Marty Beil, time to update your resume. John Matthews, get a hold of the Help Wanted section of your local newspaper. Soon you will be out of work.
Friday is when Gov. Scott Walker lowers the boom on government employees unions. As he has promised.
Not just for state employees unions but for municipal, county, and university and K-12 school unions -- the right to negotiate labor contracts all government unions in the State of Wisconsin will be outlawed eliminated. Friday, the new governor will announce that he will seek legislation undoing Gaylord Nelson's 1959 grant of labor union organizing rights to government employees. Wisconsin was the first in that regard. JFK soon followed by granting the right to federal employees.
This does not violate federal labor law because Washington has authority only over private industry, not other government agencies.
Neither FDR nor AFL-CIO boss George Meany ever thought it appropriate for government workers to unionize. For, whom do they organize against? The taxpayer.
Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels did the same in Indiana five years ago. Unlike Indiana, Wisconsin's Gov. Walker will need the approval of the state legislature. That legislature is 19-15 Republican in the Senate and 60-38-1 in the Assembly. Walker will get his way, in triplicate. He'll get that vote sooner rather than later.
The statewide teachers union saw it was encircled, hunkered down in its bunker, and asked for terms on Tuesday, acceding to merit pay and breaking up the failed Milwaukee public school district. Too little, too late.
Friday's announcement is part of the budget repair bill, seeking to repair a $3.6 billion biennial shortfall. AFSCME is on alert.
Public employee unions have used up their good will among the public. Milwaukee public schools are a disaster zone and on what issue does its teacher's union go to the mattresses? Taxpayer-subsidized Viagra.
In December, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel said "the governor-elect is right to get tough with government employee unions. ... There is little doubt that a fed-up public is on his side."
The scandal is that Scott McDonell's County Board locked the county into a four-year deal with its union. But when unions are illegal ... a good question.
Along the way, Wisconsin will become a right-to-work state, which would give private sector employees the freedom to choose whether they wanted to belong and pay union dues.
Buckle your seat belts, folks. It's going to be a bumpy few months. The National Guard might be in play.
There is a reason Chris Christie came to Wisconsin to campaign for Scott Walker.
Hike 'em up, son
Recently installed Judge Gene Gasiorkiewicz (is that a name or is that a name!?) implemented a dress code for attorneys, witnesses and defendants in his courtroom. A Racine County supervisor wants to ban people showing their undies in the courthouse itself.
The Racine Journal-Times says no law is necessary but agrees "that doesn't mean folks can't have some sense and some respect for other people."
Blaming Da System
Huh? Can anyone decipher this from The Nation?
In his new Kabuki Democracy, bestselling author and Nation columnist Eric Alterman explores why President Barack Obama has been unable to deliver on the promise of his 2008 campaign. He argues that while Obama's compromises have disappointed many of his supporters, his failure is primarily due to a political system that stymies democracy when voters choose progressive change.
Darn those Founders for stymieing progressive change!
