Richard Trumka Shamelessly Invokes Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

MARCH 22, 2011

After Wisconsin, Unions Tie Cause to Civil Rights

http://townhall.com/columnists/byronyork/2011/03/22/after_wisconsin,_unions_tie_cause_to_civil_rights/page/full/
By Byron York
3/22/2011


“Madison is just the beginning!” AFL-CIO chief Richard Trumka told a union rally in Annapolis, Md., recently. “Like that old song goes, ‘You ain’t seen n-n-n-n-nothing yet!’”

Fresh from defeat in Wisconsin, union leaders are planning a new campaign not just to head off future challenges to their collective-bargaining powers but also to make the case that organized labor’s benefits and prerogatives — wages, health care and pensions that are more generous than those of comparable workers in the private sector — are the moral equivalent of rights won by black Americans during the civil-rights movement.

To make the point, the AFL-CIO is planning a series of nationwide events on April 4, the 43rd anniversary of the day the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated after speaking in Memphis, Tenn., on behalf of striking black garbage collectors. The message: King’s cause and that of angry schoolteachers in Madison are one.

“April 4 (is) the day on which Martin Luther King Jr. gave his life for the cause of public collective bargaining,” Trumka said in another recent speech, this one in Washington. And on the AFL-CIO blog, there is this notice: “Join us to make April 4, 2011, a day to stand in solidarity with working people in Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana and dozens of other states where well-funded, right-wing corporate politicians are trying to take away the rights Dr. King gave his life for.”

Union officials are not planning a traditional mega-rally in Washington. Rather, they’re encouraging locals across the country to stage shows of force in support of Wisconsin unions and the Democratic lawmakers who fled the state in a failed effort to stop Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s budget plan. Throughout, the AFL-CIO is asking local leaders to tie the Wisconsin issue to the King assassination and civil rights.

“A lot of people forget that what (King) was doing in Memphis was fighting for sanitation workers there,” says Josh Goldstein, an AFL-CIO spokesman. “It’s important for people to make the connection. Martin Luther King was so important to the labor movement. Workers’ rights and civil rights go hand in hand. It’s a time to remind people what he was fighting for.”

The AFL-CIO is advising member unions to come up with activities to stress ties between big labor and the civil-rights movement. AFL-CIO planners suggest that local labor leaders team up with churches to make workers’ rights a theme at worship services. Union bosses also advise asking churches “to consider organizing candlelight vigils, which could include the reading of Dr. King’s ‘I’ve Been to the Mountaintop’ speech,” which King delivered the night before he was killed.

But was King fighting for the things that Trumka and his union forces are fighting for today? Is, say, the “right” for well-paid, unionized public employees to enjoy a health plan that includes coverage for Viagra — a cause for which Milwaukee teachers waged a protracted court battle — the equivalent of King’s work in Memphis, much less his efforts for the right to vote and access to public accommodations?

“It is delusion, bordering on abomination, to try to equate what Martin Luther King was doing in Memphis to public workers getting Cadillac benefits for which they contribute very little, or nothing, at taxpayers’ expense,” says Peter Kirsanow, a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights who has also served on the National Labor Relations Board. “The sanitation workers in Memphis were receiving wages that were so significantly below that which are enjoyed by middle-class teachers in Madison that to try to draw that comparison is offensive. Truly offensive.”

Whatever events take place on April 4, look for the effort to have the enthusiastic support of the Obama administration. “Union rights are no different than civil rights,” Labor Secretary Hilda Solis told officials of the Communications Workers of America during a Wisconsin strategy conference call two weeks ago. “It’s a part of our history, it’s a part of our culture, it’s a part of what has made this country so great.”

Will it work? After all the demonstrations and all the speeches, will the public watch protests by angry, nearly all-white, middle-class school teachers with excellent health and retirement plans and think of Martin Luther King? Trumka’s AFL-CIO and the big unions are very rich and very powerful. They have the ability to get their message out. But their April 4 strategy might be too ambitious even for them.

Byron York

Byron York, chief political correspondent for The Washington Examiner

American Thinker Catalogs Union Extremism

We need the public to understand that liberal forces in Wisconsin are enacting a full scale shakedown. They intend to intimidate because their claims are baseless. Governor Walker’s common sense solutions were bravely supported by duly-elected lawmakers. The Democrats, on the other hand, are takin’ it to the streets…


Return to the Article


March 19, 2011
Wisconsin after the Union Takeover

By Josiah Cantrall

“Are you wearing a bulletproof vest?”

