In WI: They did it. They took our collective bargaining.
Late last night the WI Supreme Court lifted the restraining order placed by Judge Sumi. Sumi ruled that the collective bargaining law would not go into effect because the state legislature proceeded to vote on the bill in violation of Wisconsin’s Open Meeting Law. The Supreme Court, with Judge Prosser in a still controversial election result, had kept the conservative majority. Many in the state believe that Prosser won the election through a series of fraudulent activities. The state of WI rests in the hands of GOP lawmakers, judges, and the most tyrannical Governor this state has ever seen.
Rumors of longer work days for significantly less money, less sick days, more work days on the calandar, removing workers' rights in deciding health plans, removing workers' rights in grievance processes, all have been discussed as possiblilities among people on the ground here. None of these are fiscal matters – every single one proves to diminish the power and morale of workers while increasing the power of bosses. Every one of these demands diminishes workers’ ability to care for their own families and their voice in their own lives. In the end, we'll have to wait and see how the newly empowered choose to wield that power.
WI workers – work more for less.
WI corporations – work less for more.
On top of all of that, the state legislators are rushing to pass years worth of bills within a matter of months. They have already passed the “Voter I.D. Bill” which effectively makes WI the most difficult state in the country to vote in (doesn’t affect the recall elections). They are set to roll back child labor laws in the state. Yes, you read that correctly. They passed a law that makes it legal to carry a concealed weapon without the proper training. Yes, you read that correctly too.
We are becoming a 3rd world country.
I haven’t been around OS much because I realized I could be more effective by collecting the stories of people on the ground here – and getting them a wider audience. It seems to be working. “WI Voices” is now being read by hundreds and is in local online papers in WI Senate District 10 in the “areavoices” sections. I interview regular people – social workers, farmers, correctional officer. They tell personal stories in the fight for Wisconsin.
On the ground here - volunteers are also canvassing our cities every single week talking to voters about what is happening. We are making sure that they show up to vote in the July 12 primary (because the GOP is shamelessly running fake democrats to push the recall elections back 30 days.) The additionally primary will cost the tax payers $400,000. Then we need to make sure voters show up for the real election on August 9. We plan on hitting every door in our city at least 3 times to make sure people know the importance of this election – our chance to take back our state if we can win at least 3 of the 6 recall elections. My husband and I, along with a local math teacher as our treasurer, have also started a grassroots Political Action Committee. Our PAC sells t-shirts in order to raise money to buy yard signs for our community, make literature to drop on cars and houses, pay the bands at a District 10 rally/jam happening next weekend, and other things. Our porch has become the “office” in our city with a place to pick up signs and shirts and a sheet to sign out. My husband has a massive email list of hundreds of people who can all stay in the loop with community and state events.
We are not done. We won’t stop.
But we have our moments of weakness. This morning, I did something that I don’t often do in front of people. I cried. My 3-year-old saw me.
“Mama, why are you crying?”
“Oh, Walker is being especially mean today hon.”
“What did he do?”
“He said that we can’t say anything when things bother us. We have to be quiet.”
“You don’t need to cry Mama. That’s why you and Daddy go to meetings, remember?”
I hugged him then. Yes, I remember now.
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Daniel Geery
Desnee Flakes
Chauncey DeVega
Kate O'hehir
inthisdeepcalm
Robert Greenwald
Salon.com
Comments
I tried to add links in this for you all - to do your own research. But OS must have some technical stuff going on? Or maybe it is my computer - but I couldn't site my sources like I usually do...
I'll have a busy day - so let me thank you all ahead of time for checking in here...
solidarity
On the other hand... I am REALLY trying to figure out WHY the (TOTALLY AND PROVABLY FALSE) claim that requiring identification to vote somehow violates anyone's right to vote. There are, all told, a minimum of EIGHT ways that any given voter can "prove" residency and identification... FURTHERMORE on the BACK side of EVERY one of the slips that you fill out in a state where ID is required (per FEDERAL Law) there is a statement where the voter can certify that they are who they claim to be and do reside where they claim to reside which only needs an election official to "sign off" on it saying that they believe the voter is telling the truth. In any given election where I am an election official I sign dozens of those statements without ever thinking about it. Now, I suppose, if someone wants to "pick nits" over the identification thing they could but the "nit picker" isn't going to be ME... *I* tend to presume that people (a) know who the heck they are and (b) know where they live and since I am usually the body checking people in I'm the body who is looking to see if the address on the form matches the address on the poll list.
