreciated the little vignette about Reagan sucking up to the air traffic controllers before the election and then giving them the boot.
88
Why would anyone even bother to write about Walker?
He is in no way a viable candidate for the presidency.
He will not be on the ballot in November of 2016.
He is in no way a viable candidate for the presidency.
He will not be on the ballot in November of 2016.
11
Sure hope you're right.
It's amazing to me that any American politician would base a presidential run on having successfully undermined American working families by weakening the unions, especially in this new Gilded Age of grotesque income inequality. That says a lot about the delusion of Scott Walker and his supporters. The truth is he has no chance on the national stage.
89
I hope you're right, but I'm old enough to remember many people saying pretty much the same thing about Ronald Reagan in 1979-80. He was deemed way too divisive and extreme at the time, but he used many of the same divide-and-conquer strategies Walker has used, and, like Walker, was not above lying to people's faces to hide his true intentions.
Regrettably, I think you have under-estimated the stupidity of the American electorate.
You might want to hold off on that "no chance" assessment until you see the sheer hailstorm of "advocate" advertising the Koch Boys will pay for.
1
I like the photo in the slide show with the picture of Walker and the word TOOL. That's the photo I will put in my window if he is the nominee.
Of course there are good tools and bad tools and it depends who is using the tool. Walker is a bad tool being used for all the wrong reasons...
Of course there are good tools and bad tools and it depends who is using the tool. Walker is a bad tool being used for all the wrong reasons...
7
Mr. Walker was elected three times. Twice in regular elections and another time when he survived a recall. My guess is that the majority of citizens must support his activities. Unions have a purpose but have lost relevance in the modern era. Maybe if unions supported both parties somewhat equally they wouldn't get painted into a corner - no leverage with Republicans and taken for granted by the Democrats.
18
"Maybe if unions supported both parties somewhat equally they wouldn't get painted into a corner "
Maybe, if ONE party actually supported the working class(es), union members would support that party. As it is, ONE party in particular does not support them, but there are MANY union members who still vote for them.
Maybe, if ONE party actually supported the working class(es), union members would support that party. As it is, ONE party in particular does not support them, but there are MANY union members who still vote for them.
10
And I suppose the serfs should have supported the Tsar, and the slaves should have fought for the South. They were deliberately painted into that corner by the Republicans, who will never, ever, let them out. It would be so very terrible to guarantee everyone a living wage ... why, the plutocrats might have to buy smaller mansions and lease out their yachts.
4
Bill, I think you overlook the crucial effect of Mr. Walker's "divide and conquer" strategy. First divide (some) public workers from private workers. Then private non-union workers from union workers. Frame the question as "should these workers get more than you do?"
The question that is lost in this series of referendums is the one posed by Mr. Bryce: "it is only a question of who makes the money — the workers or the owners.” If that question were in the minds of the Wisconsin voters, I think the results would be very different.
The question that is lost in this series of referendums is the one posed by Mr. Bryce: "it is only a question of who makes the money — the workers or the owners.” If that question were in the minds of the Wisconsin voters, I think the results would be very different.
7
This is for the men and women who come home from work with dirt on their faces and callouses on their hands. For workers like my dad, crippled today, because he spent over 50 years on his hands and knees finishing concrete.
Because of union wages, union benefits and union protection, my dad's son was able to get three degrees from the University of Notre Dame. Because of union wages, union benefits and union protection - along with Social Security and Medicare - my dad and mom, both of whom are struggling with health issues - are able to see doctors and pay for medicines they need to stay alive.
Working men and women like my dad - NOT Scott Walker, and CERTAINLY NOT the Koch Brothers - are the real faces of America.
These men and those like them dream of a government run by, for the benefit of, the very wealthy.
Fascism anyone?
American Exceptionalism, a term that hypocrites like Scott Walker love to bandy about in speeches and fundraising solicitations, starts on the shop floors - the UNION shop floors - where real Americans struggle everyday to make ends meet.