Click. Michael Hintze’s phone line went dead — the caller never identified himself. A prominent Wisconsin Tea Party leader, Hintze is the latest recipient of anonymous death threats.

Maybe you thought it was finally over in Wisconsin. Walker overcame the liberal blitzkrieg, elected Republicans decided that there’s no moderate stance between bankruptcy and prosperity, the bill was passed and signed, and the fourteen Democrats gave up their life on the run.
But there’s more. Though chapter one undeniably ended with a resounding victory for Walker, the next part may easily become a forgotten chapter among thousands in the left’s annals of Alinsky-style combat.
Wisconsin has become the latest setting for organized liberal activism. Pro-union forces are setting out to execute the power-plays of leftism: divide, intimidate, and conquer. Community organizers are working tirelessly to increase the opposition through lies and distortion in the hope of building cold-blooded hatred for Walker and his allies.
Traditional Wisconsin symbols have been co-opted to foment anti-Walker sentiment. UW Madison mascot Bucky Badger is portrayed as a victim of Walker’s budget cuts, cheese is promoted as union-friendly, and some even claim that Walker has cut state funding for the Green Bay Packers.
Shockingly, the absurdity doesn’t end there. The Wisconsin Dog Rescue is joining others in vilifying Walker as a dog-hater, and liberal blogs steadfastly avow that “Governor Scott Walker wants to kill puppies.”

Common citizens and private businesses are the next objects of union wrath. Director of the Wisconsin Professional Police Association Jim Palmer signed a letter giving businesses who donated to Gov. Walker’s campaign one week to publicly denounce Walker or face a union-organized boycott.
Sendik’s Food Market has refused to capitulate. Consequently, their doors were super-glued shut at one of their Milwaukee locations.

In Merrill, a group trying to recall Democrat Sen. Jim Holperin set up a table outside the Lincoln County Courthouse. Soon union protestors arrived and surrounded the group’s table, waving signs and screaming through megaphones. In a press release, the group reported that even as the pro-union crowd chanted “this is what Democracy looks like,” one of the protesters, “pretending to be interested in signing the petition, wrote profanity across a partially collected petition form, then began ripping up the completed petitions that were in close proximity.”
Pro-union forces remained around the table and prevented people from reaching the petitions. According to the group, police officers stood by and did nothing.
In another incident, during school hours, a supposed teacher posted this on the Madison Craigslist:

So you Tea Bags want to take away my hard earned blue ribbon bennies. Well guess what you scum sucking Tea Bags, I got your kids all day long in my classroom and with just a few slick questions I know who the little tea bags are! And you think you’ll have the last laugh HA-Ha-ha

I, too, a twenty-year-old college student, have been subject to this union onslaught. Nearly two weeks ago, I captured incriminating video of doctors handing out sick passes on the streets of Madison. The video went viral, and I consequently appeared on Fox News and several radio shows to discuss the fraud. The left has yet to forgive me.
I’ve been stalked, chased, and verbally assaulted by several individuals. One woman drew a crowd around me and proceeded to rattle off my full name, my age, my hometown, and the exact size of my family. She noted that I am the second-oldest of thirteen children. She also recited the very dates I had been on Fox News and the time period of my visit to New York.

Creepy though it was, this woman’s knowledge of my personal life was impressive. She knew information that many of my friends were not aware of.
This is the new norm in Wisconsin: an unrivaled, systematic assault is leveled against anyone who refuses to carry the union’s water. It’s a war zone where the left seems driven by Saul Alinsky’s motto: “The end justifies almost any means.”
Democrats and their union allies are making their agenda clear: retain power at all costs. If they can raise enough money, silence enough foes, recall enough senators, intimidate the opposition, and strong-arm enough businesses, they believe that they will ultimately win.
If they lose the fight to preserve collective demanding, Democrats fear that Republicans will review every other liberal policy failure. Entitlement reform could be the next target — or worse yet, America’s growing economic quagmire, also known as the national debt.
Gov. Walker is a new kind of Republican — a leader whose steadfast convictions break from the indecisive muddling that has forever defined the right.
Such fortitude is a dramatic shift from past eras, where Democrats routinely bullied Republican leaders onto their list of tribute-paying victims. Walker’s victory changes all that. It sends a simple but clear message to the overpowering bully: “Take my name off your list.”

That is something the left can’t afford to tolerate.

Josiah Cantrall also writes for BigGovernment.com, and his works have been referenced by USA Today, Megyn Kelly, and Greg Gutfeld. He has appeared on Fox News, Fox Business Channel, GlennBeck.com, and the Lars Larson show. His Washington Times column debuts April 1. Follow him on Twitter or Facebook.

