If they’re going to strip collective bargaining, the unions should strike. These guys breaking their agreement with the employees, and the employees have every right to break their agreement with these asshole politicians. Let’s see those imbeciles run the government without police, firefighters, and everyday workers who keep things humming along.

Bit cryptic, for the uninformed (me):

Scratch this a bit and I’m sure you’ll find ALEC behind it.

Link to ALEC?

Thanks

Are all Public Employees Republicans? No after this they will be.

News from the Banana Republic that is now the USA

GM hires abroad
Wall Street encourages companies to offshore US jobs
Ford hires abroad
Wall Street gets bailed out, and gives their employees bonuses
Obama gives the super rich a tax cut, and Obama cuts services for the poor and middle class.

Public Employees gets screwed, and blamed for the bad economy.

ALEC = American Legislative Exchange Council

Not sending any traffic from here to there, so no direct link.

ALEC was a driving force behind Arizona’s SB1070; there was a very good report by NPR on ALEC’s role in AZ. If you listen to/read that report, you’ll get an excellent feel for what ALEC is trying to do to Wisconsin and Ohio. Basically, ALEC owns a big chunk of the private prison system and anything which assures more prisoners and no union guards is their cup of tea.

But it’s not just the prison system; that’s only where they’ll start.

David,
Thank you for the front page. I commented on this last night on a different thread. Living in Illinois, Gov. Walker is touting the fact that “Wisconsin is open for business” to attract out-of-state companies to relocate there and he especially hit on Illinois in his bluster.
You mentioned his stance on the unions and while some businesses may be attracted to that, I sense that he is going to cause a “war” in the process.
I really hope that the workers rebel in force against him and his shenanigans, especially that some of the National Guard may be union workers and they would certainly be conflicted in this mess.

Model your idea out, use some game theory here.

What would the next most likely responses be should prison employees go on strike?

And then what happens after that?

Labor and the left are going to have to get inside these next likely steps, use OODA loop thinking to cut them off at the pass.

Illinois is talking about raising taxes from what I’ve heard to keep people employed we like our teachers, police and firemen. Tell me has any Business said I’m moving to Wisconsin or Ohio because I love low taxes and I’m sure lower paid police and firemen will be just as motivated with less money to save me when I need them?

Michael Moore did a bit about private prison’s in one of his films maybe we should follow up on that?

Did you read that Wikipedia entry? What Democrats are part of ALEC? Dixiecrats? It’s just another GOP front outfit.

Ask the Governors what FDR did during the Great Depression to get the economy going. Point out that Obama while talking about creating jobs has been cutting domestic government spending link them to Obama because Obama is politically unpopular call their job cut plans the Obama jobs plan. Point out that Greece, Spain, England etc have already tried cutting government spending in response to the world wide Recession and point out just how well its going.
Next personal stories find what is being cut exactly and who is going to get hurt the most interview them. Then find out who keeps the money.

Rayne, a link to the wikipedia entry would suffice. Mysterious acronyms are just that, mysterious.

Illinois did raise the taxes. I am not happy with it but realize it was absolutely necessary since we are close to 14 Billion in debt and cannot pay suppliers.
Of course this weekend in the paper we were advised that all of the aides to the state legislators are going to get a raise. No biting the bullet, just spend more money that we do not have.

GOP seem to be bad cop the Dems good cop but both want the same thing to take away our middle class status.

That OODA Loop thingy is going well for our military. Especially in AFPak. Right?

GIGO applies.

Not happy about the pay raise but FDR did spend money and got into debt to get the economy going.

I suspect the governor is trying to provoke a strike. This is for the membership to decide, but I think litigation or some other strategy would offer better protection for the members.

Great Point!

remember a lot of Dems hated the individual mandate, now Weiner and others Dems love the individual mandate

the citizens of the USA are getting their butts beat, by a bunch of traitors who hate everything about the USA.

Wall Street destroys the USA and they are Worshiped

That is exactly what should be happening here, right now.
Obama on the other hand is leading the way it appear to cut the deficit on the backs of the poor and middle class. Never mind that he gave away the largest tax cuts to the rich.
Then when he leads with his cuts to the poor, the Repubs double down on his lead and will get away with it while the most needy are left out in the cold literally.