Just wait until Electronic Poll Books arrive in WI.
We now have something called "collaborative conferencing", which is pretty much equivalent to groveling and begging.
Dues deduction will be eliminated in most places, which has nothing to do with "education reform", of course, and everything to do with starving the union financially.
We have also lost the ability to use any money for vaguely defined "political activity", which again has nothing to do with "education reform" and everything to do with making sure Democrats are weakened in the legislature.
Rated.
Considering the profound response and will to fight Wisconsin's citizens have shown to Walker's worker-hostile policies, I have a feeling he's whacked the hornet's nest. While it looks like he won the latest battle, people will hopefully be so angry at this outrage that he'll be the one to get stung the worst.
I'm proud of you and so sorry you're having to put up with this jackass governor.
FIght on, Wisconsin!
rated.
Just remember that Guv Dubya himself will face his own recall in just about 7 mos. Know that his actions and inactions are all the damage that Rethuglicans there can wreak before they're overcome.
Between now and then, make sure you continue to educate those around you, and the rest of us out here.
And google: it's the evil thing. You'll find a tasty little ditty about the Koch brothers. Keep on plugging.
Rated!
You are on task.
Shame no one here on OS has any intelligent opinions to share that lean against public employee collective bargaining. There is a room for a positive and rational discussion about this, but WI's administration chose another less constructive way. Shame again.
(1) I guess that got passed. With these folks running things, it's hard to tell.
If GM has loafers I don't much care. That is there problem. I don't have to buy their cars. But I have to pay HIGH taxes in TX for teachers and I want ALL good teachers. I personally know about a dozen I see every week for several hours. At least 3 0r4 of them have no business in a classroom at all.
But they are kept because of seniority and passing the minimal standards.
I think you would agree that teaching is one of the most important
jobs in society. So why should we have unions protecting bad employees? I want the BEST for my money. I have zero tolerance for one bad teacher being kept on the payrolls .
Here in TX we are having layoffs too. Guess who gets let go? Those with the least seniority. It has nothing to do with who is the best.
No doubt some of the young ones are better. But they get fired.
If my high tech employer used that rule as a way to let people go, they would be in a world of hurt. The best stay , young or old. The
slackers are let go.
Why would you want it any other way? Why should a dedicated gifted, young teacher get let go.
Even if there were no cutbacks, why shouldn't bad teachers be let go and replaced by applicants that are eager for a chance to prove themselves. I have friends here in TX that want to teach but CANNOT simply because they certainly cannot hire a new teacher when they are letting go current ones.
What is wrong with competing every day for your job.
I have many other friends that work for the likes of IBM, Google, Ebay, Amazon, and many other tech companies in Austin. They compete everyday for their job. And these companies can be in laying off mode and hiring mode at the same time.
Why? Because they let the slackers go and are wiling to give other people a chance. And it is not about getting rid of high paid ones for lower paid ones. It is about getting rid of anyone who is not performing at the level they are being paid. There are senior engineers that try their best to avoid as much responsibility as possible while others step up to nearly impossible tasks. They sit right next to each other. One takes on two peoples work and the other just watches and goes home and offers no help.
And you know what. The first guy does not go to management and complain. His need for help will be noticed by management and others. And management and others will notice who has some free time and steps up and who does not. The second guys days are numbered for willfully standing by and not offering.
I know there are teachers out there giving it there all while others
are just watching them bust ass and not offering to help. I'm sure you know it too. So why support them.? Your hard work is not being differentiated from their mediocre work.