Page Printed from: http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/03/wisconsin_after_the_union_take.html at March 22, 2011 - 11:59:44 PM CDT

Continued Threats Show Extreme, Radical Nature of Anti-Walker Demonstrators

Senator Kapanke’s car damaged; gets death threats
Republican Senator Dan Kapanke says he’s changing up his work schedule after getting death threats and having his car damaged

Email Address: news@weau.com


http://www.weau.com/home/headlines/Senator_Kapankes_car_damaged_gets_death_threats_118215739.html


Republican Senator Dan Kapanke says he’s changing up his work schedule after getting death threats and having his car damaged.

Kapanke says he has to get his windshield fixed after someone cracked it in Madison. He says he noticed it after the collective bargaining reform bill passed last week Wednesday night. Kapanke also received threats by email and people have rallied outside his home.

Senator Dan Kapanke said “You know, I’m the person that’s out here and some of these threats are against my family and that’s again, where I kind of draw the line and I’m a little concerned for my family.”

Representative Jennifer Shilling said “wanting to just continue to urge supports and urge those who respectfully disagree with Senator Kapanke and others that we need to be civil about this and respectful.”

Kapanke says he hopes people on both sides of the political line will soon work together and work with governor walker’s budget.

Thug Tactics Used by WEAC-Fox Valley

Was WEAC-Fox Valley Letter Seeking Support or Threatening Boycott?

http://www.wbay.com/Global/story.asp?S=14258222

Updated: Mar 15, 2011 6:56 PM CDT



By Emily Matesic

The Fox Cities Chamber of Commerce & Industry is in a war of words with the Fox Valley chapter of the Wisconsin Education Association Council over its reaction to the amended budget repair bill.

The dispute stems from an email WEAC sent to all 1,400 members of the Chamber.

Shannon Meyer, president and CEO of the Fox Cities Chamber, says she’s fielding lots of angry calls and emails from some Chamber members.

They’re unhappy with an email they received from WEAC-Fox Valley.

“Out of 1,400 members, I literally had over a 100 phone calls and hundreds of emails of people that are concerned,” Meyer said.

In the email, WEAC asks Chamber members to show their support for the union in its battle to save its ability to collectively bargain.

In exchange for signing a pledge that says they oppose limiting collective bargaining, businesses will receive a poster they can put in their window so union members with “substantially less discretionary money to spend” can support those businesses which support them.

“We purposely chose to go in a positive direction, not a negative one. We haven’t talked about boycotting people. We have talked about advertising, as businesses do, places that support us, and we think they should get our dollars,” WEAC-Fox Valley’s executive director, Henry Krokosky, said.

We’re told Chamber members who complained viewed it as the beginning of a boycott attempt by the teachers union.

“There is veiled threat within the email that’s stating, put this poster in your window and we’ll make sure your business isn’t boycotted, but if you don’t it’s very clear that if you don’t those businesses are going to be boycotted in the future,” Meyer said.

WEAC-Fox Valley says the idea wasn’t a threat at all, and that the accusation shows a double standard.

“I go and try to defend my members’ economic interest, and when there’s a perception that some of the businesses’ economic interests are going to get hurt they go wild. I think they’re not viewing it on a level playing field,” Krokosky said.

Analysis: Emails to Walker favored his proposals 2-1

http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/article/20110321/WDH0101/110321036/-1/NLETTER0902/Analysis–Emails-to-Walker-favored-his-proposals-2-1?source=nletter-news
Written by
Kate Golden
Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism

Gov. Scott Walker was right: The angry crowds in Madison didn’t tell the whole story of how Wisconsinites felt.



In the week after Walker announced his plan to dramatically curtail public employees’ collective bargaining rights in the state budget repair bill, a wide majority of the emails to him expressed support, an analysis of those emails indicates.

But that support was significantly boosted by emails from pro-Walker senders from outside Wisconsin.

The nonprofit, nonpartisan Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism analyzed a computer-generated random sample of 1,910 emails from the more than 50,000 that flooded Walker’s office in the week after he unveiled his plan on Feb. 11. Nearly all were related to the bill.

The emails were released Friday as the result of an open records lawsuit brought in Dane County Circuit Court by Isthmus newspaper and the Wisconsin Associated Press. A settlement reached earlier in the week required the governor to produce the emails and pay the plaintiffs’ legal fees, which totaled just over $7,000.

At the request of Isthmus, the Center analyzed the emails. A team of reporters logged each of the emails in the sample as for or against the bill, unclear or unrelated. They also noted the location of the sender when possible.

