Wisconsin governor says he won’t bargain with unions
February 11, 2011 at 6:00 pm in Duluth News Tribune
MADISON Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said Friday he wants to end collective bargaining for almost all public employees because the state is broke and there’s no point negotiating with the unions when there is nothing to offer.
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strike! or impeach!
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Strike or impeach? Why? Do you honestly believe that the public sector rank-and-file is compensated in a financially-sustainable manner?
Wait, that’s right…….Pat doesn’t answer questions. She dodges them or avoids the point altogether.
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There’s one thing that most of these ‘share the pain’ budget cuts have in common.
No matter who’s proposing/supporting it, it doesn’t seem to actually include them.
Will the Governor and Legislators also be required to contribute 5.8 percent of their salaries to cover pension costs and more than double their health insurance contributions? Do they even have health insurance contributions now?
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If Gov. Walker thinks that the only thing unions deal with is money, he has no business being a governor – or any other kind of manager. Having been a union man for 32 years and having gone through several labor contracts during that time, I can say that raising wages was the *last* thing on any list of issues we ever dealt with.
tom koehler
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Hey Tom–That’s the point. Public sector union benefits are out of control. It’s high time for the union slugs to start paying for a “fair share” of their retirement and health care. I’m sick of the public sector unions retiring fat and happy on “my back”.
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I failed to be more clear. Money issues includes things like benefits. These are not #1 priority issues in bargaining, as they are tied to the economy. Higher priority issues include work rules issues, safety issues, seniority issues, and labor-management relations issues – none of which have a fiscal impact, but *do* have a significant impact on the worker.
tom koehler
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I’d have to say yes that in order to attract solid talent in areas such as engineering, finance, and health care that government must be willing to pay fair money and benefits. I can only speak for engineers but a state employed civil engineer makes less money than they would working for a consultant but that is made up for with better benefits and working enviroment…however cutting salaries and benefits and threatening to worsen the working enviroment will only lead to good employees leaving meaning less efficient and qualified people to take their place.
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