Can you honestly tell me you don't know one teacher that just is not cutting it. That can be replaced by someone better. One that has seniority that is kept over the better one that has slightly less time on the job. If so, tax money is being wasted.
As long as I personally know bad teachers here in the Austin area and I also know others that would kill for a teaching job right now, than I am not satisfied as a tax payer, and the education system is losing out.
BTW , I do happen to think teachers ARE underpaid. So I would be glad to pay 25 - 50 % more if only the good ones are kept and the bad ones let go. I had too many pitiful ones as a kid.
Who didn't?
I heard on the news today. Some school distinct somewhere, I just cant remember where, has a 30% non graduating senior rate. Am I supposed to be happy about that. And no I am not blaming teachers. In that case the whole system is broken. And someone is paying for that broken system. Is it any wonder they are unhappy?
Rated for the big girl pants.
Joseph, while I appreciate your passion - your arguments are all over the place, and misguided. I am not a public school teacher. It might help you if you went back and read about some of the people on the ground here that are being affected. One that will speak most loudly to your arguements about unions can be found at "WI Voices: A Social Worker's Perspective." It has nothing to do with people riding others' coattails - unions protect the most vulnerable populations that unionized workers service. Unions lose rights = their populations suffer due to lack of personelle and services. It's just that simple.
http://open.salon.com/blog/y_heron/2011/05/19/wi_voices_a_social_worker
http://open.salon.com/blog/another_steve_s/2011/06/15/scotty_and_me_and_heidi_herron
But seriously folks, this is about more than public employees and representation. Heidi's "WI Voices" series doesn't even begin to scratch the surface about the hurts these folks are putting on non-billionaires.
But some points still apply.
So what lucky citizen that is in need of a social worker gets the one less qualified than you (or not qualified at all) because that person is being protected by a union?
Protecting the vulnerable? OK. If a person is somehow incapable of performing their job, then they should fall into some other program such as disability. Or moved to a job they can do.
How does it serve anyone for an incapable person to be left in a job that requires him to be capable? Especially a job like yours. Your job may, in some situations, be much more important than teaching.
But surely you know someone
that is of perfectly good mind and body that is just coasting. I have seen them all my life, even at my employer . That really is a disservice. A capable person performing a minimally as possible
to keep their job.
If employees are all being paid equally based on time in the job
(maybe that's not your case) and the job is protected by seniority,
then where is the competition to get the best.
I have consulted to many states' gov agencies and I have had conversations with many state techies. Some are just as motivated as private sector employees. And some have told me directly I was a nut for working hard in the private sector.
There were proud of the fact that they could earn about 80% of private sector pay for exactly 40 hours work, less expectations, and guaranteed job for life and retirement. And they are grinning ear to ear letting me know how stupid I am .
And then they rub it in and remind me that the harder I work to get promotions and raises the more taxes I pay for their salaries.
Unions do not promote ambition. If the likes of Apple and
Verizon had to put up with unions your newest iPhone and 4G
network would not be coming tomorrow. They would not have seen the light of day yet. Most every modern technology you use every did not come from a union. Some may have been built by union workers, but they were not conceived, created , invented, designed and programed by union workers. It was done by someone under pressure to create something better and do it faster and cheaper than the competition.
Non union workers must do more for less. Unions promote less for more.
Loss of unions = loss of qualified people and services in those jobs = drastically less care for the populations that they serve...in her case the most vulnerable children living in our society.
Look, I'm sorry that you've had it rough. But children, elders, and the poorest citizens among us are why I fight. Either you don't understand that dynamic, or you simply want to ignore it. Either way - you need to educate yourself a bit more here Joseph.
One of the most popular leaders we have in our state, Dave Obey, speaks well to you "Somehow the millionaires have convinced the poorest people that the people responsible for them being poor is the person making $50,000."
We are on the same side man, the quicker you realize it and stop waving the flag of the elite - the quicker we get out of this mess. It won't help YOU or them to wish ill will on any unionized person. It will help all of us to demand a fair system of taxation, such as "Reagan Era" taxes which the top 2% and the rest of us paid the same rate....right now, the lower/middle class is severely overburdened. You don't need to fight us, just join us. If you want what we have - I'll help you get it. But don't pull your fellow man down. That's not a loving way to live a life in this world.