Of the emails related to the bill, 62 percent supported it, while 32 percent opposed it. The margin of error for the Center’s sample size is plus or minus 2.3 percentage points.

Those percentages align with Walker’s characterization of the emails on Feb. 17, when he told reporters that “the majority are telling us to stay firm, to stay strong, to stand with the taxpayers.”

The percentages are muddied by the fact that some people wrote more than one email — sometimes many more. The Center ran a computer script on the full set of emails and found at least 47,752 unique email addresses. The most prolific person sent at least 252 messages against the bill.

The bill, introduced Feb. 11, called for eliminating most collective bargaining rights for 175,000 state and local public employees in the state and led to massive pro-labor protests. For nearly four weeks, tens of thousands of protesters filled the Capitol Square.

Economic Results Could Swing Public Opinion to Governor Walker

Sunday, 20 Mar 2011 06:49 PM

By Henry J. Reske and Ashley Martella

http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/DougSchoen-Obama-2012-PresidentialElection/2011/03/20/id/390121?s=al&promo_code=BE67-1

In Wisconsin, the battle between Walker and public-sector unions over collective-bargaining rights and budget deficits is a draw when it comes to public opinion, with both sides garnering strong support.

“Democrats are certainly mobilized by what they regard as an assault on the right of labor to organize and bargain collectively,” Schoen said. “But if, as we’ve seen in states like New Jersey and Indiana, there is a good economic result given the fighting that we’ve seen in the legislature and in the streets, then I think ultimately it could well work to Governor Walker’s advantage.”

One level where the Democrats are succeeding is in energizing their base, he said.

“I think Democrats have shown an unprecedented level of mobilization,” he said. “One-hundred-thousand people in the streets last weekend, the most since the Vietnam War, that’s huge, that’s really significant. But whether that translates into broad based across the board support for the Democratic Party remains to be seen.”

Read more on Newsmax.com: Top Dem Strategist: Soaring Prices Will Sink Obama in 2012

Unions Use Bugs as Thugs

The thug tactics we are seeing from the unions in Wisconsin are not rare and isolated. Unions are using unethical intimidation tactics all over the country.

Sodexo Slaps SEIU Cockroaches With RICO Suit


Posted by LaborUnionReport (Profile)

Friday, March 18th at 2:30PM EDT

20 Comments




Imagine being at a dinner event and having your plate served with (plastic) cockroaches scattered over the food. Envision going to a hospital with a loved one only to be confronted with the hint that the hospital food is infested with bugs, flies, mold, and rat droppings. Pretty disgusting, right? Well, imagine how disgusting it is that these tacticss are due to a union’s efforts to unionize the “offending” company’s employees. At least, that’s the allegations being made by the French-owned companySodexo.

For more than a year, Sodexo has endured being targeted by the SEIU. Being on the SEIU hit list for the company’s refusal to turn its workforce over to the purple behemoth, the SEIU has (allegedly) engaged in rallies, unlawful retaliation against Sodexo employees, as well as other, equally ugly, tactics such as:
Throwing plastic roaches onto food being served by Sodexo USA at a high profile event;
Scaring hospital patients by insinuating that Sodexo USA food contained bugs, rat droppings, mold and flies;
Lying to interfere with Sodexo USA business and sneaking into elementary schools to avoid security;
Violating lobbying laws to steer business away from Sodexo USA, even at the risk of costing Sodexo USA employees their jobs; and
Harassing Sodexo USA employees by threatening to accuse them of wrongdoing.

Now, Sodexo appears to have had enough.

On Thursday, Sodexo filed a civil lawsuit against the SEIU under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (more commonly known as RICO).

According to Sodexo’s press release:

Sodexo USA today filed a civil lawsuit against the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and other defendants under the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, to stop the illegal campaign of extortion that the SEIU has been waging in the U.S. for over a year.

“This is about protecting the Company’s business and the rights of our employees to vote freely about union representation,” said Robert Stern, Senior Vice President and General Counsel for Sodexo USA. ”We work constructively with unions every day but the SEIU has crossed the line by breaking the law. We will not tolerate the SEIU’s tactics any longer. Their campaign jeopardizes our Company and our employees’ jobs, and ultimately would rob our employees of their right to vote.”

Sodexo USA has filed the lawsuit seeking to halt the SEIU’s extortionate threats and barrage of unlawful tactics. The complaint alleges acts of SEIU blackmail, vandalism, trespass, harassment, and lobbying law violations designed to steer business away from Sodexo USA and harm the company.

