Tuesday, February 15, 2011

What is really going on in Wisconsin?

No more closed union shops. State workers are able to keep their jobs without paying union dues. State workers will need to pay 12% of their healthcare costs and half their pension deposits. This hardly seems overly burdensome.Oh, and the exemptions that allow state workers to unionize (as FDR would have never allowed) now exclude benefits from the collective bargaining agreement, plus voters have to approve wage increases that are higher than the cpi. None of this removes anybody's rights, though it removes extremely generous privileges only state workers had that those who work in the private sector have never had.



And what was the alternative? Raise taxes on everyone in Wisconsin in the middle of a recession that has led to a huge number of home foreclosures. That would increase unemployment and home foreclosures. Hardly a good idea. I support Walker's choices in Wisconsin.

Amplify’d from www.nationalreview.com

Wisconsin is broke. The current budget is already $137 million in the red. The 2011–2013 biennial budget faces a $3.6 billion hole. So Governor Walker has called the legislature into special session and presented them with an emergency budget. His plan closes the deficit without raising taxes.



Government employees in Wisconsin get amazing benefits. They get a generous defined-benefit pension with minimal contributions on their part. They also only pay 6 percent of the cost of their health-care premiums. Few taxpayers enjoy anything this generous.



Government employees get these benefits because of the special privileges government unions enjoy. Government workers in many states — including Wisconsin — must pay union dues or lose their jobs. The state subsidizes their fundraising by using its payroll system to collect these forced dues.



This gives the union movement billions of dollars, which it uses to elect favored candidates. The American Federation of State and County Municipal Employees (AFSCME) spent more than any other outside group in the last election. Government unions have used this political clout to hijack state government to serve their interests.



Governor Walker could have raised taxes or fired 6,000 state employees. Instead, like Governor Christie, he decided to actually fix the problems that brought Wisconsin to this point. His budget limits government collective bargaining to just wages, taking benefits and work rules off the bargaining table. He would also require voters to approve any raises above inflation. Walker would prevent government unions from forcing taxpayers to cough up for their gold-plated benefits.



Having done that, his budget requires state and local employees to contribute half of the cost of their pension contributions — roughly 6 percent of their salary. He also requires them to pay 12 percent of their health-care premiums. By private-sector standards these are modest changes, but they will help close Wisconsin’s budget gap.



Walker’s budget removes the special privileges that give government unions their outsize influence. His plan allows workers to quit their union without losing their job. He requires unions to demonstrate their support through an annual secret-ballot vote. He also ends the unfair taxpayer subsidy to union fundraising: The state and local government would stop collecting union dues with their payroll systems.

Read more at www.nationalreview.com
 

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