The cancer that is Scott Walker and the Koch Brothers must be stopped.
Because of union wages, union benefits and union protection, my dad's son was able to get three degrees from the University of Notre Dame. Because of union wages, union benefits and union protection - along with Social Security and Medicare - my dad and mom, both of whom are struggling with health issues - are able to see doctors and pay for medicines they need to stay alive.
Working men and women like my dad - NOT Scott Walker, and CERTAINLY NOT the Koch Brothers - are the real faces of America.
These men and those like them dream of a government run by, for the benefit of, the very wealthy.
Fascism anyone?
American Exceptionalism, a term that hypocrites like Scott Walker love to bandy about in speeches and fundraising solicitations, starts on the shop floors - the UNION shop floors - where real Americans struggle everyday to make ends meet.
The cancer that is Scott Walker and the Koch Brothers must be stopped.
566
great comment!
7
Frank in Pittsburgh - you nailed it -- I too grew up in Pennsylvania and I was afforded a middle class life and a college education because my parents worked in jobs in which unions got them a decent wage, health benefits, a pension, and the comfort of knowing that they were protected by an entity that could fight for them to ensure decent working conditions.
33
Heard of globalism? And, man, people sure love to conflate the callouses of private unions with the uncalloused hands of public unions.
1
Being a union member, I am still dumbfounded at how dumb our union leaders and some of my "brothers" are when they , the leaders, make decisions to support the likes of Reagan, Corbett, Walker. They really deserve what they get, but the members and American people are the ones who pay for this stupidity.
187
These union members you refer to vote for people like Reagan because they take for granted everything they have but wish to deny others those very things - which, if you think about it, is the very thing that motivates people like the Koch brothers, Walker, Ryan, and the whole crew. They would deny others the opportunity to benefit from a better employment situation, even if means killing their own goose. They all want to "pull up the ladder" they used to climb to their current position to prevent others from getting to the same position. It's called "American Exceptionalism."
7
Unions represent what proportion of Americans?
1
If I were just to take a guess, I'd say guns and the idea of entrenched racism. It's the "old white guy" thing. I know in Michigan that would be what was behind a Union member voting Republican at this point in time.
Of course in Michigan we have Rick Snyder who is just a variant flavor of Scott Walker--bought and paid for by the Kochs. Lying in his campaign and chopping up the State to sell off to his big business cronies.
We also have the UAW and the Teamsters. Those Unions, thought not as powerful as the once were won't do down as easily as Scott Walker's little Police and Teachers Unions.
Of course in Michigan we have Rick Snyder who is just a variant flavor of Scott Walker--bought and paid for by the Kochs. Lying in his campaign and chopping up the State to sell off to his big business cronies.
We also have the UAW and the Teamsters. Those Unions, thought not as powerful as the once were won't do down as easily as Scott Walker's little Police and Teachers Unions.
4
Mr. Walker appears to be the consummate reprobate: he will lie, cheat, and steal to acquire what he wants. The voters of Wisconsin have had several years to see and live with what the Governor and his legislature have wrought. I suppose the big question is: Are you really happy with the consequences of your vote?
If the unions continue to support these people and their proven anti-labor agenda, one would have to think that the members are extremely naïve and/or gullible. As the old saying goes "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice (or three times), shame on me."
I certainly hope that the members of ALL labor unions stay aware of and vigilant against these attacks, or you may well find that the wages and benefits you have taken for granted for so long will no longer be available to you and your families.
Peter Shirhall
Retired
Teamster Local 822
If the unions continue to support these people and their proven anti-labor agenda, one would have to think that the members are extremely naïve and/or gullible. As the old saying goes "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice (or three times), shame on me."
I certainly hope that the members of ALL labor unions stay aware of and vigilant against these attacks, or you may well find that the wages and benefits you have taken for granted for so long will no longer be available to you and your families.
