If you have not been following the news, thousands are protesting the Governor of Wisconsin, the recently elected Republican Scott Walker, and his proposed "budget repair bill" (a summary here) which would essentially eliminate collective bargaining rights for public employees (that is, limit contract bargaining to wages and only permit year long contracts). There have been protests for several days in the capital (Madison) and all kinds of folks are turning out in support--teachers, firefighters, students, more students, and other sympathetic members of the public and union members. Support for the protesters is also coming from around the U.S. and the world. As protesters chanted in the Wisconsin State house, "this is what democracy looks like." Glad to see Wisconsin's progressive history is still being made!
Protests and exercise of free speech aside, what I find very interesting is how this seems to be, in part, fallout from a bad economy for working and middle class folks, a right-wing attack on unionized workers, and special contempt for public sector workers (like professors at state universities like me) which has been a long time coming. Critics suggest public employees need to "share the pain." The argument goes something like this: If private sector workers have lost jobs. lost benefits, don't have pension plans, or health care, then pubic employees should not either.
Now, this "race to the bottom" argument seems misplaced to me. Rather than talking about why it is that Wall Street seems to be doing fine, how tax cuts are increasing budget deficits, and working people have not "recovered" that many good permanent jobs, critics of public employees (and their unions) are targeted as the problem. In other words, these kinds of attacks are a sham, distracting us from the real dialogue that has to happen or the real issues at stake with budgets. What is perhaps indicative of the illusory nature of this targeting is the Wisconsin example. News reports suggest that workers are more than willing to come to the table (perhaps willing to give up more than they should to retain collective bargaining rights). Maybe the Governor is using this budget crisis as an excuse to break the unions (not a surprise). There are definitely many complex issues to negotiate. Seems to be that bargaining--which brings all the parties to the table--is the way to go. Not some top down imposed budget "solution" which is actually not one.
1 comment:
This is very interesting David. I always question what the government is doing with out money. It seems they are raising the prices of little essentials that add up to a big chunk of money people just cannot afford. If they are conducting pay cuts and eliminating employees all across the United States and raising the costs of schools, gas, etc. How can one afford school if they cannot get a job? How can one afford gas when they have a cut in pay? It just does not make any sense that we are experiencing all of these cuts along with raised prices. Where is the extra money going that America is supposedly saving? I just do not trust the government in any way and this is just another sham I feel the government is trying to pull to take attention away from themselves. They are the problem.
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