Sen. Larson’s statement in support of Wisconsin’s public employees

This is why I’m glad Chris Larson, and not Jeff Plale, is my State Senator:

On Friday, Governor Scott Walker announced that he would be using the budget adjustment bill to reverse 50 years of Wisconsin history and go after worker rights. If passed, the balance in our society will again tilt to the powerful over the powerless. The ability to organize and get fair treatment are qualities that built our country. This is what the last generation fought for in the 60s and the 70s to make sure we all had a better life.

Rights that we have grown to take for granted will no longer be so reliable. Teachers, public defenders, and other workers will no longer be able to work as a group to negotiate anything besides wages. Republicans have already passed a “tort reform” law that makes it much harder to seek justice in Wisconsin. But this new move by Walker is much worse. It is an unprecedented attack on Wisconsin workers, their communities and our tradition of working with labor to move Wisconsin forward. What’s worse is that a good deal of the deficit he is purporting to fix was actually created by his own measures in the Special Interest Session these last 6 weeks.

To be clear, Walker is seeking to scapegoat unions as the cause of the fiscal crisis in an effort to divide the middle class against itself. This, while he is opening tax loopholes for the richest in the country.

No doubt Sen. Plale wouldn’t have taken such a strong stand in support of Wisconsin’s public employees.

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6 thoughts on “Sen. Larson’s statement in support of Wisconsin’s public employees

  1. And it’s actually worse than that…since wages are capped to inflation unless approved by a referendum…as a candidate for Milwaukee School Board, I also resent the implication that I can’t effectively be involved in wages, benefits, and working conditions for MPS teachers…our hands will be tied by this bill. And isn’t pay for performance a buzz word for ‘improving’ public education? How do you do that effectively if wage increases are capped to inflation? LOL!

  2. I find it ironic that the Democrats are upset that the Republicans will not sit down and discuss the bill with them. If I remember the Democrats nationally ran the healthcare bill through with no discussions with the Republicans. The teachers are looking bad with their protests at the Capital, and I do not think they are getting much sympathy from the average citizen. The free ride is over. Like my boss used to tell disgruntled workers, if you don’t like it find another job.

    1. This is NOT about GOP vs Democrat, despite you trying to play it up that way. This is about taking away collective bargaining rights – which don’t have JACK to do with balancing the budget, really! Free ride? These workers are willing to pay more for their ‘bennnies’ (if you’ve been listening), they’ve got no issue with that. And no, I am not affiliated in any way with the union. I am an average, tax paying citizen who thinks Dictator Walker is going too far and you’re one of the sheep following blindly.

  3. Actually the healthcare bill had a gestation period of nearly 14 months and went through dozens of interations…not the 7 days that the current ‘budget’ bill has been afforded. And the Republicans made a very vocal point of saying no and pre-empting most attempts at discussion…much like our governors there’s nothing to negotiate comments this past week.

    As for the ’emergency budget bill’, stuffing it with non budgetary items is much like adding earmarks to unrelated bills…if you want to rework labor relations with state employees…strip the nonn-budget items and put out a labor bill to discuss.

    btw: it seems that the firefighters who are exempt from the current bill made a big splashy appearance in the rotunda today in support of the other public unions.

    btw II: why are teachers even included in this bill since they work for their individual school districts and NOT Governor Walker or the State of Wisconsin. This is a BIG govt power grab, not in keeping with the small govt mantra we’ve heard on the campaign trail.

    1. btw II: why are teachers even included in this bill since they work for their individual school districts and NOT Governor Walker or the State of Wisconsin. This is a BIG govt power grab, not in keeping with the small govt mantra we’ve heard on the campaign trail.

      Because the state pays the bill. Using the DPI’s website:
      The state pays between 35-66% of the each districts expenses.
      The local property taxes range somewhere between 15-48% of the funding.
      The feds pick up between around 5-25%.

      I’ll admit this is was not a thorough, mathematical review. I simply looked up a bunch of school districts I could find, big and small, rural and urban to quickly find the high & lows. For example, for MPS, the mix is: 51% state, 23% local, 23% fed. Beloit, it’s 67/14/18. Ashwaubenon has a much bigger local chunk, at 38/46/8.

      I’d be ecstatic if the feds dropped their funding and taxes and the made school funding predominately locally funded. I don’t believe the public wants that however. The two reasons it is the way it is are the interpretation of state constitution’s education funding requirements, and more recently, the dissatisfaction of the taxpayers at their property tax rates.

  4. THANK YOU Senator Larsen for standing strong against another injustice Walker is trying to ram through! Walker reminds me of a school yard bully who insists on his way and no other. He needs to remember he is a public SERVANT and NO MORE than that!
    Almost no need to mention Plale’s vote against state employee labor contracts (I said almost!) despite having campaigned as ‘pro-union’ and now…imagine this…he got a job working for Walker! Complete suprise, huh? Laughable really….

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