Peter Shirhall
Retired
Teamster Local 822
157
Walker is nothing more than a tool of the most anti-democratic people in America. Across the board, his policies - nearly all of which are taken straight from ALEC documents - are drawn to reap every dollar in the Wisconsin economy for his benefactors. Anything "public" - anything owned by the people of the State of Wisconsin is there to be harvested.
The only other clear motivating force for Scott Walker's actions is gaining control over anyone who opposes him.
If either of these goals can be served by denying Wisconsin citizens their rights under the law, then so be it.
“Wisconsin has become a kind of laboratory for oligarchs to implement their political and economic agenda,” Poklinkoski said. “We’re small enough that they can carry it out. Can they carry it out on the national level? We’ll find out.”
The only other clear motivating force for Scott Walker's actions is gaining control over anyone who opposes him.
If either of these goals can be served by denying Wisconsin citizens their rights under the law, then so be it.
“Wisconsin has become a kind of laboratory for oligarchs to implement their political and economic agenda,” Poklinkoski said. “We’re small enough that they can carry it out. Can they carry it out on the national level? We’ll find out.”
226
The thing to understand about Scott Walker is not that he's especially brilliant or that his policies actually deliver what they promise. His talents lie in the area of telling people what they want to hear and getting them to buy into it while he picks their pockets. He's getting so much attention from the billionaire class because they see him as the perfect tool to undermine everything that stands in their way. He's an amoral con artist running a scam on Wisconsin, and he's going to do the same to the entire country if he gets the chance.
Walker is Professor Harold Hill - with no redeeming qualities. He's the archetypal modern GOP candidate.
Walker is Professor Harold Hill - with no redeeming qualities. He's the archetypal modern GOP candidate.
355
"His talents lie in the area of telling people what they want to hear and getting them to buy into it while he picks their pockets."
It's called TRICKLE DOWN. Reagan was a master of duping people. Walker is simply the latest in a long string of liars dating at least back to 1964.
It's called TRICKLE DOWN. Reagan was a master of duping people. Walker is simply the latest in a long string of liars dating at least back to 1964.
8
No, not Professor Harold Hill; Walker sells hate of the "other." He's more like the people who collaborated during the Occupation.
5
While he screeches on about the evils of government, he has been at the government teat for just about his entire career.
He also is trying to savage the WI public education system with some other catchy terminology while having quit college in his final semester.
Where oh where is Senator Feingold?
He also is trying to savage the WI public education system with some other catchy terminology while having quit college in his final semester.
Where oh where is Senator Feingold?
9
There are good unions and bad unions, just as there are good people and bad people, but I think we all have sense enough to know that most people are good, just as most unions represent their members in a worthwhile way. You know, the GOP, whenever they want to divide for electoral gain, always run to the First Amendment of the Constitution and frame every political meandering as free speech. Well, belonging to a union is free speech, too. Truly, in my belief, if you work in a union shop, and you don't wish to belong, fine, but just don't expect to get paid the same as union members. Don't expect to get the same benefits as union members. Don't expect representation or protection as per safety issues. Don't expect seniority to matter, as you are stuck in the same job you hired in on. And don't expect respect or friendship during your working day, either. If you don't pay dues because you have been blinded by a GOP/Fox News/ AM radio talking point like "taking away my gun" or abortion or "don't tread on me" machismo rather than understanding that it's a never-ending struggle between bottom-line corporatists and men and women trying to provide the best for their families in a day of outsourcing and globalization, then don't expect a whole lot of right-to-work sympathy from those of us who do see that Scott Walker is a poison pill for blue-collar working families.
147
So, basically you are saying join the union or else. Lovely. And what is the deal with seniority? I though talent should guide compensation.
Like many anti-union people, you mistake the employer or supervisor for the Throne of God, dispensing perfect justice.
3
Thanks for this article.
