Are We Back To “Shut Up And Work” - Wisconsin GOP Strips Union Bargaining Rights

 State Flag of Wisconsin

The Wisconsin state Republicans separated the measure to strip public unions bargaining rights from the budget bill and passed the separate piece of legislation. In one move, what took decades of effort to gain was stripped in one fell swoop.

What exactly are we dealing with here in the midst of a severe economic downturn? It seems that there was the though that the harsh economic times would create a climate receptive to hardball type tactics even if it was against teachers and other public workers. An article titled “GOP rams anti-union bill through Wis. Senate” March 9, 2011 and published on the MSNBC website goes into what took place in Wisconsin.

 Why are millionaires and billionaires from all over the country sitting on the sidelines watching what should be a Wisconsin state matter, of course the answer is always money.

It’s All About Money

You see there is gold under the frozen tundra in Wisconsin and other states if those pesky unions can be moved out of the way. Just like the privatized prison system is a booming business, privatized school systems are the next big growth industry. Have you wondered about all of the recent trashing of public school teachers? With tight budgets gripping the country would it not be a relief for private industry to swoop in and say, “Let us take this budget item off your hands and allow us to run this for you.”

There is always a revenue angle to most of what goes on in this country and this is no different.

Bully Politicians Attack Teachers, Public Workers And Single Mothers

 Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels

There seems to be something new that has replaced bullies at school and that is the bully politician. The bully politician seems to be pushing around teachers, firefighters, government workers in general and single mothers.

Governor Scott Walker is kicking workers in public unions even after they have agreed to financial concessions to deal with the state of Wisconsin budget issues. In other corners teachers seem suddenly to be scapegoats for our poor education system results. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee decided to take a round house punch at single mothers.

Is this a new trend to beat up on soft targets? An article titled “Mike Huckabee’s Portman slam marks a week of controversial comments” by Holly Bailey March 4, 2011 and published in Yahoo News goes into some of Governor Huckabee’s controversial comments. The former Presidential candidate made a reference to Oscar winner Natalie Portman as possibly glamorizing unwed motherhood. Single mother have one of the toughest jobs in the country and to get a slap like that was uncalled for.

Governor Scott Walker and others involved in a head-on assault on public labor unions have manage to gain supporters that are somehow painting public employees as a privileged class in society. An article titled “Mitch Daniels on Monday: ‘The elite in American society, really, are government unions’” by Jim Geraghty February 23, 2011 and published in the National Review details how Indiana Governor Jim Daniels stated that government union are the new elite in society. He stated that their pay and benefits are much higher than the public they serve.

Consider the situation and what is missing from the story. Many public workers such as teachers have college degrees as a requirement as do workers in other areas of government service. A word force that contains a large degree of college degree holding individual should have a decent average wage level, but to call public workers elite because they have decent pay, benefits and job security is a stretch. There was a time when decent pay, benefits and job security was a good thing.

Ask public employees about their job security with state and local budget shortfall and looming layoffs. An article titled “Unemployment falls below 9%, government cuts 30,000 jobs” by Steve Chiotakis March 4, 2011 and published on the public radio.org website examines how the overall unemployment rate for February 2011 went below 9% while at the same time 30,000 government workers were laid off. It seems that the tag of elitist is misplaced and maybe it belongs on the people throwing the term around.