Nullification in Idaho, private army is Wisconsin, immigration policy that preempts federal law throughout the south and southwest. Are Republicans just ignoring the fact that we fought a civil war over this and the side that supported those policies LOST?!? Ironic that the President who presided over that victory was the very first Republican president.

ALEC owns a big chunk of the private prison system and anything which assures more prisoners and no union guards is their cup of tea.

But it’s not just the prison system; that’s only where they’ll start.

If they like non union workers then they will love illegal immigrant workers? Maybe we link attempts to break unions with attempts to replace American workers with immigrants after all meat packing was unionized and now I read about INS raids at meat packing plants all the time. How many other formerly union industries employ immigrants now?
In other words we set the Tea Baggers on the GOP Union Busters!

Ironic too that we are celebrating the 150th anniversary of that event and the South wants to rise up to fight it all over again. Only now we have some northern states that are seeking nullification in this anniversary year.

Fascist and fascism are words that are overused when describing authoritarian forms of government. Yet these words apply to Walker’s political project. The reason it’s fascistic can be found in the fact that his effort supposes a mobilized and reactionary political movement, attempts to destroy independent organizations located in civil society, serves directly and indirectly corporate power, seems to be rule by decree and is, of course, contrary to established law.

Maybe we can raise money by taxing CEO’s and all jobs 100% on any cash more than 20 times what the lowest paid employee at the company makes? Maybe we can raise cash by taxing 100% any cash that has left the state in the last ten years and was used or invested in companies that outsource jobs?
Tell the GOP we are going Egypt on Wisconsin and Ohio.

It’s a sad state of affairs when rust belt states are trying to bash collective bargaining.

““All this is rooted in job creation.” By what twisted cause and effect relationship?

“. . . attempting to use the Guard as his personal army.” Walker is only following his party’s example. Isn’t this what George W.’s administration did at the federal level in the Middle East?

Wisconsin allows recall of any state official for any reason. If I were the unions I’d be making up those petitions about now.

Emptywheel has a fresh cross-post ready: The CIA IG Report on Renditions

You don’t have to persuade me. Former Michigan governor John Engler, on whom much of the blame for the collapse of this state’s economy rests, is one of ALEC’s founders. And yes, he’s a Republican.

You can bet he got a lot of encouragement from the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a conservative think tank — and yes, they’ve gotten funding from some of the wealthiest Republicans in the country.

Strike while the Egyptian is hot.

They aren’t using OODA loop at all in Afghanistan, just as they didn’t in Iraq.

They are using some other playbook they aren’t sharing with anybody.

Well, except for the playbook written on our checkbook — that we can see.

Somewhere else I commented on this topic, that folks should picket the National Guard armories in Wisconsin with informative signs. That the guardsmen could be called out to suppress fellow citizens exercising their legal rights against an illegal abrogation of contracts, and that the guardsmen’s pay would very likely be next.

Having ruthlessly crushed the private sector Unions the Plutocracy will now try and finish off the Public Service unions as well. They are very successfully using envy / jealously as a weapon now that most private workers have no Unions and are having their pay and benefits and jobs ravaged at will by these thugs. I have to admit for a while I fell for this ruse myself. The one suggestion I have for Public service workers and their Unions is this is not a good time to be pushing for big pay raises etc. Public service workers have to understand that they’re jobs are dependent on the general economy and until it strengthens they must be aware that they are putting they’re own necks on the chopping block by appearing to look greedy when so many others are losing their homes, jobs etc. The right knows this and is as I said using it very effectively right now.

Thus showing that wingnuttery isn’t a regional phenomenon, despite what people like Markos Moulitsas want you to believe.

The only part of the government union/ government finance situation that is broken is the police/fire pension (and Fed TSA wages and staff size and toys for a pretend function. heath care everywhere, then toss in ag subsidies and ethanol nonsense, and a military that is treated like Egypt’s army and we have the total budget problem) – and the police/fire pension can be fixed by stopping accruals when the contract ends and going to a 401k savings plan.

