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Walker’s anti-union law has labor reeling in Wisconsin [grab a cup of coffee and curl up with this]
Washington Post ^ | February 22, 2015 | Robert Samuels

Posted on 02/22/2015 11:48:49 PM PST by Cincinatus' Wife

KING, Wis. — At the old union hall here on a recent afternoon, Terry Magnant sat at the head of a table surrounded by 18 empty chairs. A members meeting had been scheduled to start a half-hour earlier, but the small house, with its cracked walls and loose roof shingles, was lonely and desolate.

“There used to be a lot more people coming,” said Magnant, a 51-year-old nursing assistant, sighing.

The anti-union law passed here four years ago, which made Gov. Scott Walker a national Republican star and a possible presidential candidate, has turned out to be even more transformative than many had predicted.

Walker had vowed that union power would shrink, workers would be judged on their merits, and local governments would save money. Unions had warned that workers would lose benefits and be forced to take on second jobs or find new careers.

Many of those changes came to pass, but the once-thriving ­public-sector unions were not just shrunken — they were crippled......

....In King, population 1,700, Magnant said she couldn’t change a sign at the union hall without someone giving her the finger. Farther west, in Stanley, prison workers said they ditched their favorite pizza pub because the owner stood by while other customers called them “leeches.”....

At the meeting, the husband of the columnist called Walker “a pig” — which prompted the board supervisor to wonder why he was insulting pigs. They debated whether or not it’s worth it to invite Republicans to the education event, but Brey insisted it’s important to keep things balanced. Eventually, the group agreed.....

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Extended News; Government; Politics/Elections; US: Wisconsin
KEYWORDS: antibusiness; liberalagenda; liberalmedia; mainstreammedia; righttowork; scottwalker; teachersunion; thenarrative; union; unionthugs; walker; washingtoncompost; wisconsin
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The title should be Wisconsinites' anti-union sentiment and votes have spoken.
1 posted on 02/22/2015 11:48:49 PM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Yeah; anything that isn’t closed shop with forced undue-dues collection is “anti-union”. And so the narrative marches on.


2 posted on 02/22/2015 11:54:14 PM PST by Olog-hai
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

the msm typified by the compost seems to have its marching orders...


3 posted on 02/22/2015 11:57:28 PM PST by SteveH
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To: Olog-hai; SteveH

This is all they have?

It will attract more voters to Scott Walker.


4 posted on 02/23/2015 12:03:43 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Long on emotion, short on fact. Classic puff piece style.


5 posted on 02/23/2015 1:08:59 AM PST by Usagi_yo
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

” Many of those changes came to pass, but the once-thriving public-sector unions were not just shrunken — they were crippled......”

Music to my ears. Hopefully if he’s elected he’ll cut the federal behemoth down to size.


6 posted on 02/23/2015 1:16:28 AM PST by aquila48
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Crushing all forms of unionism will lead to the restoration of American Exceptionalism. Abolish unions! Eradicate the minimum wage! Let freedom ring!


7 posted on 02/23/2015 1:18:08 AM PST by re_nortex (DP - that's what I like about Texas)
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To: re_nortex

Fact is the changes weren’t that severe.

The unions still screamed bloody murder.

All I know is if the unions were so awesome and doing what most workers wanted, their membership wouldn’t have went down so badly. That is the truth.


8 posted on 02/23/2015 1:22:04 AM PST by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; Not averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
Farther west, in Stanley, prison workers said they ditched their favorite pizza pub because the owner stood by while other customers called them “leeches.”

The appropriate response would have been to smash their heads with a tire iron. You know, the union way.

9 posted on 02/23/2015 1:31:07 AM PST by Mr Ramsbotham (Laws against sodomy are honored in the breech.)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Walker is not anti-Union; he’s neutral. He has allowed individuals to freely choose whether or not to join unions on the merits of those unions, and of course most people have chosen not to.

I am anti-Union based on personal experience. When I was a teenager, skinny and not yet fully-grown, two huge union thugs threatened me indirectly. Being far to naive to understand an indirect threat, I misunderstood, so they clarified - they said they would break both of my arms if I didn’t do what the union wanted. I have hated unions passionately ever since, and from what I have personally seen, they richly deserve the hatred and contempt of all decent people.


10 posted on 02/23/2015 1:40:47 AM PST by Pollster1 ("Shall not be infringed" is unambiguous.)
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To: Pollster1
I am anti-Union based on personal experience.