[snip]

…the SEIU has engaged in a vicious campaign to force the Company into broadly recognizing the SEIU to the exclusion of other unions without allowing its employees in the U.S. to exercise their right to vote for or against the SEIU in a federally supervised secret ballot election.

According to Sodexo, the complaint, filed in federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia, seeks an injunction against the SEIU and its locals and executives, as well as monetary damages to be determined by the court.

There’s nothing like shining light on a cockroach to make it run. It appears Sodexo is ready to do that with the SEIU.

_________________

“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.” Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

Budget Repair Bill Myth Busters

Tuesday, March 15, 2011


Budget Repair Bill Myth Busters

The month long debate on the budget repair bill has been awash with many misconceptions, half truths, and outright lies about what’s actually in the bill that was passed by the Legislature last week and signed into law by Gov. Walker on Friday to address the ongoing budget crisis.

In an effort to get accurate information out to my constituents, over the next several weeks I will be putting out a series of Frequently Asked Questions and a Fact versus Myth memo that sets the record straight on some of the more ridiculous claims made against the budget repair bill.

Fact versus Myth part 1: Collective bargaining changes are an attack on working families

While the debate on the changes to collective bargaining will rage on in our state in the coming days and months, I want to share some facts about where Wisconsin stands in relation to other states and the national government when in comes to collective bargaining for public employees.

FACT: The budget repair bill does significantly change the current structure of collective bargaining for most public employees by limiting bargaining to only the base rate of pay. The pay increases are capped at the Consumer Price Index (CPI) which typically averages 2-3% depending on the year. Local units of government can give their employees a higher pay increase but they must first seek the approval of taxpayers in their district through referendum.

FACT: With these changes Wisconsin is now in the middle of the pack as far as how states regulate collective bargaining. In fact, there are 24 states that currently have some regulation on collective bargaining and another 12 states that allow no collective bargaining in either the public or private sector.

FACT: Another important point that has flown under the radar in this debate is the fact that most federal employees are NOT allowed to collectively bargain for wages or benefits under President Obama. Yet, you don’t see the 2 million federal workers walking off their jobs and storming the White House in protest.

Fact versus Myth part 2: Union members claim the budget repair bill will cut off aid to municipalities and schools, while removing millions from the state pension fund.

Several public employees emailed me a list of provisions that they were told were a part of the full budget repair bill. Included in the fictitious list were page numbers and section citations from the bill making claims that aid to local schools and municipalities would be cut and millions would be taken out of the state pension fund to pay for other programs. To disprove these ridiculous claims I asked the non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau, our budget experts, to put together a memo that addresses each of the items from the list.

Here are the questions I asked which made reference to the claims from the email followed by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau’s (LFB) response:

On pages 135-136, Section 9211 and page 58, Section 148 (or anywhere else in the bill) are there provisions that “cut off State aid to municipalities,” “cut off $900 million in state aid to public k-12 schools,” or “cause the tuition at UW to go up 26% over the next two years?”

LFB response: There is nothing in the budget adjustment bill that references these aid reductions, or increases in UW tuition.

On page 125, Section 9115, (or anywhere else in the bill) will the “state be allowed to take $28 million from the Employee Trust Fund, the state employees’ pension fund, to pay the state’s portion of the employee medical and pension contributions until 2013?”

LFB response: The $28 million is from reserve accounts established for group health insurance and pharmacy benefits for state employees and is intended to be used to reduce employer costs for providing group health insurance for state employees for the period July 1, 2011 and December 31, 2011. There is nothing in the budget adjustment bill that takes monies from the state employees’ pension fund.

On page 58, Section 62.623, this provision will allow “the state to no longer pay anything towards state employees medical and pension fund, requiring state employees to pay the entire cost of medical and pension contributions?”

LFB response: The section of the bill you cite is related to pension fund contributions for the City of Milwaukee and is not related to state employees. For state employees under the budget adjustment bill, general employees and executive and elected officials (including legislators and their staff members) would be required to make an employee contribution to the Wisconsin Retirement System equal to one-half of all required contribution rates. (For 2011, one-half of the rate would be 5.8% of salary for general employees and 6.65% of salary for executive and elected officials.)

Under the bill, state employees would pay approximately 12.6% of the cost of health insurance premiums for the remainder of 2011.

I hope this helps clear up some of the misinformation that has been spread around about the budget repair bill and its impact on public employees and on collective bargaining. Please stay tuned to future editions of the Suder update for more information on the budget repair bill.