But never underestim­ate the power of ignorance to remain that way, especially in our media.

Under the Obama Health Reform, the little or no price control and regulations means all you’ll be able to buy on the Exchanges in 2014 will be some junk policy that entitles you to a letter from the company stating that they are denying your claim. And HHS regulation just got undermined by Obama saying he was going to toss those regulations that are a problem for businesses – including the Health Reform regulations. Yet Obama has the left worried about saving a law that we know the Sup. Ct will approve because the ins. co’s want their $600 billion welfare check mandated enrollment subsidies, and the Court never goes against the corporations.

The media will continue to reveal each year that the 200 top paid folks in state gov are police/fire – and that as in California there are over 10,000 getting over a 100,000 a year in pension – most of which began the payout before 65 – and that revelation (the size of the crowd will vary with the size of the state of course) will smear and color any discussion of any other issue in the relationship of the gov employee union and the government. Whether or not the numbers are “fair compensation for a dangerous job” or not, the public does not buy it, giving the GOP a wedge into union busting.

Are Republicans just ignoring the fact that we fought a civil war over this and the side that supported those policies LOST?!? Ironic that the President who presided over that victory was the very first Republican president.

The Civil War and the Reconstruction Amendments did not settle these federalist problems at all. The side that supported rightwing federalism lost the Civil War, but they did not lose the political war that brought about the eruption of the Civil War. In fact, the Radical Republicans were defeated politically by the time the Republican and Democratic Parties produced the Compromise of 1877. The Compromise produced the Solid South, a political catastrophe that used “state’s rights” to cement together a regional political bloc that defended a race and class based political economic system. American politics remains polluted by the political triumph of the post-Civil War reactionaries. One can even speak of a southernization of American politics, a very unfavorable characterization of our political system.

We knew this day was coming, when unions would be attacked from both sides of the fence. Most unions do get better benefits/pay for their employees. But it’s also true, alot of union members are severely p*ssed at how corrupt looking and ineffective the unions have become. It’s a double edged sword really. So the political hacks that hate unions, also have some support from disenfranchised union members, and oh they do exist. Hard not to get angry when your union leaders live like mafia kingpins, and you have just hard bargained for a 10 cent raise. Something had to give.

Meanwhile, we are are going broke because:

Defense Secretary Robert Gates already has revealed the Pentagon will seek $553 billion in its 2012 Pentagon budget plan — the largest request ever — and slower growth than planned over the next four years.

Nothing like austerity for everybody but rich people and warz.
And a big part of that is because of shit like:

But buried deeply in these 359 pages of ugly surprises is a provision that would mean one community in America would do a lot better than all of the others. The legislation added an estimated $450 million for a particular bit of defense spending that the Department of Defense did not ask for and does not want.

The item is a down payment that would obligate the federal government to future payments that could well be three or four times the increased spending added to this particular piece of legislation, with a big portion of the funds flowing to two cities in Ohio—Cincinnati, where Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) grew up, and Dayton, the largest city in his congressional district.

The money will go to pay the costs to General Electric Co.’s General Electric Aviation unit and the British-owned Rolls Royce Group for their development of an engine for the new Joint Strike Fighter aircraft—money that looks, feels, and smells very much like an earmark.

Seems like BONER likes him some wasteful spending after all…

It’s like a broken record, isn’t it? Except now Dems and Reps are attacking the poor and middleclass, with the media spreading how bankrupt everyone is. Sigh.

Oh, happy valentine’s day Margaret!

The Notable Dunder Heads on the Right

One of my favorite Great Scribblers in America is Linda Valdez. To wit, early in her writing career and as a Journalist, was spent in Mexico City and in its business and political environment. Thus, she is pretty much “immune” [my words] to any political or business crappola espoused by the usual and loud voices and where these loud voices are paid a good wage, or with more precision on my part, better described as flatulent propagandists. So, when she countered the loud voices of the acolytes of the Reagan Maniacs, here is what she had to say, and which still applies to this early date into calendar year 2011 and throughout the intervening years, as well as into the Future for the next forty years being currently espoused by the Native American/Chicano Construct.

