responsibility and more sanity for state budgets. However, it is clear that
the Democrats didn't get the message from last fall's elections. Wisconsin,
Indiana and Ohio seem to be ground zero for this fight with Wisconsin being
the worst of it.
In Wisconsin, Gov.Scott Walker introduced a budget repair bill that seeks to
reign in costs by reigning in union power among other things. It asks that
public employees pay 12.6% toward their health care costs, well below the
national average of 29% for combined public/private match. It also seeks
5.8% toward their pension where they now contribute nothing. This bill also
removes collective bargaining for everything except wages and strips unions
in the public sector of the right to force payment of union dues. The
collective bargaining changes would allow managers to set the rules rather
than the unions. Right now reporting times are set in the contracts so that
if there is an event outside of those hours, time and a half must be paid
for setup whereas hours could be adjusted for this if this were not part of
the contract. That's just one example.
The disconnect that you see between the union leadership and the rank and
file is huge. The leaders are the ones who are all worried about these
changes because they know they will lose power. The leaders are the ones
who are scared of losing the compulsory dues payments because they know
union membership is down. Instead of fighting over compulsory dues payment,
union leaders ought to be working on ways to make sure they are representing
their members and remaining relevant to their members rather than protecting
their precious six-figure salaries. If leaders are doing such a good job,
why is union membership down? It's down because the rank and file workers
don't see the leaders or the unions as looking out for their interest. The
leaders are seen as looking out for their own interests and protecting
themselves.
Unions are also seen as arms of the Democratic party. Money gained from
compulsory dues is then funneled to the Democratic party and the result is
what you are seeing in Madison right now. You now have Democrats who are
hiding out in a location outside of Wisconsin in order to stall the passage
of the bill. They are acting like children rather than attending the
session an dbeing a part of the process. If they disagree with parts of the
budget repair bill,then they should be in the Capitol doing their job and
debating the bill. They should be voicing their disagreements and offering
solutions of their own. They should be answerable to their constituents
which they now are not. There are now recall efforts under way on 8 of the
14 AWOL Wisconsin Democrats. These AWOL senators now must go to Madison
directly to the Senate floor while the Senate is in session in order to pick
up their checks as a rule change allows for this requirement of anyone who
has missed two days in a row of session. The Democrats in the senate
qualify under this requirement.
In short, the Democrats and their union paymasters need to grow up, do their
jobs and be part of the process. The people spoke in the November elections
and they're saying that the out-of-controll spending is unsustainable. Get
back to work and do your job whether you are from Wisconsin or Indiana. I'm
tired of Illinois being the hub of this activity but when you have a Chicago
politician in the White House, this is what you're going to get.
It's time for civilized political debate where views are exchanged and
serious conversations are held. It's time to dispense with the child's
play and the temper tantrums. Last time I checked, these Democrats were
adults; but they sure arent' behaving like adults. I've got one message for
them, grow up and do your job.
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