Last Saturday I sat waiting for a union member to load me. He said "I'm not in a hurry. This is all over time" and he just sat there, not doing anything to get me moving. He was just putting in his time to get his check. Results, or that it hurt me, mattered none to him.
How do you figure the low and middle class are overburdened with taxes? If about 50% of the population pay no taxes so how can zero be to much? If you taxed the top 2% at 100% you would not get enough extra money to make a dent in the amount of over spending that is going on.
If you want to help the taxes the lower and middle class do pay, go to the Fair Tax and get rid of the corporate tax rate. Corporations pay no taxes. They just collect the money from their customers and pass it along.
As you read this piece you talk about rumors like they have come true. Do you have anything saying they are going to happen or are you living on fear? If they have not come true in the states that are right to work states already, why do you think the sky is falling?
You also talk about "still" controversial election. Elections have meanings. The voters spoke. The elected officials certified the election, and correct me if I'm wrong, they are Dems. So why not just say the election. Why the "still" controversial election. All the union money couldn't unseat Prosser. Is is duly elected. The people spoke, again.
I would like to know what changes they made to child labor laws and CWP laws please. I haven't read about them.
I had fun. I worked hard and got to travel the world. I worked on the first PC network systems. I worked with 2 of the original 12 Microsoft employees and I shook Bill Gates' hand. And I stupidly turned down a job at MS in '89. You see I made a mistake. I thought I was better off at IBM. There was no union to protect me from my mistake.
And I don't want what you have. Believe me that I have been around many state and local gov techies. I would not be them
and if I had a gov job I would be looking for a private one because
I didn't like the prevalent unmotivated attitude. There were people at IBM who were far superior to me that motivated me and helped define my work ethic.
http://m.apnews.mobi/ap/db_6723/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=F34xNXD4
Above link is where I worked for 27 years. And I am proud of being one of the best when I was there. I was never considered for a layoff, even when my whole dept. except me was laid off.
I am proud that when my management came to me with hat seemed an impossible task resulted in a U.S. patent. That is what results from necessity. I guess if I had a union rep I would have went to him and said " No fair, the technology does not exist. The job is impossible and I will have to work 60 hour weeks for a year. And BTW I am a software engineer not a mechanical engineer. How am I supposed to build something that no one has ever built. I just write code.?"
Instead I went home for the day to chill. Then I worked for a year
and invented and physically built the solution. When I called on expert vendors for parts and/or help they told me what I wanted to do was impossible. They were the industry experts and they wouldn't do it. I said just send me the parts. Well impossible is now patented.
I never believed the IBM job for life story even when I hired on in 1982 and its a good thing I didn't believe it. And there is no reason to believe it. It is an impossible promise.
Notice that IBM had to cut back because of two reasons at least.
People that really did little or nothing that retired on the job because they thought they had a job for life. And the sad fact that IBM gave away the PC hardware and software to the likes of MS and every other PC clone maker. They thought the PC was a toy.
They made a mistake. That simple. It cost jobs.
Where was the money supposed to come from when they lost $16B. Sometimes businesses makes mistakes. There are no guarantees in life. IBM had to downsize.
The gov. is no different or immune to the economy or business mistakes or lack of money. IBM could not manufacture money to keep paying 400K people. Neither can your state. When people vote to lower taxes it is no different than private sector boss saying his company needs to cut salaries or let people go and require more productivity.
I am not criticizing you or your work personally.
But you have not addressed my simple questions.
Is there anyone you know that is coasting in their gov job?
That is abusing the union protections?
Do you feel ok about working harder than someone next to you
that simply never will work as hard as you for same pay?
Why wouldn't you want to determine your own success and
and your own individual compensation for it?
Why should they not be treated like a private sector employee?
If IBM was unionized it would have been broken just like GM.
Would you have wanted to bail out IBM to the tune for $50B
for the good of the country?