January Jobs Report Shows Signs of Recovery

Late last week, the state Department of Workforce Development announced Wisconsin’s private sector added more than 10,000 jobs in January! It has been a priority of mine to grow our economy and create jobs ever since we started this session two months ago, and the January jobs report is a promising step in the right direction. 10,000 new jobs and a lower statewide unemployment rate is great news, but it is my hope that what we saw in January is just the beginning and that the measures we’ve enacted so far in the Assembly will make January’s growth the starting point for our recovery.

Keep in Touch!

As always I welcome your input and feedback on these issues. Please feel free to send me an email with any questions you may have on these topics or any other legislative issues that may be of concern. Your correspondence is important and appreciated, so please keep in touch!

Have a great week and thanks for reading!


If you would like to be removed from the update list at any time, please click here.



State Representative Scott Suder
State Capitol - Room 215 West - Post Office Box 8953 - Madison , Wisconsin 53708
(608) 267-0280 - Toll Free: (888) 534-0069
Email: Rep.Suder@legis.wi.gov

Union-Negotiated Work Rules for Public Employees Cost Taxpayers Dearly

Union-Negotiated Work Rules for Public Employees Cost Taxpayers Dearly

After spending several days complaining about Governor Walker’s proposed compensation changes for state employees (as if a 100 percent match on pension contributions and picking up 87 percent of health insurance premiums were raw deals) the union operatives have shifted gears.

 

 

 

“It’s about rights, not pay,” is their new mantra. Organized government employee unions are expressing panic over their would-be inability to negotiate items other than pay. They are specifically troubled at the prospect of no longer being able to dictate work rules, engage in union activities during the work week or participate in negotiated procedures to mitigate their grievances against management.

 

News flash. The work rules and grievance procedures for public employee unions cost taxpayers dearly in loss of productivity; and state taxpayers can no longer afford to sit by while some employees engage in union-related activities rather than performing the duties for which they are presumably employed.

 

The various contracts between the state of Wisconsin and their multiple government employee unions contain dozens of provisions regarding guaranteeing the ability of union stewards to operate in and out of the workplace, often while paid.

 

They are allowed to use work interoffice mail, phones, email and fax machines to communicate union business.

 

They are guaranteed time off to attend union-mandated educational classes as well as to attend annual union conventions.

 

Employees on leave without pay to attend to union and contract bargaining activities are allowed to still accrue vacation and sick leave, not for time working for the state, but for time participating in authorized union activities.

 

The most-senior employees are generally allowed to bump down to a lower classification if they are minimumly qualified to perform the new job, yet they still maintain their current rate of pay when (or more precisely if) layoffs occur. This routinely leaves the newest employees the most vulnerable while reducing the cost-savings associated with employee attrition.

 

Those who do receive notice of layoffs are allowed to search for new employment while at work.

 

These work rules are so pervasive and the contracts are so arcane, that they actually mandate the size of the bulletin boards at the work place. (You think I’m kidding?)

 

The Employer shall provide bulletin boards at locations mutually agreed upon for use by the local Unions to enable employees of the bargaining unit to see notices posted thereon. Such mutual agreement shall be arrived at locally. The normal size of new bulletin boards will be eight (8) square feet. The Employer will maintain bulletin boards provided under prior negotiated collective bargaining agreements and they need not conform to the normal size. In the event any new bulletin boards are mutually agreed upon, the Employer shall pay fifty percent (50%) and the Union shall pay fifty percent (50%) of the cost of such new boards.

 

None of these provisions give taxpayers more return on their investment in these employees. They may strengthen the union, but again that is counter-productive to the best interest of the employer (read: Taxpayer).

 

And the work rule insanity is not limited to state employees. There are a myriad of examples at the municipal and school district level, too.

 

As I wrote in November: Since the advent of government employee unions in the middle of the 20th Century, “the cost and scope of government in the United States has grown exponentially. Government employs more, attempts to do more, involves itself more and more into previously private matters and consumes larger and larger amounts of private sector wealth to fuel this binge. This growth is fueled by the influence of public employee unions, who gain their power through taxpayer paid union dues, which in turn are used to leverage policies that lead to the increase in the size, scope and cost of government, which means more public employee union members, which means more union dues and the cycle continues.

 

The result?

 

We now have more government jobs than manufacturing jobs in Wisconsin.

 

We used to be a state where we make things. Now we are a state that makes excuses for why the government behemoth cannot be tamed.”

 

This budget repair bill is a step in taming the behemoth. The Walker Administration projects $330 million in savings over the next two years. What is not calculated is the increased productivity taxpayers will see when union business is no longer conducted on their dime.

 

You can’t balance the state’s budget by these measures alone, but without these measures, the budget won’t balance, workers will be let go, children will be kicked off Medicaid, or a combination of those results will occur.

