The Demagogeury of Madison, Wisconsin. (Or, "Signs of the Times").

Hi Everyone
I have been noticing any number of signs- Taken either in Madison, or other communities in Wisconsin-
I have yet to see one that is "for" Walkers proposals... This, quite possibly because we ALL know families who live by the unions, or teachers that have meant the world to us.
Or maybe we even know and love a few cops... Or EMT's. paramedics, and firefighters... They have all, in one way or another, saved our lives.
Some of us are even thankful-

Here are a few of the ones I found... Bring back our labor unions.

1935 National Labor Relations Act, which states in Section 7 (§157) of “Employee Rights”: “Employees shall have the right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations, to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing”.

To the extent that there is an imbalance — Walker claims there is a $137 million deficit — it is not because of a drop in revenues or increases in the cost of state employee contracts, benefits or pensions. It is because Walker and his allies pushed through $140 million in new spending for special-interest groups in January. If the Legislature were simply to rescind Walker’s new spending schemes — or delay their implementation until they are offset by fresh revenues — the “crisis” would not exist. (From http://newsjunkiepost.com).

It turns out that Wisconsin doesn’t have the $3.6 billion budget shortfall as claimed by Koch Industries lapdog governor Scott “Hosni” Walker. Instead, this is an all out war on labor. Though Wisconsin is resisting, other states are also under attack by both Democrats and Republicans. (From: http://coto2.wordpress.com).

Brendan Fischer at PRWatch notes: “Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker alleges that dismantling public sector collective bargaining rights is made necessary by a $3.6 billion deficit in the next budget, and a $137 million shortfall this year. Setting aside the fact that the ability to negotiate shifts, seniority, benefits and conditions of employment would have a negligible impact on the deficit, and looking beyond Walker’s deceptive claim that the alternative to union-busting is to kick 200,000 children off Medicaid (called “false” by Politifact), how deep is the state’s economic crisis?

***It’s not just Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s recent efforts to strip public employees of their right to collectively bargain that have citizens of his state outraged. Walker is nothing short of a radical hell-bent on privatizing the public sector of Wisconsin.

Last year, he exhibited similar dictatorial tendencies in his immediately previous role as a Milwaukee County Executive when he proposed laying off 27 security guards working for Milwaukee County and replacing them with nonunion private employees.

When the County Board nixed his proposal, Walker unilaterally pushed it through anyway, citing a budgetary emergency. He laid off the workers, and hired new ones through a $1.1 million contract with the UK-based security firm Wackenhut.

And the problems compounded. The head of the newly constituted security force, Chad H. Wegener, turned out to have five misdemeanor convictions. A criminal complaint had also been filed against Wegener for drunk and disorderly conduct and for making unwelcome sexual advances on his male subordinates. Wegener was dismissed.

Walker’s staff had calculated the privatization of the guards would save the County more than $750,000. Months later, that estimate had been revised down to $411,000. And now, even those savings will be lost, as an arbitration board ruled in January that Walker acted improperly and the guards have to be rehired, with back pay costing as much as $430,000, a net loss for the County, thanks to Walker’s rash, unilateral act...
AND, still ...it gets worse.
(Please go to: http://www.consortiumnews.com/2011/022311c.html to read it all).

From here: http://blogs.forbes.com/rickungar/2011/02/25/the-wisconsin-lie-exposed-taxpayers-actually-contribute-nothing-to-public-employee-pensions/#comment-4224
chantemerle commented

"Thank you for this clear discussion. My husband is Faculty @ UW-Milwaukee.
Yes we already did our share with the 16 days of furlough. It was 3% of our salary.
And yes by State Law, my husband is not allowed to have the amount for the pension, even if we want to manage his money.
Yes, he is writing grant after grant that give money to UWM, that pays for one part of his salary. If he hadn’t do it, he would have not had a Tenure position. And he MUST continue now because UWM need the budget from the grant to grow. The WI state decreased his subvention to UW-Milwaukee during the past years.
And Yes, not all the State Employees are unionized, simply because it doesn’t exist. The faculty of UW-Milwaukee don’t have Union.
Yes, I would like my husband to work at a private university and manage his money.
Yes I challenge a Mom at my kid’s school and her argument was to tell me how much she paid for insurance and co-pay (and I recognize it’s insane what she is paying) and her difficulty to put money on her husband 401K. She finally told me that she was giving the state employees a “gift”. But I also thank her to be interactive in this big debate where communication is impossible because manipulated by a Governor who wants the Power to mark History. I looked at the Definition of DEMAGOGUE in thefreedictionary.com “A leader who obtains power by means of impassioned appeals to the emotions and prejudices of the populace.”

http://blogs.forbes.com/insidearm/2011/02/21/in-wisconsin-a-governors-fails-to-uphold-his-states-creed/
In Wisconsin, a Governor Fails to Uphold His State’s Creed
Posted by Michael Klozotsky

As the son of two retired Wisconsin public school teachers, the brother and nephew of two current public school teachers, the grandson of a Wisconsin firefighter, the nephew of a State schools administrator, and as a former employee of the Madison Metropolitan School District myself, the current goings-on in America’s Dairyland carry deep personal significance for me. But the outcome of these events is sure to reverberate in other states, for other workers, and in wide swath of business sectors that make up the US economy.

