Thursday, February 17, 2011

The Game Just Got More Fierce



This is getting intense:
A Democratic source in Wisconsin has confirmed to TPMDC that, in the heated budget battle going on in that state, the minority state Senate Democratic caucus walked out within the last few hours -- which would deprive the legislature of the three-fifths majority needed for a quorum on budgetary matters. And if this goes on, the GOP leaders could call in the State Patrol.

The source has confirmed that the chamber is conducting a quorum call, and no Democrats are present. There are 33 total members of the chamber, 19 Republicans to 14 Democrats, with 20 members required under the state Constitution to be present in order to pass the budget.
. . .
According to the Associated Press: "The proposal would effectively remove unions' right to negotiate in any meaningful way. Local law enforcement and fire employees, as well as state troopers and inspectors would be exempt."

In the past week, the state Capitol has been deluged with protests, and some schools have closed as a result of teachers calling in sick en masse.
Inspiring stuff to see.

6 comments:

  1. What would happen if this law passed?

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  2. If it passed it would wipe out collective bargaining for all of Wisconsin's public workers (except firefighters and police).

    In addition to taking away their ability to negotiate for safety protections and their wages, he has said after passing this bill he will look to cut wages, and he could basically do whatever he wanted, because those workers would have lost their opportunity to bargain.

    He claims it's needed for the budget deficit, but collective bargaining has nothing to do with that. He wants to break the unions and give workers less power, so that he fire/furlough them and cut the wages and benefits of the ones that remain.

    And also, as this article shows, the fact that WI's budget is in crisis and needs radical reforms is totally made up.

    http://bit.ly/dGNbw0

    So to sum it up, the bill is to eliminate unions in Wisconsin, because right wingers don't believe they should exist.

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  3. I heard from a friend there that the latest financial report about Wisconsin's deficit says they' pay off their debt in the year continuing as things are, but with Gov. Walker's new initiatives they'll be pushed further in debt. I haven't seen the report yet, but it sounds plausible. Also, Ohio has introduced a similar bill, but I haven't seen the text yet to know how close it is.

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  4. he is a democratically elected official. this must be what the majority of the citizens of WI want.

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  5. It isn't. But suspend reality and pretend it is the will of the majority. Should the majority have the power to grant and restrict the rights of the minority?

    I mean it has worked really well in the past...wait maybe not.

    ReplyDelete