The public hearing on the "wage theft" (aka right-to-work) bill described in the first part of the piece was a sham and a shame. There were 1776 individuals and organizations who either spoke, wrote, or registered their opinions for the hearing.
Of that massive throng, 25 were in favor. TWENTY-FIVE.
But, of course, those 25 were the representatives of the big-money foregone conclusion. So the committee voted as it voted, sent it on to the bought-and-paid-for legislature, and now it's law.
The so-called democratic processes of the Wisconsin legislature are no longer representative of the people in any way, shape, or form.
Meanwhile, there's another little-noticed part of the bill that is not mentioned in the article. The bill repealed Wisconsin's long-standing statutory principles of "Employment Peace," which recognized three inter-related labor interests: the public, employers, and employees. The stricken language included the following: "It is the policy of the state to protect and promote each of these interests with due regard to the situation and to the rights of the others." GONE.
And: "Industrial peace, regular and adequate income for the employee, and uninterrupted production of goods and services are promotive of all of these interests."
GONE.
Think about this too, America, when you consider Scott Walker's presidential campaign.
The public hearing on the "wage theft" (aka right-to-work) bill described in the first part of the piece was a sham and a shame. There were 1776 individuals and organizations who either spoke, wrote, or registered their opinions for the hearing.
Of that massive throng, 25 were in favor. TWENTY-FIVE.
But, of course, those 25 were the representatives of the big-money foregone conclusion. So the committee voted as it voted, sent it on to the bought-and-paid-for legislature, and now it's law.
The so-called democratic processes of the Wisconsin legislature are no longer representative of the people in any way, shape, or form.
Meanwhile, there's another little-noticed part of the bill that is not mentioned in the article. The bill repealed Wisconsin's long-standing statutory principles of "Employment Peace," which recognized three inter-related labor interests: the public, employers, and employees. The stricken language included the following: "It is the policy of the state to protect and promote each of these interests with due regard to the situation and to the rights of the others." GONE.
And: "Industrial peace, regular and adequate income for the employee, and uninterrupted production of goods and services are promotive of all of these interests."
GONE.
Think about this too, America, when you consider Scott Walker's presidential campaign.
140
One third of union households voted for Walker. Man, Americans are more stupid than I thought. We no longer think of the collective welfare of our fellows, rather we are an "every man for himself" dystopia.
295
It's not stupidity its conditioning. American people have been taught to not like unions.
3
Maybe the 1/3 of union households that voted for Walker were tired of being FORCED to pay union dues to a union they did not support. Maybe the 1/3 are smarter than you think.
5
Of course. Thanks to the Republican Party and the Reagan "revolution" it is Social Darwinism all the way now in the USA.
3
On issues for the people, republicans can't be trusted. They prove it over and over but the union leaders keep falling for their falsehoods.
53
This is a tipping point issue, in the sense that so few people have union jobs, that those that don't, actually resent those that do. "Why should they get a cushy job at high wages, when I have none of that?"
That picture of the union guys, "on break", is a perfect example. They can be caught goofing off, not working, and just talking, and the standard answer is they are simply, "on break." In a competitive field you would simply be fired.
Great health care, high wages, retirement, insanely rare out in the real world. And, unions simply got there by extorting the concessions from a business that, if they can, eventually just exports the jobs overseas. Cops and teachers will be the only ones left in unions in the U.S., and all they do is complain about how hard their jobs are. My answer to that is, go get a job in the real world, and find out what, "work", is.
That picture of the union guys, "on break", is a perfect example. They can be caught goofing off, not working, and just talking, and the standard answer is they are simply, "on break." In a competitive field you would simply be fired.
Great health care, high wages, retirement, insanely rare out in the real world. And, unions simply got there by extorting the concessions from a business that, if they can, eventually just exports the jobs overseas. Cops and teachers will be the only ones left in unions in the U.S., and all they do is complain about how hard their jobs are. My answer to that is, go get a job in the real world, and find out what, "work", is.