 

So that, folks, is why changes to collective bargaining practices are included in the budget repair bill, alongside the wage and benefit changes. Doing so will save taxpayers money.

 

By Brian Fraley

A MacIver Institute Perspective

Selected provisions of various state employee contracts

 

 

 

Paying for union-related work

 

The Employer and the Union agree that the Employer will pay one hundred percent (100%) of the cost of mutually agreed to bargaining time for the2007-2009 contract negotiations until Labor Day of 2009. From Labor Day until the conclusion of the bargaining session, the Employer and the Union agree to equally share the cost. WSEU Contract.

 

The shared cost will apply only to each of the twenty-five (25) employees of the five (5) bargaining units represented by the Wisconsin State Employees Union, plus the WSEU Union President. The qualifying shared time will be recorded as time off without loss of pay.

 

Convention Attendance Absences

 

Duly elected Union delegates or alternates to the biennial convention of the AFSCME, AFL-CIO, shall be granted time off without pay and without loss of benefits, not to exceed a total of ten (10) workdays, to attend said convention.

 

This time off may be charged to vacation credits, holiday credits, compensatory time or to administrative leave without pay and without loss of benefits as the individual employee may designate.

 

Absences for Educational Classes

 

Employees who are elected or selected by the Union to attend educational classes conducted by or for the Union shall be granted time off without pay and without loss of benefits for the purpose of participating in such classes.

 

All local and statewide union officers and representatives will be granted two (2) days per contract year without pay and without loss of benefits to attend union training sessions

 

Accruing vacation and sick leave while on unpaid leave for union biz.

 

Employees on leave of absence without pay shall continue to earn vacation and sick leave for the first two hundred sixteen (216) hours of time spent per calendar year in authorized Union activities contained in Article II, Section 6 (Union Conventions, Educational Classes, and Bargaining Unit Conferences) and Section 8 (Attendance at Local Union Meetings or Monthly Steward Meetings).

 

Employees on leave of absence without pay shall continue to earn vacation and sick leave for time spent in authorized union activities contained in Article II, Section 12 (Executive Board) and for contract negotiations meetings with the Employer [six (6) designated members of the Union’s bargaining team from each of the bargaining units covered by this Agreement]. A total of up to six (6) employees from all six (6) bargaining units on leave of absence under 13/8/3 shall also be covered. Such coverage shall be limited to a cumulative period of time of up to one

 

(1) year per person for the life of the contract.

 

It is expressly understood that the Union or the employee can contribute to the Wisconsin Retirement Fund an amount equal to the amount that both the employee and the Employer would have contributed to the Wisconsin Retirement Fund if the employee had not been on leave of absence without pay.

 

The Union shall be allowed to prepay the retirement contributions for employees (at differing rates for employees in general or protective occupations) who are on leaves of absence without pay for contract negotiations. The contribution for an employee shall be based on the compensation the employee would be deemed to have been paid (at their then current base rate of pay) for the time during which the employee would be on a leave of absence without pay for contract negotiations. If the Union chooses to prepay said retirement contributions, it shall be obligated to prepay both the employee’s and the Employer’s contribution.

 

Use of taxpayer-supplied phones, other resources

 

Local Union officers and stewards may use existing teleph0ne facilities during non instructional hours for Union business providing such use does not interfere with the normal operations of the facility.

 

Existing e-mail facilities may be used by Union officers and representatives for Union business providing such use does not interfere with or disrupt normal operations of the facility.

 

Processing Grievances

 

The grievant will be permitted a reasonable amount of time without loss of pay to process his/her grievance during his/her non-instructional work hours.

 

Union representatives will be permitted a reasonable amount of time without loss of pay to process grievances during their non-instructional working hours in their jurisdictional areas.

 

Work Hours/TransfersBumping/Layoff Assistance

 

Permanent changes of shift or days of the week shall not be made unless locally negotiated.

 

An employee who voluntarily demotes in lieu of layoff will continue to receive his/her current rate of pay, plus any subsequent across-the-board pay adjustments unless the employee demotes more than two (2) pay ranges lower than the position from which the employee is laid off.

