Unions: This time, we’ll defeat Walker

The Hill ^ | July 15, 2015 | Tim Devaney

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Labor groups are gearing up for another fight with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) now that he has entered the presidential race.

After a failed recall bid in Wisconsin, unions are determined to make sure Walker never sets foot in the Oval Office. But organized labor’s opposition could play well for Walker in the GOP primary because it appeals to his conservative base.

Some of the biggest unions are still formulating their plan of attack against Walker, even as they signal they will dip into their coffers to go after him. The strongest signal came from AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.

“Scott Walker is a national disgrace,” Trumka said in a six-word statement rebuking the Wisconsin governor.

Walker has clashed with unions since taking over as governor of the Democratic-leaning Wisconsin, a state with strong union roots, pushing policies that have weakened public and private sector unions.

Critics paint Walker as a union buster. “You can’t actually outlaw unions, but he did everything in his power to weaken unions in Wisconsin,” one labor official told The Hill.

Walker raised the stakes for unions on Monday as he announced his bid for the presidency.

“Since I’ve been governor, we took on the unions and won,” Walker said. “If our reforms can work in a blue state like Wisconsin, they can work anywhere in America.”

Shortly after taking over as governor in 2011, Walker signed legislation that severely weakened the collective bargaining rights of public sector employees such as teachers. Under the bill, state and local government workers — excluding police officers and firefighters — can only bargain for raises up to the point of inflation. Unions argue this move holds down wages throughout the state.

This led unions to attempt to recall Walker in 2012, which he ultimately survived.

Walker again targeted unions earlier this year after he was reelected, this time going after private sector unions. He signed right-to-work legislation that gives workers the choice to not join a union even if they indirectly benefit from the union’s collective bargaining agreements.

Walker’s campaign, which did not respond to a request for comment, is touting his record of standing up to Big Labor, but unions see it as a threat to their survival.

The back-and-forth with unions will only help raise Walker’s profile among potential Republican voters, said GOP strategist Ford O’Connell.

“This is political gold for Scott Walker in the Republican primary,” O’Connell said. “The fact that unions are attacking him and that he even won a recall election shows conservative voters that he’s a fighter who doesn’t back down and gets results.”

Walker’s announcement that he is running for president fired up labor activists, who are churning out stories from local union leaders in Wisconsin to “warn” the country of what’s at stake.

“A Scott Walker presidency is a scary, scary thing for America,” said Phil Neuenfeldt, president of the AFL-CIO’s Wisconsin branch.

Sheila Cochran of the Milwaukee Area Labor Council called Walker’s labor policies “idiotic.”

“Labor has really taken a serious beating by the governor in this state,” she said. “He looks at us as if we’re trying to totally derail corporate America.”

“It concerns me that he’s hit the national stage,” Cochran added. “I pray he never becomes president. This is a man that just cannot lead this country. I would be terrified.”

Michael Bolton, the district director for the United Steelworkers in Wisconsin, said unions must “make sure that all workers in America understand Scott Walker is not a friend of the working person.”

“We’re going to talk about what he has done to the state and what we believe he plans to do to the country if he were elected,” Bolton said.

Labor activists plan to use aggressive social media tactics to spread the word about Walker’s treatment of unions in Wisconsin.

“Scott Walker has made it his mission to crush the ability of workers to come together, stick together, have each other’s backs and have a meaningful voice at work through their union,” said Stephanie Bloomingdale, secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO’s Wisconsin branch.

“The concern is that is a blueprint for what he would do as president,” a labor official told The Hill.

Walker’s tough talk against labor generally plays well for him with many business-friendly Republican voters, but he faced backlash even from his own party earlier this year when he compared union protesters to terrorists.

The governor had been asked about how he would handle the situation with ISIS. “If I can take on 100,000 protesters, I can do the same across the globe,” he responded.

Labor groups have not forgotten the comment.

“That’s pretty much the most offensive thing he could say that working people who are standing up for their rights are equivalent to terrorists,” one labor official told The Hill.

“I’ve talked to a lot of first responders who were there on 9/11, and they’ve also been to union rallies — and they don’t look anything alike,” the official added.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

With enemies like them, who needs friends?

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Why Labor Hates Walker, in Three Charts

[SNIP]

Labor unions rely on density for two reasons. First, unions need monthly dues in order to be able to pay organizers and staff. The more members, the more dues, the more organizing. Second, the more unions that exist in a region, the easier it is to organize. That's because more union employers usually means smaller disparities between the wages paid by different businesses -- meaning less incentive to oppose organizing drives. That's why New York state has the highest union membership rate in the country: New York City's high union density makes it easier to organize.