20
You write “great health care, high salaries, and retirement,” like those are things that people should be ashamed of.
The idea that those things ARE rare is what should bother you.
The goal of a society shouldn’t be to bring down the ones with good jobs but to ensure all people who are willing to work to also have those good jobs.
But you don’t think cops or teachers actually work because they’re not in the “real world;” whatever that means.
The idea that those things ARE rare is what should bother you.
The goal of a society shouldn’t be to bring down the ones with good jobs but to ensure all people who are willing to work to also have those good jobs.
But you don’t think cops or teachers actually work because they’re not in the “real world;” whatever that means.
12
"Cops and teachers will be the only ones left in unions in the U.S., and all they do is complain about how hard their jobs are. My answer to that is, go get a job in the real world, and find out what, "work", is."
You haven't been in a school classroom in some time, eh?
You haven't been in a school classroom in some time, eh?
12
What on earth leads you to believe that teachers
and cops have jobs that are not involved in the real world? What
a bizarre thing to say. I have had cops and teachers
in my family and their jobs were very well grounded
in the real world, every day.
and cops have jobs that are not involved in the real world? What
a bizarre thing to say. I have had cops and teachers
in my family and their jobs were very well grounded
in the real world, every day.
7
In his first campaign for governor, Walker said nothing about Act 10 but immediately after his election, Walker and the WI GOP killed public sector unions. Act 10 had to be planned but was never mentioned. Had he not lied by omission, he might not have been elected.
In response to the recall effort-- which not only targeted Walker but also a number of WI GOP state legislators-- they redistricted and gerrymandered the state to protect their tight grip on the state legislature.
In his most recent campaign, Walker lied about RTW, ingenuously dismissing it. But he knew the WI GOP would hand it to him on a platter right after the election and happily signed off on it. Again, had he been honest, he might not have been re-elected.
Prior to his re-election, we heard nothing about destruction of our state university system. We heard about the proposed huge funding cut but nothing about gutting state law governing UW System, the legal foundation for shared governance and tenure that's made UW System exceptional.
Walker's now stacked the Board of Regents with his appointees as well as replacing the president of UW System administration. The Board will now run UW System top down-- students, staff and faculty will no longer be legally empowered partners in running it. His newest appointee to the Board is the son of one of his PAC leaders.
This man lies shamelessly. He despises democracy and worships power. He cannot be trusted. Be warned.
In response to the recall effort-- which not only targeted Walker but also a number of WI GOP state legislators-- they redistricted and gerrymandered the state to protect their tight grip on the state legislature.
In his most recent campaign, Walker lied about RTW, ingenuously dismissing it. But he knew the WI GOP would hand it to him on a platter right after the election and happily signed off on it. Again, had he been honest, he might not have been re-elected.
Prior to his re-election, we heard nothing about destruction of our state university system. We heard about the proposed huge funding cut but nothing about gutting state law governing UW System, the legal foundation for shared governance and tenure that's made UW System exceptional.
Walker's now stacked the Board of Regents with his appointees as well as replacing the president of UW System administration. The Board will now run UW System top down-- students, staff and faculty will no longer be legally empowered partners in running it. His newest appointee to the Board is the son of one of his PAC leaders.
This man lies shamelessly. He despises democracy and worships power. He cannot be trusted. Be warned.
292
I am from Wisconsin and Walker has been elected three times by the people of the state and a majority of the people support both Act 10 and passing "right to work". None of the dire predictions by the unions and Democrats happened after the passage of Act 10.
Walker is a conservative that enacted conservative policies. What a surprise.
Walker is a conservative that enacted conservative policies. What a surprise.
9
Wisconsin knew his backers and their agenda. He goes at it one union at a time, starting with teachers, mostly women. Public sector, then on to the next and the next and the next. How did he get reelected? It looked like lambs to the slaughter, and you guys are just an audition?