“Enough of lionizing Ronald Reagan. He was no friend to good government. He popularized the mantra that the government is the problem. That’s an unpatriotic view in a nation in which government is supposed to “promote the general welfare,” as the Constitution puts it. The Reagan view does not lead people to work for more humane, efficient government.”

Does more need be said, relative to the current “non-problem” being brought to us from the political Right?

Of course, and “done” on a daily basis. As such, continue to keep up the “Constitutional Fight” for Good Self-Governance!

Jaango

I was a state worker and my son is a state worker. Believe me, they’re scared of losing their jobs now that we have a Republican governor (who, by the way, inherited a state budget surplus). The unions negotiated a small raise before the R governor took office, and there’s nothing he can do about that so far. The state employees I know don’t want any humongous raises or anything. I do think AFSMCE should break away from the stranglehold Democrats have on them, though, and start acting like a union independent of Washington.

Yes, I imagine you’re right. I just get so frustrated, and I want people fight back. Litigation is a good response.

eh…

Who wants to be part of a union anyway? Why would an employee that was worth his/her paycheck want to be valued at the lowest common denominator? Much better off going it alone if you are actually adding any value to your employer.

The states did not regulate the housing market even when the banks had no title to the homes sold we might have a lawsuit. The states invested money in banks and companie that got loans from banks at $36 for every $1 of collateral the States did not invest by any stretch wisely we may have a lawsuit. The states are owed title fees with interest if the banks want to foreclose any homes why are they not getting those fees but instead cutting jobs?
Ask voters if taxing pot and even prostitution is preferable to more state budget cuts.

Vets get hired for state jobs more because they are Vets is threatening to call out the National Guard really such a good idea:)

I am a state worker in Wisconsin, as is my wife, and we stand to lose 20% of or income. That being said, some things need clarification in this post and the comments:

1. People are overstating the National Guard element–Walker did that specifically in response to the Corrections Department issue and the slight possibility prison guards didn’t show up for work. The national guard would be needed to run the prisons, which, as we know, are full of dangerous pot smokers.

2. Firefighters and police officers are exempt from the cuts and measures described in the post. The belief is that he cut a deal with those unions beforehand–many in the press are calling for this to be reversed and those employees be subject to the cuts. So, as of now, those folks have nothing to strike over beyond their usual abysmal pay.

3. I work in higher ed–it is currently illegal for higher ed, and many other state workers, to strike (whether that’s relevant, I don’t know).

4. State law will not allow the recall of the governor until at least a year has passed since the official took office. By then, we’ll be so past screwed anyway and people will be talking about Walker for President because he stuck it to th emiddle class.

Yes, things here suck and I’m ready to fight–still, some clarification needed (does that make me a concern troll? I’ve never really known exactly what that is.)

“. . . but they did not lose the political war that brought about the eruption of the Civil War.”

They also did not lose control over the national narrative. Check almost every history textbook published over the last 150 years and you can see the Southern myth and meta-narrative intact.

I’m glad you pointed out that deal police and fire fighters cut to save their hides. Divide and conquer the right is good at it.

One can even speak of a southernization of American politics, a very unfavorable characterization of our political system

Exactly. It started in the late 1980s with the Atwater smear campaign, but it really hit its stride when the Supreme Court declared Bush victor despite his having lost the popular election by a half million votes and probably lost
Florida as well. The secret in the Old South was to divide the poor, keep them ignorant and poor, and make them suspicious of government. The latter was easy to do, because the elite used the government to rip off the rest of the people. This disease has spread through rural America. It has not totally contaminated the suburbs except those where the elite live and prosper. The economic model was a low wage economy. As long as your are in the elite sector, that’s just fine. It is a sustainable model, as we saw in the 70 years following Reconstruction. Anyone who doesn’t see this now is in denial.

I wouldn’t downplay the National Guard issue. Many of the Guards have union busting in their histories.

Re: “The secret in the Old South was to divide the poor . . .” and “The economic model was a low wage economy.”

You and others might like David Roediger’s “The Wages of Whiteness: Race and the Making of the American Working Class”
http://www.amazon.com/Wages-Whiteness-American-Working-Haymarket/dp/1844671453/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_1

Isn’t the National Guard fighting our wars for us? How compromised are they?