Same here and I want them all -- every last one -- crushed out of existence. One of the more joyous events in my long lifetime was busting a long-entrenched union and then watching the featherbedding "workers", some of whom had worked at the facility for three decades or more, get fired. These lazy, unproductive lowlifes with their precious seniority no longer had the protection of the local union goons and were rightly dismissed. The company then became much more prosperous since the deadwood was eliminated along with the archaic workrules imposed by the union thugs. And we anti-union employees who remained after the long-overdue downsizing were amply rewarded in that prosperity.

Before my successful campaign to get the vile union decertified, the ridiculous work rules prevented me from working when both the boss and I wanted to. Union thuggery enforced a certain amount of downtime in spite of the fact that I was willing and able to work.

Once the union was busted, I started making money hand over fist since the stupid downtime rule was gone. My colleagues also benefited as well since we gained liberty. Moreover, no longer having to pay the blood money to a union mobster (union dues) meant a bigger paycheck for everyone. Unions are just another branch of communism.

Also gone was the antagonism of "us against them" that unions foster through their class-driven labor vs. management philosophy. In short, our company became more profitable when the union was kicked out and we employees all became happier (even those who had voted to keep the union).

11 posted on 02/23/2015 1:51:28 AM PST by re_nortex (DP - that's what I like about Texas)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Years ago I was taking some summer classes in Louisville, Kentucky.
I needed a job and answered an add at Louisville Glass.
I do stain glass windows so I know how to cut glass and was hired immediately and started.
A very large quansit hut building was having ricocheting bullets fly around as they were on strike and shooting in to the building from outside.
Them unionists sure are a fun loving bunch.
I didn’t go back for a second day.


12 posted on 02/23/2015 2:11:35 AM PST by Joe Boucher
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To: re_nortex

My case was much simpler. I just wanted a summer job. That job paid minimum wage, minus a third of what I would have earned all summer in union dues and initiation fees, if I joined the union at the 30 day mark. I declined to join, quit after 30 days, and got a new job (requiring that I join the same union but at a different employer). The union disapproved of me dodging the 3o-day limit. For two big, muscular, pot-bellied thugs to threaten to break a kid’s arms over money shocked me, and I will never forget the evil of unions and of their democrat protectors.


13 posted on 02/23/2015 2:20:52 AM PST by Pollster1 ("Shall not be infringed" is unambiguous.)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

“No, we have to fight,” Fish responded. “It’s for our students.”.....’Splain how having other people pay for your raises, insurance and time off benefits the students. Any student Ms. Lamprey-eel.


14 posted on 02/23/2015 2:26:37 AM PST by Safetgiver ( Islam makes barbarism look genteel.)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

“No, we have to fight,” Fish responded. “It’s for our students.”

To pick this line to end the article on cements in my mind just how mindless unions appear to be. Just how does a teacher come to such a conclusion when anyone with half a brain can surmise exactly the opposite?


15 posted on 02/23/2015 2:45:36 AM PST by wita
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To: wita

I agree.

It was the cherry on top of this “Are they completely politically deaf?” conservative sundae.


16 posted on 02/23/2015 2:54:35 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Feel good story of the day.


17 posted on 02/23/2015 3:43:13 AM PST by Fzob (Jesus + anything = nothing, Jesus + nothing = everything)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

What a great news story to start a Monday morning with! I’m sure Dear Leader will find a way to make us suffer the rest of the week, but for this moment, knowing that Rick Walker and the Republicans of Wisconsin have pulled a fundamental building block out from under the Democrats, makes me feel...good.


18 posted on 02/23/2015 3:52:00 AM PST by Dixie Yooper (Ephesians 6:11)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
It will attract more voters to Scott Walker.

I have a suggestion for Scott Walker the next time he is axed, "Is obama a Christian?", his answer should be, "It depends what the meaning of the word is, is."

With that statement, he would be firing a shot across the bow of the hms hildabitch, and telling the reporters to piss off at the same time.

19 posted on 02/23/2015 4:20:50 AM PST by USS Alaska (Exterminate the terrorist savages, everywhere.)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
"She said she grew up admiring her dad, who put six children through college on his union-supported job as a forester. “ ‘I don’t make a lot, but we’ll be okay with retirement,’ ” she said he told her. That, she was taught, was the reward for public service in Wisconsin." He didn't make 'a lot' but put 6 kids through college? Unless they were spaced out 4-5 years apart that had to cost no less than 20-30K a year. I wonder what this leech's idea of 'a lot' is?
20 posted on 02/23/2015 4:23:54 AM PST by Beagle8U (NOTICE : Unattended children will be given Coffee and a Free Puppy.)
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