5
Former Wisconsin Governor Robert La Folette would weep.
82
The Dems should run him post mortem, they're already resurrecting Feingold.
If you like weekends,
Thank a Union.
If you like child labor laws, the 40 hour workweek, overtime pay, unemployment insurance, workers compensation,
Thank a Union.
Carnegie, Frick, Rockefeller, Pullman, Ford did not give away these things.
Americans fought, many died, right here in the always exceptional US of A, for these things.
born, Homestead Hospital, as in, Homestead Steel Strike
Thank a Union.
If you like child labor laws, the 40 hour workweek, overtime pay, unemployment insurance, workers compensation,
Thank a Union.
Carnegie, Frick, Rockefeller, Pullman, Ford did not give away these things.
Americans fought, many died, right here in the always exceptional US of A, for these things.
born, Homestead Hospital, as in, Homestead Steel Strike
242
Well said.
6
If you like mob ties and extortion, thank a union.
6
If you want future serfdom, thank the Kochs.
8
History repeats its self again and again. In the 1870's and 1880's business bought politicians who passed laws that punished and laborer who dared say anything, by the 1900's wretched conditions and genuine health threats in food packaging and industrial accidents forced change. The 1930's saw a realization capitalism had to have a heart and soul or vanish in revolution. Today a generation of Republicans ignorant of past lessons and indifferent to cause and effect send us back to square one! The 2020's will resemble the troubles of the 1880's when labor was crushed and the 2030's well no FDR this time. Why can't we learn the obvious? Business and labor should be partners, state and citizens the same.
101
You're mostly right in analysis there, except for the part about history "repeating" itself, which it does not. The key to what you mean, "....ignorant of past lessons and indifferent to cause and effect...." is what is mistaken for "history repeating itself."
Republicants and their sheep are averse to all form of fact, whether historical, scientific, or otherwise.
1
Scott Walker embodies the policies and principles that I loathe most.
111
The right to work laws benefit the owner, not the employee. The article is correct where the cost to the taxpayer for most government projects is roughly the same for a union versus non union workforce but the wage rate for the non union worker is less. (at least in my red state). Repealing the prevailing wage laws give an advantage to large companies from outside and area and reduce the ability of both union and non union local businesses to compete for government work. As to Walker and Act 10 and the unions, what did Wisconsin gain from the law? Teachers leaving the profession, good teachers being hired away to other states, acrimony between school boards and unions that previously had amicable relationships that worked. At the same time, we do not hear much about Walker's economic "success" other than the unemployment rate. The job growth, wage growth, and economic growth lags its neighbors while state debt continues to climb. Graduates now look outside the state after graduation for better pay and benefits. It is good to see the NYT start to reveal the truth behind the false Walker revolution that increases cost to the taxpayer and reduces the benefit to the workers.
283
My union consistently backs Republican candidates because of their "law and order" stance plus hate of President Obama. They"ll likely do the same in 2016. One day they'll wake up and find labor unions have been legislated out of existence under a Republican president. The race back to 1915 wages and working conditions is already well underway in 25 states.
200
I agree with Tom about unions and Wisconsin. I hope the Times continue to show Walker for what he is, what he represents. I believe he will be the GOP candidate and I am fearful that he will be the next president. I sometimes wish that someone like him will be elected and let the country and the rest of the world (remember his trip to Europe) see him for what he is. It would be the REAL end of days.
7
""....ignorant of past lessons and indifferent to cause and effect....""
I hear the same from union members everywhere, hatred of Obama, and "liberals" in general. They sound just like right-wing talk radio. I warn them that Fascism-Lite might sound good, and be less filling, but in the end, they're not going to like what they wished for.
I hear the same from union members everywhere, hatred of Obama, and "liberals" in general. They sound just like right-wing talk radio. I warn them that Fascism-Lite might sound good, and be less filling, but in the end, they're not going to like what they wished for.
10