[Cincinatus' Wife]

Scrooge-ism in Wisconsin, part 2 [excerpt]The pas-de-deux between Chuck Lane and myself, which has now become a long day's journey into night and the subsequent morning, has touched on a number of topics raised by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's attack on public-sector unions -- but not on the full range of political consequences that will follow if Walker's denial of collective bargaining rights is enacted. Walker argues that it's fiscal necessity that's driven him to his stance, but a dispassionate look at what he's actually proposed suggests the real reason is political opportunity.

For one thing, Walker's proposal lets police and firefighter unions retain their collective bargaining rights and, thereby, their institutional clout, even though their taxpayer-supported pensions are among the most generous in the state. Not coincidentally, a number of police and firefighter unions supported Walker in the last election, and such unions tend to endorse more conservative candidates than, say, teachers' unions. So what Walker is really doing is going after unions that support Democrats.[end excerpt]

JUST ONE PROBLEM WITH HIS ARGUMENT

[Crawdad]

And he wants to end the practice of the state deducting union dues from the paychecks of its employees. Unions would have to collect dues themselves, and state employees might opt not to pay dues at all. Walker, in short, wants Wisconsin to stop participating in a conspiracy to fleece itself.

Alabama just did this with teachers' paychecks. It will decimate the teachers union.

[SonOfDarkSkies]

Just as technology is sweeping aside many existing jobs in the modern world, it is about to make sweeping changes in the world of education. And at the very time teachers are breaking the bank with their salaries and benefits (without any connection of same to performance), technology is reducing the value of individual teacher input.

Not a good time for educational Luddites.

As an aside, I remember in college when professors used to deliver the same lecture class after class. Even then I asked why this lecture wasn't just recorded, in quantity, on video tape and made available at the library. The university was insulted. Now that we have youtube, computer programs, and the internet, perhaps the university won't be so insulted when change is forced upon it.

[PapaBear3625]

And he wants to end the practice of the state deducting union dues from the paychecks of its employees.

Currently, the Dems fled to prevent a 3/5 quorum (which is needed for tax and appropriations bills).

If the Repubs were serious, they would declare a quorum for non-appropriations legislation (only majority needed, which they have), and pass the "no-dues-deduction" as a stand-alone bill for the Gov to sign. Then pass the various anti-civil-service provisions as stand-alone, non-appropriations bills.

I don't think they will, because I don't think they're serious. i think they want to posture without actually passing anything which would get unions pissed off at them.

[Arm_Bears]

“The intellectual breadbasket of American progressivism?”

I just threw-up in my mouth a little bit.

[KansasGirl]

[And he wants to end the practice of the state deducting union dues from the paychecks of its employees. Unions would have to collect dues themselves, and state employees might opt not to pay dues at all]

Those state employees really are useful idiots to be out there opposing this. Wonder how many of them would be pleasantly surprised when the union/Democrat fleecing of their paychecks stop?