 

An employee who has received written notice from the Appointing Authority of being at risk of layoff or who has received a notice of layoff shall be granted one or more of the following

• Up to forty(40) hours without loss of pay to attend job training;..
• Up to forty (40 hours of time without loss of pay for job search activities, including interviews and examinations…
• Use of office equipment and supplies where available
• Teacher placement services at the University of Wisconsin without cost to the employee

Press Release: Marathon Co. GOP: Response to Senate Passage of the Budget Repair Bill

Contact: Evan Nehring, Republican Party of Marathon County PR Chair, rpmc.wi.pr@gmail.com
March 9, 2011 (Wausau, WI) -

The build-up to the big vote on the Budget Repair Bill is over. After weeks of discussion and 24-7 nationwide media attention, senate Republicans finally took the step that was first considered early in the debate. They removed the financial provisions of the bill in order to call the question without needing a three-fifths quorum of 20 senators.

After the senate action, Republican senators were directed to leave Madison for their personal safety. The Assembly will take up the revised bill tomorrow, clearly having the votes to send it on to Governor Walker to be signed into law.

Local Democrats are questioning the legality of the vote. We encourage them to investigate as thoroughly as necessary. Senator Fitzgerald stated that procedures were cleared with the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, the Legislative Council and the Legislative Reference Bureau.

The irony of this evening’s events is that the Democrats are complaining about the Republicans moving too quickly while every Democrat senator has been voluntarily avoiding the senate floor for 20 days.

Wausau Democrat Rep. Donna Seidel states tonight that the Republican senators “obstructed our democracy.” All 14 Democrat senators remain in Illinois.

Stevens Point Democrat Senator Julie Lassa, from an undisclosed location, stated that the bill is opposed by “the overwhelming majority of Wisconsin citizens.” We question her math.

Lassa also stated, “Governor Walker and Republican legislators have demonstrated absolute contempt for the democratic process.” On the contrary, we who supported and elected our Republican governor and senators assert that the democratic process was honored by those Republicans who were elected on a platform of fiscal responsibility and who showed up day by day to honor the confidence placed in them by the voters.

Lassa and other Democrats are calling this an attack on middle class workers. This claim is deeply offensive to millions of middle class workers in Wisconsin who are picking up the tab.

Marathon Co. GOP: Praise for Gov. Walker’s Budget Address

Contact: Evan Nehring, Republican Party of Marathon County PR Chair, rpmc.wi.pr@gmail.com
March 2, 2011 (Wausau, WI) –

We have been anticipating the new budget. When our local party gathered for our membership meeting last week, the energy, enthusiasm and resolve in support of Governor Walker’s budget repair bill were striking. Leaders and members shared both planned and spontaneous speeches as the significance of this moment in Wisconsin politics was evident to all. The resounding message was one of hope that Republican leadership in Madison would hold the line in this current struggle for fiscal restraint.

We receive Governor Walker’s budget address today with approval. We watch protestors in the Capitol dome while we go faithfully to our jobs day by day. We watch union supporters bus in from neighboring states while Wisconsin voters clearly and recently elected Governor Walker to make the tough choices reflected in the new budget.

One theme of today’s address was the commitment of the state to give lawmakers at the local level the tools they need to make flexible, economically prudent decisions. In an era where the top-down approach to government tends to pass along unfunded mandates instead of helpful tools, this theme is welcome for its wisdom and ingenuity. We encourage the same sort of top-down thoughtfulness on the national level.

Midway through the speech, Governor Walker stated: “Gone are the segregated fund raids, illegal transfers, and accounting gimmicks. Gone are the tax or fee increases. Our state cannot grow if our people are weighed down paying for a larger and larger government. A government that pays its workers unsustainable benefits that are out of line with the private sector. We need a leaner and cleaner state government.”

The governor’s mode of operation has been direct and truthful. When he makes these drain-the-swamp type claims, they carry the credibility of his track record. We understand the heated nature of this budget debate. However, we respectfully submit that other debates at the state and national level in recent years have been as important as this debate and more important. Yet, Republicans in the minority have remained and engaged the legislative process.

Republicans in Wisconsin and from Wisconsin continue to show the leadership needed to embrace the entire complexity of state and federal problems. We also applaud the Democrat representatives in the state assembly who came to work and engaged the legislative budget process. To the state senators who have stepped outside of the legislative process by fleeing to Illinois, please know that our party recruiting has never been easier. Our email boxes continue to fill with citizens asking how they can support the governor.

One statistic on which we want to see more emphasis is the underfunding of public union pensions. Nationwide analysis gives a range of estimates from $1-3 trillion. The Manhattan Institute states that Wisconsin state and local government pensions could be underfunded by $10.9 billion. We want to see more pinpointed numbers and more attention drawn to this problem.

The overarching message of the budget address was creative, intentional spending instead of reckless, unaccountable spending. Governor Walker’s tone was consistently business-like and appropriate for the gravity of the situation. We embrace the spirit of this message and pledge to responsibly engage the process as the details are considered.