l****z
发帖数: 29846 | 1 By KRIS MAHER and AMY MERRICK
Playing a game of political chicken, Democratic senators who fled Wisconsin
to stymie restrictions on public-employee unions said Sunday they planned to
come back from exile soon, betting that even though their return will allow
the bill to pass, the curbs are so unpopular they'll taint the state's
Republican governor and legislators.
Union solidarity rallies continue outside the Wisconsin Capitol as filmmaker
Michael Moore tells the crowd that America is not broke, but that the elite
controls the money. Video courtesy of NewsCore.
The Wisconsin standoff, which drew thousands of demonstrators to occupy the
capitol in Madison for days at a time, has come to highlight efforts in
other states to address budget problems in part by limiting the powers and
benefits accorded public-sector unions.
Sen. Mark Miller said he and his fellow Democrats intend to let the full
Senate vote on Gov. Scott Walker's "budget-repair" bill, which includes the
proposed limits on public unions' collective bargaining rights. The bill,
which had been blocked because the missing Democrats were needed for the
Senate to have enough members present to consider the bill, is expected to
pass the Republican-controlled chamber.
More U.S. News
He said he thinks recent polls showing voter discontent with Mr. Walker over
limits on bargaining rights have been "disastrous" for the governor and
give Democrats more leverage to seek changes in a broader two-year budget
bill Mr. Walker proposed Tuesday.
But Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said Sunday night
that the "budget repair" bill can not be amended at this point. But it's
possible that over the next few weeks adjustments could be made to Mr.
Walker's broader budget plan. "This bill will pass. The collective
bargaining piece has to pass. If it doesn't the governor's budget doesn't
work," he said.
Mr. Miller declined to say how soon the Democratic senators, who left for
Illinois on Feb. 17, would return. He said the group needed to address
several issues first—including the resolution Senate Republicans passed
last week that holds the Democrats in contempt and orders police to detain
them when they return to Wisconsin.
"We are now looking at returning to the state capitol and requiring the
senators to take a vote and have them declare who they're with — the
workers or the governor," Mr. Miller said.
Amid the public demonstrations and Democratic walk-out, the two sides have
been negotiating. Mr. Fitzgerald said the governor is negotiating through
two staff members with two Democrats, Sen. Bob Jauch and Sen. Tim Cullen.
And last week, Mr. Fitzgerald met a week ago with Mr. Jauch and another
Democrat in Kenosha.
Mr. Jauch said some people have suggested the lawmakers remain in Illinois
for months while recall efforts of Republican senators proceed. He said that
would be difficult for one senator who is seven months pregnant.
"I think we have to realize that there's only so much we can do as a group
to make a stand," Mr. Jauch said. "It's really up to the public to be
engaged in carrying the torch on this issue."
Before Sunday's developments, Mr. Walker said he would not be swayed by the
polls. "If I governed by polls I'd still be in the state Assembly," Mr.
Walker said on Friday. "I won reelection twice as county executive in an
area of the state that went two-thirds for President Obama by identifying a
problem, telling people how I was going to deal with it, and then moving
forward with the solution."
Chris Schrimpf, a spokesman for the governor, said Sunday that Mr. Walker "
looks forward to the Senate Democrats returning as soon as possible."
Mr. Miller said the Democrats also want to fight Mr. Walker's recently
announced two-year budget plan, which cuts spending by $4.2 billion, or 6.7%
, including $1.25 billion less in state aid to schools and local governments.
Mr. Walker's bill would prohibit bargaining over health care and pensions
for about 170,000 public employees in the state and would allow public
employees to opt out of paying dues or belonging to a union.
The bill also would end the automatic collection of dues by the state, and
require that every public-employee union get recertified to represent
workers through an annual election.
As the standoff in Wisconsin has dragged on, several polls showed majorities
of Wisconsin voters disapproving of Mr. Walker's plan as it affects public
employees. At the same time, the governor maintains strong support among
Republicans. He also has significant backing from voters for his plan to
have union members pay more out of their salaries toward their pensions and
health care. A poll released Friday by Rasmussen Reports, based on a phone
survey conducted March 2 of 800 likely Wisconsin voters, found 52% of them
opposed weakening collective-bargaining rights, while 39% were in favor.
When asked whether state workers should take a 10% pay cut—roughly the
equivalent of the governor's plan—44% supported the move and 38% were
opposed.
A poll by the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, which calls itself the
state's "free-market think tank," showed that more voters, particularly
independents, disapproved of the governor than in a similar survey by the
institute in November. Republican voters' support remained basically
unchanged from the fall. The poll was based on phone interviews of 603
Wisconsin residents and conducted Feb. 27-March 1. Both polls had a margin
of error of 4 percentage points.
The results of both polls were echoed in a recent poll by The Wall Street
Journal / NBC News, which found that 62% of Americans oppose efforts to
strip unionized government workers of their rights to collectively bargain,
even as they want public employees to contribute more money to their
retirement and health-care benefits. The poll was based on nationwide
telephone interviews of 1,000 adults, conducted from Feb. 24-28, by the
polling organizations of Peter D. Hart and Bill McInturff.
Mark Jefferson, head of the Wisconsin GOP, said polls reflected the big
campaign unions have launched in the state. "The millions of dollars in
national union money for advertising have been effective at getting the
union message out," he said.
He said even after Mr. Walker's plan is passed, the state's public workers
will still have more collective bargaining rights than federal workers and
more bargaining rights than the more than 80% of the state's workers that
don't belong to unions.
Several big public-sector unions in Wisconsin have already said they would
agree to fiscal concessions in Mr. Walker's bill, including contributing 5.8
% out of their pay to pensions and 12.6% out of their wages for health care
premiums, up from 6% on average today. But they object to ending bargaining
rights and other changes.
Write to Kris Maher at k********[email protected] and Amy Merrick at amy.merrick@wsj
.com | l****z
发帖数: 29846 | 2 * NEIL SAARI replied:
I am a native of Wisconsin and I dispute your assertions. The vast majority
of people who respond to slanted poll questions are not properly informed to
understand the true environment of public sector unions in this state. They
do not realize that the teachers unions get their puppets elected to school
boards and that there is no one representing the taxpayers on one side of
the table during this alleged “bargaining”.
Witness the school boards around the state who are currently trying to
quickly ram a contract through before Walker’s bill becomes law. Why would
they do such a thing if they knew that the taxpayers would get a better deal
if they waited? Are they the representative of the taxpayer on one side of
the bargaining table? Of course not!
In addition, you and many of Walkers critics along with the media constantly
and incorrectly refer to worker “rights”. As I have stated in numerous
WSJ posts on this subject, there is no “right” to collective bargaining in
Wisconsin. It was a “privilege” that was foolishly provided by the 1959
Legislature and it’s time has come and gone. “Rights” are things provided
by state and federal constitutions that can only be changed by
extraordinary procedures. “Privileges” are accommodations that can be
changed by executive fiat. Federal employees do not and have never had
collective bargaining “rights” and they get along just fine. |
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