Public sector workers have exercised collective bargaining rights in Wisconsin for roughly 75 years. The bill currently being debated by the Wisconsin legislature is being touted as a “budget repair” bill, but it has much more to do with Wisconsin workers’ rights than replenishing state coffers. Public workers have already agreed to wage and benefit concessions—already given ground against their own (household) budgetary best interests.

But the real political agenda—to enfeeble unions and shift the long term balance of power in Wisconsin to corporations and the extremely wealthy—is what Governor Walker and the Republican legislature are really holding out for.

Wisconsin has been a leader in progressive worker rights for over 100 years. It is the birthplace of fundamental business and labor concepts like the 40 hour work week, unemployment compensation, disability insurance, sick days, overtime pay, and child labor laws often taken for granted in the second decade of the 21st century. These achievements were hard fought victories on the part of unions.

Even workers who do not participate in unions benefit from union accomplishments.
How does eroding collective bargaining rights balance the budget?

A protester's sign in Madison cuts to the chase.

Arguably, union victories gave birth to the American middle class—the same group of people upon whose shoulders resurgence from the latest economic crisis is believed by many economists to rest. But with less than 24 hours of debate, Wisconsin Republicans are determined to erode 100 years of progressive traditions that germinated into a decent standard of living for millions of US working people. Paired with Walker’s tax policies that actually increase Wisconsin’s budget deficit by extending big business tax cuts, it is difficult to see how denying the collec..." (Please go here to read the rest of this captivating report: http://blogs.forbes.com/insidearm/2011/02/21/in-wisconsin-a-governors-fails-to-uphold-his-states-creed/).
__

As you can guess, I could go on and on and on...
Many of the political groups on Multiply have done just that- As have my latest few blogs about this 'crisis' in Wisconsin.

My heart goes out to all that are so negatively impacted by our dictator/governor.
Hmmm...
To my Wisconsin friends, I am wondering who you voted for?

Even worse for my Milwaukee friends, who might consider themselves Republican? (And I KNOW you are here)-

As quoted above, "Walker’s staff had calculated the privatization of the guards would save the County more than $750,000. Months later, that estimate had been revised down to $411,000. And now, even those savings will be lost, as an arbitration board ruled in January that Walker acted improperly and the guards have to be rehired, with back pay costing as much as $430,000, a net loss for the County, thanks to Walker’s rash, unilateral act...
AND, still ...it gets worse.
(Please go to: http://www.consortiumnews.com/2011/022311c.html to read it all)."

Knowing this all, how COULD you have voted for "this"?!?
NOTE:
The photos were all collected from the following sites, and their respective articles.
Yes, I have read them all- (AND many of the comments too)...


1 ctsocialists.org

2 alternet.org

3 breitbart.tv

4 csmonitor.com

5 http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/opinion/column/phil_hands/article_d76a43ee-40ff-11e0-9bbb-001cc4c03286.html

6 motherjones.tumblr.com

7 peoplesworld.org

8 blogs.citypages.com

9. theweek.com

10 faithfulprogressive.blogspot.com

11 filterednews.wordpress.com

12 tcdailyplanet.net

13 obrag.org (who donated pizzas for the people in madison)- Order board at Ian's Pizza showing countries and states that have ordered free pizza for the demonstrators against Gov. Walker's anti-union bill.

14 druzifer.livejournal.com

15 http://obrag.org/?p=33366

16 lefan-o-rama.tumblr.com

17 http://coto2.wordpress.com/2011/02/18/wisconsin-governors-fake-budget-crisis/

18 cnbc.com

19 http://blogs.forbes.com/insidearm/2011/02/21/in-wisconsin-a-governors-fails-to-uphold-his-states-creed/

20 http://blogs.forbes.com/rickungar/2011/02/25/the-wisconsin-lie-exposed-taxpayers-actually-contribute-nothing-to-public-employee-pensions/#comment-4213

21 http://www.wisaflcio.org/

22 http://www.wisconsinlaborhistory.org/

23 http://newsjunkiepost.com/2011/02/20/may-1933-hitler-abolishes-unions/

Photo by COTO Report http://coto2.wordpress.com/2011/02/18/wisconsin-governors-fake-budget-crisis/
To the extent that there is an imbalance — Walker claims there is a $137 million deficit — it is not because of a drop in revenues or increases in the cost of state employee contracts, benefits or pensions. It is because Walker and his allies pushed through $140 million in new spending for special-interest groups in January. If the Legislature were simply to rescind Walker’s new spending schemes — or delay their implementation until they are offset by fresh revenues — the “crisis” would not exist. -The Cap Times

24 May 1933: Hitler Abolishes Unions
http://newsjunkiepost.com/2011/02/20/may-1933-hitler-abolishes-unions/
Photo by Jess Dennis http://www.flickr.com/photos/thehardestpart/5453904539/

25 http://www.alternet.org/story/150046/8_authoritarian_tactics_right-wingers_use_to_sabotage_the_wisconsin_uprising?page=1


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