The best way to understand Walker’s proposal is as a multi-part attack on the state’s labor unions. In part one, their ability to bargain benefits for their members is reduced. In part two, their ability to collect dues, and thus spend money organizing members or lobbying the legislature, is undercut. And in part three, workers have to vote the union back into existence every single year. Put it all together and it looks like this: Wisconsin’s unions can’t deliver value to their members, they’re deprived of the resources to change the rules so they can start delivering value to their members again, and because of that, their members eventually give in to employer pressure and shut the union down in one of the annual certification elections.
18 thoughts on “Ezra Klein makes it clear what Walker’s budget “repair” bill is all about”
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But I thought every union member WANTED to be a member, and thus would gladly send in dues every year? YOu mean part of this argument is over whether or not the union will lose funding? Wow, I’m totally surprised…NOT.
Shocking….Republicans want to weaken labor unions, one of the few groups who can push back against all those Republican front groups in a post-Citizens United world.
The only “weakening” would be of Marty Beil’s fat wallet. And by weakening, Zach, do you mean the stranglehold the unions now have on their members?
Funny, I would think you would be one of the first to applaud the ability of people to choose whether to be a member or not.
If the unions are so wonderful and beneficial, they should be able to stand on their own rather than railroading people into membership.
I’ve never heard a reasonable justification of why it’s OK to compel employees to contribute to a union whether they support it or not.
For some reason, the right to assembly & free association for some reason doesn’t have an opt out right in this particular case. Solely because it would make it more difficult for unions to collect money from their members.
Let me simplify it for you Locke. It’s the same reason you pay taxes to fix roads, because you drive on them, or if you don’t drive, it’s because you buy your groceries at a store, which gets it’s deliveries from someone driving a truck on roads. You benefit from it, so you pay. I’m surprised that a smart fellow like you doesn’t get it.
Contributing to unions should not be compulsory any more than any other political organization. What would you say of automatic employee deductions for the Republican Party, Right to Life, or the United Way?
If an employer said he was taking a cut of employees’ salaries to sign them up for the Repblican Party because the employer thought by doing so, that organization’s policies would benefit the employees, you would be the first guy up in arms.
Taxes are levied by government. Unions are not the government. It is a third party – these days primarily a political organization more than anything else since that’s how they spend most of their money.
I’ll say again:
I’ve never heard a reasonable justification of why it’s OK to compel employees to contribute to a union whether they support it or not.
It’s because employers usually agree to it in the contract, which is a legally binding document. Maybe you should take your concern to the Chamber of Commerce?
Agree with Locke.
Hey, I heard on Glenn Beck today that the Anti-Christ is organizing the protests in Madison. Must be Local 666.
I heard the same thing Steve.
Why is he weighing in at all? Clearly from past experience we can see that he can’t help but insert himself into a controvery. He should let the state run its own business. Aren’t there enough federal budget problems for him to worry about?
the leader of local 666 was doing his TV show from madison and his understudy is the special guest
And Glenn Beck is the Anti-Sense, leader of Loco WTF.
Hey, I found the source of Wisconsins budget problems.
http://costofwar.com/en/state/WI/
It’s kinda funny. Just about the only place I hear about Beck or Michele what’s her name is…oh yeah, Bachman is the lefty blogs I read. Granted, I don’t read as many righty blogs and don’t go near the extreme ones, but references to those two on the left blogosphere probably outnumber the right 10 to 1. A quick search on Boots & Sabers: 2 posts that mentioned Glenn Beck (in 2007 and 2004) and none on Bachmann. Just thought that was interesting.
Granted, I guess somebody’s gotta be watching him or paying attention to her. And clearly there a lot of loony right-wingers who go for that sort of thing. But sometimes I wonder if his ratings are almost totally a result of “opposition research.”
I’ll say it again; employers agree to it in the contract, which is a legally binding document. Your beef is with the Chamber of Commerce.