Again, half of the country's union members work in government. That's high density. Public-sector employee unions work hard -- and spend heavily -- to support elected officials that support their organizing efforts.

And that's why Walker gives labor such conniptions. He demonstrated that unions could be beaten -- and that even in a state that twice backed Barack Obama, he didn't pay a political price for it. Walker has made his defeat of the unions a core part of his pitch to conservative voters. So far, he's running with the front of the pack."

[SNIP]

[KC_Conspirator]

Feel the hate dripping from the left.

[DoodleDawg]

I’m sure they’ll try but they don’t have the sway they once had. Might cost him Ohio but other than that big union states like Michigan were out of reach anyway.

[KC_Conspirator]

“That’s pretty much the most offensive thing he could say that working people who are standing up for their rights are equivalent to terrorists".

The unions do not speak for working people.

[Biggirl]

Keep trying, come up a LOSER again!

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Notice that the quotes are from UNION officials.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Exactly!

[bkepley]

They’ll take credit for it. He’s fine but I don’t think he’ll win.

[cripplecreek]

Can you feel the love?

[C. Edmund Wright]

Is it just me....or do these commie union thugs remind anyone of the 1972 Soviet bball team in the Olympics......hard core lefties getting shot after shot after shot at defeating the good guys.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwZuPi4cbyg

[DoodleDawg]

Notice that the quotes are from UNION officials.

I knew that. And?

[Cincinatus' Wife]

2011 Wisconsin protests

"The 2011 Wisconsin protests were a series of demonstrations in the state of Wisconsin in the United States beginning in February involving at its zenith as many as 100,000 protesters opposing the 2011 Wisconsin Act 10, also called the "Wisconsin Budget Repair bill." Subsequently, anti-tax activists and other conservatives, including Tea Party advocates, launched small pockets of counter protests.

The protests centered on the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison, with satellite protests also occurring at other municipalities throughout the state. Demonstrations took place at various college campuses, including the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. After the collective bargaining bill was upheld by the Wisconsin Supreme Court on June 14, the number of protesters declined to about 1,000 within a couple days.

The protests were a major driving force for recall elections of state senators in 2011 and 2012, the failed recall of Governor Scott Walker in 2012 and a contentious Wisconsin Supreme Court election in 2011."..........

[cripplecreek]

Might cost him Ohio but other than that big union states like Michigan were out of reach anyway.

You do realize that Michigan is a RTW state now too right? In fact, Walker looks strong in Michigan and I say that as a Cruz supporter.

[cripplecreek]

It was kind of funny. Less than 24 hours after the recall attempt failed in Wisconsin, they dropped their recall attempt against Rick Snyder in Michigan.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Americans working in jobs where UNIONS have taken over, are now free from paying dues to the UNION leadership that supports Liberal politicians.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2015/07/13/dear-democrats-you-only-have-yourself-to-blame-for-scott-walker/

“.....Looking back, it’s clear that without the recall, there is no Scott Walker presidential announcement today. What the recall did was turn Walker into a conservative hero/martyr — the symbol of everything base GOPers hate about unions and, more broadly, the Democratic party. He went from someone no one knew to someone every conservative talk radio host (and their massive audiences) viewed as the tip of the spear in the fight against the creep of misguided Democratic priorities. He became someone who had the phone numbers of every major conservative donor at his fingertips. He became what he is today: The political David who threw a pebble and slew the mighty liberal Goliath.

It’s hard for me to imagine that if Democrats had never tried to recall Walker that he would be a) running for president in 2016 or b) solidly established as one of the three candidates regarded as most likely to be the nominee. Even if Walker had, as he did, won a second term as governor in Wisconsin in 2014, it’s much more likely he’d be grouped in with fellow governors like John Kasich and Chris Christie rather than, as he is now, with Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio.”

[Cincinatus' Wife]

“According to one University of Wisconsin professor, presidential candidate Scott Walker and mass-murdering dictator Adolf Hitler are so similar that it’s actually “terrifying.”

“My grandfather, a psychologist, just walked me through similarities between Walker and Hitler.

There are so many-it’s terrifying,” educational-policies professor Sara Goldrick-Rab tweeted on July 1.

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/421196/professor-scott-walker-terrifying-similarities-hitler

[KC_Conspirator]

I know, a once again, one sided liberal article.