In fairness, I typed “define:ALEC” into a Google search box and had the answer within a few seconds.

You hit it on the head! Most (not all) are not worth their pay check which is why too many people are drawn to unions. They have an entitlement mentality (imagine that). If a person had any self respect and confidence in their abilities they would run from unions. How many of union workers can go home each day and said they did the best they could. (not many).
Also, you big union supports. Don’t forget that the Unions are a business and they love union members only to the extent that it increases their profits.

A great book to read is The Worm In The Apple: How the teachers union is destroying education in America.

I wonder which Koch-funded think [sic] tank devised the identical bills these governors have so ready to hand. It’s not as if there’s a political party or business class in this country that despises unions and the people for whom they speak.

I have to wonder where you get this fascinating portrayal of Union workers. Obviously not from having actually worked with or around them.

The Union workers I know, and have worked with, are all very hard workers, coming in early to punch in on time, staying at their station until the whistle tells them their time is up. More than willing to help out us pencil-pushers as we try to find ways to improve products, productivity and processes.

Most of these folks weren’t looking for a “union” job when they were hired, they were looking for “A” job. Something to feed their families and give them a roof over their heads. The unions were already in place. Starting pay wasn’t great, but it was tolerable. No “entitlement” there.

Union workers work as hard as their non-union counterparts – from my experience working as a “pencil pusher” in both types of shops. They work hard, they go home gritty, and they EARN every penny of their paychecks, unlike the Koch Bros. etal who sit on their derriere and have others do the actual WORK.

I’m thinking this is the era of Thug Guv’ners. FL, AZ, WI etc. The kind of folks who during the robber baron era would have shot down union organizers.

It’s chilling to see how many states put in someone who will beat the crap out of state employees, retirees, union workers and the sick and poor. The thought-bubbles may be scripted and stage managed by the Koch-heads, but they are finding many willing executioners among the citizenry.

I used to feel the same way, but then I actually worked in a unionized environment. In ’02 I was working the 3-11 shift in a Kmart distribution center outside of Philadelphia as a temp job. Absolutely the laziest group of people I have ever been around with the exception of two or three individuals. Within days I was packing orders more quickly and with better accuracy than any of the union members to the point I was pulled aside and more or less threatened to dial it back… As was said above, anyone worth their salt would prefer to be compensated based on their job performance rather than the performance of the guy barely holding onto his job.

It seems easy to forget, that most of this political obnoxiousness is coming to us from the 20 or so states that have Republican-led State Legislatures.

And as Rayne has accurately stipulated, the American Legislative Exchange Council has found it’s political niche and which is to “consult” with these legislative leaders of these 20 states. Furthermore, Arizona and its Arch-Conservative Cabal, and which is my home state, doesn’t have the political smarts to actualize their reality and subsequently, had to consult with the ALEC. And more so, since Russell Pearce, the Republican Senate President at the legislature, has said so in public and on many occasions.

Jaango

Too Big To Fail unions are failing. They’ve fallen behind in getting much for their workers for a long long time now. Seems that the leadership just wants the big limo and to schmooze with the politicians now. Why would I say that? Well, we all at FDL see the attack on the unions. Union leadership doesn’t? If it does, what has it done? Oh ya, very little. Backroom deals like Big Pharma and Corporations have been doing. Union leadership since 2008 should have been calling for illegal rotating strikes so the little guy gets what the big dawgs have been getting. Have they? No.

Within days I was packing orders more quickly and with better accuracy than any of the union members

Well, weren’t you just the most special little employee!! I’ll bet management just thought: “What a wonderful employee! Let’s give that person paid days off and medial benefits!” What’s that? You already got that through the the union?
You’re what other employees probably called a know-it-all ass kisser, and I’ll bet they hated to see you walk through the door.

My father was a strong union man. My mother was in a public employees union. I’m a union member. Yet there is some truth to the feather-bedding and inefficiency in some public sector union work. (Notice that twice I qualified this with the word “some”.) Here’s an example:

Last week I’m driving home from a run to the hardware store. Pull up at four-way stop. This particular street jogs off at an angle at this intersection and there is a small triangular island with grass on one side. Local city workers are getting ready to trim the grass with a ride-around power mower they’re unloading from a trailer. Now first there’s the question of why they need such a big mower for such a small area. Maybe they’re doing lots of different sites that day, some of which are bigger. Okay, I can see that.

