Governor Scott Walker

[Jason Glavich]

In a small town in Ohio they have a teachers union as well, they contribute nothing to retirement,3% to their healthcare and are guarenteed 5% raise everyyear. This town has a school tax seperate from income tax. They tried to pass a levy to get the money to fund the school or it will close within the next 3 years. It did not pass and why did it not pass? Just a few reasons, 1st they aready took away bussing for all high school students 9-12 in a rural farm community, 2 There is a principal for each of 3 schools that also has 2 dean of students and 2 vice principals for a typical graduating class of 100. The lowest paid Dean in the Elem school makes 93k, sadly he is still making less than some of the teachers with "tenure". The test scores are dropping, teachers can't teach when they are not paid properly don't ya know.

So after the levy fails to raise the school tax the teachers tell the students "Thanks to your parents your school is going to close because your parents are selfish and your gonna have to go to another school." Yes this was said and not just a rumor, big deal in a little town.

I pay plenty for my retirement and my healthcare, I do not complain about it. I do not always get a raise, and if I don't I realize it was because I did not perfom above what was expected and I know I need to work harder to get my raise and earn my keep.

On a side note the school also hired 35 "Paraprofessionals" to help the teachers teach.

From what i read he is doing what he said he would...sort of I guess. Maybe he has the right idea.

[Ken Bora]

I think Walker has one thing in mind. Bust the unions, period.

hmmmmmm........... and that is a bad thing ????






.

[Blackstone]

Scott Walker was elected in a LANDSLIDE!!!!

Everyone knew/knows what he is about!

He is asking state employees to pay 12.6% of their healthcare coverage (currently they contribute 5%) and contribute half of their retirement (currently they contribute 0)
That is a dollar for dollar match to retirement.

Walker also told the Unions and state employers that the state will no longer foot the bill for deducting union dues and send them to the unions.
They will now collect their own dues on their own dime.

Does this really seem that unreasonable??

No pay cuts, no benefit cuts, no layoffs.

This is what the majority of the voters in WI voted for.
It's just a start.

It's funny, the progressives that want those that have (the rich) to pay more squeal like stuck pigs when their freebies get touched.

RK

Increasing healthcare costs by 7.6% has the same effect as a pay cut. It takes money out of your pocket.

That being said, if those actions are necessary to make WI a fiscally responsible state, then he’s probably doing the right thing. However, I don’t think any state employee should be exempt. I have the utmost respect for police and firemen, but they should have to bite the bullet as well.

I agree with Sharon, “Funny thing about budget cuts and change....everybody wants it, as long as it doesn't affect them.” I wonder how many of the teachers protesting voted for Walker.

[road kill]

Unions Want to Overturn Election Result

Say you generally liked Gov. Scott Walker's move to rein in government labor costs but had a few doubts on his method. The last few days should have cleared that up nicely.

The public-sector union tantrums, meant to make lawmakers wobble, have an inadvertent message for the rest of us: Voters can vote all they want. We can elect a cheapskate governor and a Legislature to match. But come the moment, unions will have the last, loudest word.

They'll have it if takes marches. They'll have it if it takes what amounts to an illegal strike, with so many Madison teachers calling in sick Wednesday that the district closed schools. If it takes showing up for a we-know-where-your-family-is protest on Walker's Wauwatosa lawn while he was at work, the unions are sure they can outshout any election result.

This is exactly why Walker is right to limit the unions' power over government spending.

Walker, remember, is not removing unions' fundamental power to bargain for wages. He is demanding that state workers put 5.8% of their wages toward retirement and that they cover 12.6% of their health care premiums, which would still have them paying more than $100 less a month than the average schmoe. He is also proposing that elected officials determine the shape of employee benefits without having to bargain them, and this as much as the added cost has unions crying "unfair."

They insist this is the end of unionization in government, something to which they have as much right, they say, as anyone else.

But they miss a bedrock difference. Unions in the private sector are a way of organizing private interests, those of employees, against other private interests, those of a company's owners, for economic gain and for protection against unfairness. In government, workers are already protected against unfairness by civil service laws, and Walker has supported expanding those. Economically, government unions pit a private interest, that of employees, against the public's interest, that of taxpayers and voters.

We see the result. Walker's moves are prompted by the state's vast deficit. The alternative, he says, is to lay off thousands. Nonsense, charge the marchers: Just raise taxes. Unions and allies have for years been demanding more sales taxes, new business taxes and higher taxes on other people's incomes, all to keep the state flush and generous. We're taxed enough already, said a voting majority in November. Not yet, insist the unions that have become the largest players in Wisconsin politics precisely to counter any such voter sentiment.

Anyway, union leaders were conceding the pension and health care premiums by this week. They said they knew they'd have to pay more eventually - so when unions in December said such payments were tantamount to slavery, it must have been just maneuvering. Bygones, say unions, as long as Walker leaves them the power to set health benefits via bargaining. Leave that, they say, and it's peace.

Yeah? Recall how we got here. How is it that only in desperation will unions accept a deal that still leaves them better off than everyone else? How did we achieve not just next year's $3.3 billion deficit but the decade of structural deficits before? Easy: It's because labor costs for years have been outstripping taxpayers' capacity. That in turn was caused by officials, elected in a union-dominated political environment, buying labor peace via benefits, where it's harder for voters to see the costs adding up.

If the Legislature takes the 5% and 12% and doesn't reform collective bargaining, the 5% and 12% soon will be won back by unions. Any further savings are out the window. Walker talks of moving to consumer-driven benefits, as many companies have done, to restrain medical costs. That's anathema to unions, who will resist it contract by contract. Without bargaining reform, government costs will have taken only a pause in their ascent.

Union activists in Madison Tuesday spoke apocalyptically of "class war," hinting wildly at general strikes and takeovers of the Capitol. They correctly see their control of the state slipping and must figure that if they bring 13,000 shouting people to Madison, they can overrule the election.

Any worried legislators should keep in mind that Walker drew about five times that many votes in Dane County alone in November.
__________________________________________________ _________

Pretty accurate description of what is going on in Madison WI.
As liberal a towne as exists in the USA.
It appears there will be a vote today, and the AYEs have it!!!!


RK

[Uncle Bill]

Isn't it amazing what happens when....

1) YOUR ox is being gored!...and..

2) You run out of other peoples money.


UB

[luvmylabs23139]

Now all the dem senators refused to show up for the vote. The police are now out searching for them. This will be interesting.

[paul young]

Isn't it amazing what happens when....

1) YOUR ox is being gored!...and..

2) You run out of other peoples money.


UB

yes, and it would be wonderful for state and federal elected officials find out for themselves first hand.

when THAT happens, please call my attention to it. the health benefits, salaries and pensions for our elected officials never seem to make the list of proposed cuts. i wonder why that is? it must be just an oversight that will be addressed tomorrow......

'ol Scott's got his.

as long as the people of Wisconsin are ok with what he does it's ok by me. it's their state and he's the guy they elected.-Paul

[road kill]

Now all the dem senators refused to show up for the vote. The police are now out searching for them. This will be interesting.

Yep....nothing but the good of the people in mind.
This BTW shows the true issue.

COWARDS!!!


RK

[Sue Kiefer]

Aliens got em
Sue

[road kill]

It is being reported that several Democratic Senators have "left the state."

According to the WI State Constitution, the Sgt At Arms can call for these Senators and use state law enforcement to bring them in.

Now, why do you think these elected officials would cut and run???


stan b