If You Live In Wisconsin, Don't Forget To Set Your Clocks Back 50 Years This Weekend
Meanwhile; Wisconsin Protesters Refuse to Quit.
 |
| Tractors Roll Into Madison on Saturday to Protest |
Labels: Gov Walker, Union Busting, Wisconsin
Posted by Unknown @ 3/12/2011 10:36:00 AM
27 Comments:
Give it up, the economy can't take the union costs anymore. One issue teachers medical benefits, why do they have to purchase thru the union's choice at a higher cost? Do they get a percentage? WHy do they care as long as the benefits are the same, it shouldn't matter. They cost would be cheaper thru the state's benefits package. Plus union workers saving and utilizing vacation and sick pay to bolster up their retirements! No it should be based on your job classification salary pay.
I mean really, a sanitation worker making 50k saves vacation and sick pay, then uses seniority to get all the overtime and uses all three to in last two years of work to make 159k in last year and his retirement gets him a retirement way over! WHO gets that in the real world?
It's out of control, and tax payers no longer have the dollars to support these ridiculous pensions!
Besides saving over 1500 jobs, and keeping 1500 families from living out of their cars and in homeless shelters, I think this Governor had no choice but to move forward to save his state.
The unions wouldn't compromise...they believe last one in, first one out. So who cares what happened to that union paying dues member?
And most importantly, they don't care what happens to the residents of their state either. Only themselves...
I am definitely not saying unions are bad, but I am saying we all have to help each other and compromise to keep as many as possibly employed. Plus we all have to understand there is only so much money for services and programs that our states, counties and cities provide.
And why are all of these clowns from everywhere else making things worse? They should be in their own states working things out to help in this budget crisis!
Government employees work for the people. We don't work for them. Of course when we don't have it, it's not there for them to have extras and work the system and manipulate it to receive benefits never intended when bargaining took place...
How many union presidents and staff members have you heard of give up their salaries when the union they govern is on strike to help their workers? NONE
Union Busting, no they busted themselves...
Wheres Charlie Sheen
It's a done deal Joe.........all of the whining and nashing of teeth will not change this. The Japan earthquake has put this tired story on page A-35, where it belongs!!
JOE,
IT IS TOO BAD THAT THE ELECTED DEMOCRATS IN WISCONSIN DIDN'T SHOW UP TO DEBATE THE ISSUE.
IF THEY HAD, PERHAPS THEY'D HAVE WON OVER A COUPLE OF VOTES TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
ABSENTEEISM RARELY WINS WARS.
6:53 makes a great point, Joe.
Would you agree that the Dems would have been better off showing up for the work they were elected to do, and to at least make their points in the debate?
Now, it feels like the people who were supposed to speak up for the union members just shined them on, when they should have been there to speak their piece.
The Dems did the right thing by leaving the state to stop the advancement of a bad law. They wanted
to gain national attention to the issue, and also give some of the Republicans the time to really reflect on the real damage this law would do to middle class workers and even their own careers. They have succeeded in bringing major attention to an unpopular law presented by a union busting governor. They have succeeded in creating what will be successful recall campaigns against 9 Republicans and Gov. Walker. The Republicans have succeeded in giving Wisconsin to President Obama in 2012. The Wisconsin 14 are national heroes, and the labor movement is reinvigorated like never before.
The disaster in Japan is God's punishment for Republican's banning collective bargaining in Wisconsin.
Coincidence that Gov Walker signed the bill into law and then hours later the earthquake struck? I think not.
Joe.......You REALLY believe that!?? Wow!....ok, live in your utopian dream. What you saw were "rent a mobs"..and therefore NOT reflective of the Wisconsin electorate......Sorry to dissapoint you....Not going to happen!
9:38, The polls prove me right. Overwhelming opposition to ending collective bargaining in Wisconsin and across the nation. Very bad over reach by Gov Walker.
We will see Joe......In 4 months....tell me how the recall is going? OK? Out o sight, out o mind.............This will run out of steam within weeks....mark my words!!
One more thing Joe......If you guys pull off a recall....then I say "Bravo" for your side! I just dont see it in the cards.
10:19, I cannot sign a recall petition as I am not a resident of Wisconsin, but I have sent them a little money to help the cause. I think they'll do well.
Joe....the one thing I admire you for is your altruism. I really DO think you care.....However....the times are changing....taxes are too high....unions are entrenched, unfortunately, and are collecting dues from people who DO NOT want to be part of the union.
Do you think it is fair to "extort" money from people who want nothing to do with the union in the first place?? Come on Joe....be honest. Shouldn't it be a choice??
Joe, this story will not even make the funny pages in 2012 because the economy will still be stagnant even then.
No one is going to care about selfish union demands when we are all still sucking gas.
The workers will still have civil service protection and decent benefits - that's all they are entitled to.
Joe B, Why does Higby continue to label the LATalkRadio internet talk show as radio? It is an internet podcast, It is not radio. Is this just wishful thinking on Higby's part?
You don't just have to live in Wisconsin to go "Back to the Future," Los Angeles is about to step backwards to the McCarthy Era if City Attorney Carmen "the Clown" Trutanich manages to pull the wool over the City Clowncil's eyes with his latest sneaky plan to get more money, power and control.
It's called the "ACE" Program and it sets up a bunch of Kangaroo Courts that Trutanich controls. He gets to appoint his favored Deputy City Attorneys to be Judges, they get to fine residents for minor violations of the Municipal Code, and the fines go to the General Fund. Of course, the fines go to the General Fund after Trutanich has taken his vig for the costs of running the program.