What I can’t see is why they need three guys. Not one, or two, but THREE. The guy riding the mower is backing it off the trailer on the tailgate/ramp. The second guy is standing off to one side watching while the third guy is leaning on the truck…also watching. Not only angered and disappointed me, but imagine what a scene like this, repeated daily all over the country, does to reinforce the public’s image of public employees as lazy, inefficient, wasteful, etc.

I thank god for the union everyday

The fire and police unions came out in support of Walker which is why they are exempt.

“How the teachers union is destroying education in America.”

When people talk about the terrible state of education they arent talking about the suburbs where the students are doing great. They are really only talking about the inner city and are speaking/writing with absolutely no factual information or experience, or just ditto heading somebody else with an agenda.

Nobody is talking to the teachers. My DH chose to teach in the city after years of research (PhD in science) and it is now 11 years later. The problem is 1. poverty and 2. the non-union administration.

The first school he was at for 10 years had 30-35 kids in a typical class.
- Only 2/3 of them show up most of the time.
- Of those that show up 1/3 do so only for social reasons, try to talk to friends all during class, never study and fail all tests.
- Of those that show up 1/3 just sit in class, are uninvolved and unresponsive, dont study and fail all tests.
- Of those that show up at least 1 or more engage in disruptive behavior each class that sucks ups precious teaching time while the teacher has to deal with the disruptor.

Now DH is teaching in a “university” HS where ALL the 30-35 students show up, the room is packed and he cant walk thru the aisles while teaching making sure students are on task.

Just recently DH had to deal with a young woman who repeatedly disrupts the class. She is the daughter of a teacher who failed the first semester. Her twin is also in the class, does fine and is getting good grades. This girls latest was to erupt in a tirade of foul language including “F-bombs” when asked to quit talking. Her mother doesnt believe her daughter is disruptive despite other teachers telling mom the same thing.

DH can call (phone to security in every classroom) to have her removed but he cannot keep her out of his class. The administration will not allow teachers to permanently ban disruptive students until the student physically attacks them. Administration is very concerned about how it would “look” on paper. Administration makes it absolutely clear that teachers who have to “refer” too many students for disruptive behavior per semester will not have their contracts at that school renewed. This means that teacher are likely to end up in even worst schools where the assault on teachers is the highest. This is why 50% of new teachers drop out of teaching after 5 years.

The union has nothing to do with a school system and administration that cannot or will not clamp down on disruption in the classroom. That will not or cannot deal with students who cannot or will not pay attention, study and at least try to learn. Private schools just boot these students out the door, not so in public education. And these disruptive and unresponsive students are dragging the urban schools down the drain.

I have a young friend. She was my teaching assistant for 4 years, was brilliant with the students, went above and beyond my expectations while maintaining straight A grades. After grad school she got a job in small HR (human resources) department which included her boss and 2 co-workers. It wasnt long before she noticed that their work ethic comprised socializing with a little work on the side. The constant chatter and daily emotional eruptions of one of her cohorts disrupted her concentration but the more she concentrated on getting her work done the more irritated the 3 of them seemed to get with her. Then all 3 had babies within a year so my young friend had to do their work as well as her supervisors. In a lousy economy she was promoted and given a pay by her bosses boss. In the last year these 3 women have made my friends life miserable. Why? Because she believes in working hard and working until everything is done which means very late nights and weekends.

Her boss constantly picks at her and makes it clear to my friend does nothing that is worthwhile, a form of mental abuse that put her in fear of being fired at any moment (she is single and pays her own way). Since her job is non-union she has a very good reason to fear being fired without any cause needed at all.

Most companies have people like this, union and non-union. Slackers who work the system and drive out anyone makes them look like slackers.

After 7 months and 50+ applications and many interviews my young friend just last week found a company that values her abilities, her professionalism, dedication to hard work and is thrilled to get her.