Oh, Trutanich gets to have Subpoena powers to make up for what he lost when the Clowncil ruined his Grand Jury power-grab.
The whole thing is riddled with potential violations of Due Process and conflicts of interest, but Trutanich is selling it as a money making scheme to stop Sacramento from getting the revenue from fines for criminal prosecutions.
Don't believe it? Check out Council File 10-0085 and read it really carefully, because Trutanich probably hopes nobody else will.
Thanks for supporting the Wisconsin union members, Mayor Sam. The comments here are not surprising, unfortunately. Look at the guy complaining that sanitation workers make a "whopping" $50,000 a year (before taxes, etc.) Guess this dude thinks they only deserve minimum wage, even though it's one of the most necessary jobs in tour city. And he says those of us supporting the unions are "clowns." He should take a little "time travel" journey back to....say.....1907, when women and children toiled in factories up to 14 hours a day with no union to protect them and no "benefits," either. And obviously it's okay with him that Wisconin state workers have lost their collective bargaining rights. The ignorant people supporting the Wisconsin governor already set their clocks (and brains) back 50 years. Or actually, it's more like 100 years. This reminds me of a friend's mother, when I was a kid. She was a telephone operator and refused to join her union, saying it was "communistic." Yet, after the union went on strike and won a wage increase, she happily accepted the "communist" pay raise. She didn't turn down the higher salary or benefits, even though she hated the union which fought for her rights as a worker.
Morning Joe B. Just because you say something "is," doesn't make it so.
What's happening in Wisconsin, is about to also happen in Ohio and Indiana.
You are entitled to delude yourself about this, like you are deluded in thinking Obama will get a second term. But your wanting something doesn't make it so.
It's history repeating itself: "The laws grinds the poor, but the rich grind the law."
Those that make the minimum wage, always envy those that make a dollar an hour more. I remember when the minimum wage was $4.65 and hour. I was jealous of anyone making $6.00 an hour, doing the same work.
As for a Sanitation Refuse Collection Truck Operator? That's where I started in 1989: hand lifting a minimum 20,000 lbs a day, and that's not including the eminent surgeries involved with this work.
And as for the money that we're missing in this budget crisis: the truth is that it was misspent, mismanaged, gifted away in tax breaks, went uncollected and was the victim of fraud, waste, corruption and abuse.
Can we, now, expect change? No, 12% of the eligible voters decided that they want the status quo. Fasten your seat-belts and load up on the Excedrin; it's gonna be a bumpy ride.
methinks the elected Dems should have shown up to work to state their case.
too bad they copped out and ran away to illinois.
10:19am. Yes, it is "History repeating itself." Time are hard and people are depressed and despondent, it's no wonder they are apathetic. The current economic climate is the perfect storm for glib-talking glad-handing phonies to grab more power with false promises. Trutanich is the perfect example, and his "ACE" Program is exactly the kind of phony play that we need to be aware of. Political Pantloads has a very clear analysis of everything that's wrong with this plan.
I think the issue of our tax and rate dollars paying for unions to contribute to, and endorse, the candidates of their choice is a big conflict.
Union fees should cover basic protections and operations, but none of the tax and rate acquired fees should cover campaign contributions, or any lobbying efforts for that matter. This seems to be a violation of their non-profit status. Lobbying efforts are used to financially benefit their members. Union members' fees used to cover campaign endorsements (mailers, etc) should be forbidden.
If unions wish to continue in this vein, then their non-profit status should be revoked.
To me,what was voted on should have just been enforced from the get go.
If the workers would have been ready to donate part of what they pay to their unions for health care, this may not have occurred.
The hard edge bargaining by the labor leaders have caused this to happen, just like the hard edge bargaining by management caused the unions to be formed years ago.
The moral of the story is that both sides need to come to the table early to avert action like we witnessed in Wisconsin.
Tell us how much you sent so we can send an offsetting amount to the Governor.
Unfortunately for the rest of the union members in other places, this revolt by the taxpayers against unsustainable pensions is growing like Topsy. Look for even Jerry Brown to take up the cause.
Sorry Joe, if you think that a poll, taken in the heat of an inflammatory issue will be the same in four months, you need to go back and take a course in Politics 101.
9:05 PM: As a dues paying union member, I agree that union management should not be forcing the members to endorse political candidates or objectives, which are not of their choosing. We, as members, are partly to blame for this because we, like the voters in the City of LA, are apathetic to the point of not even bothering to attend union meetings or participate in the voting for elected union officers.
But, understand this; the law says that once you hand money over to the union, it becomes "their" money. Just as in when employees get paid for their services, it becomes the property of the employees.
The management of the union is supposed to use a separate voluntary membership fund called a Committee On Political Education (COPE) fund. The line sometimes gets blurred when it comes to political and job related issues and enforcement of our By-laws is as prevalent as enforcing Jay-Walking tickets.
We, as apathetic members, will have to take the blame for this.
Does everyone realize that a huge portion of the union fees collected from government employees is going to politicians that the individual workers don't even support?
If the unions would just do their jobs in the workplace, they'd have a place in this country.
But that's not what it is all about. It is about bribing politicians. Mostly Democrats.
Civil Service Employees across the country have had to sue just to find out where their money is going!
This theft of politicial action money from Civil Service employees will eventually be declared unconstitutional.
Wisconsin is not moving backwards, it is moving forward.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home