From Jack Craver of The Sconz comes this nugget:
However, as Christian Schneider theorizes, collective bargaining for public employees in Wisconsin was born out of a Democratic governor’s desire for more campaign cash. Perhaps history will repeat itself somewhere down the line.
However, here’s the rather inconvenient truth about the theory proposed by Christian Schneider and repeated without question by Craver: the 1959 law that first instituted collective bargaining for public employees in Wisconsin only applied to local government workers and teachers, not to state employees. What’s more, that law passed only passed because Republicans, who had a 20-12 State Senate majority, supported it. When the law was later changed in 1967 to include collective bargaining for state employees, Republican Warren Knowles was governor and the GOP controlled both houses of the legislature.
While it may be easy and convenient to assert Wisconsin’s public employees have collective bargaining rights because of some nefarious political payback scheme by the Democratic Party, the truth is far different. Public employees enjoy collective bargaining rights because Democrats and Republicans came together and granted those rights.
Here are a few things you get with collective bargaining
A Wausau public employee union filed a grievance to prohibit a local volunteer from serving as a school crossing guard. The 86-year-old lives just two blocks away and serves everyday free of charge.
Principal Steve Miller says, “He said, you know, this gives me a reason to get up in the morning to come and help these kids in the neighborhood.”
But for a local union that represents crossing guards, it isn’t that simple. Representatives didn’t want to go on camera but say if a crossing guard is needed, then one should be officially hired by the city.
Milwaukee Public Schools teacher Megan Sampson was laid off less than one week after being named Outstanding First Year Teacher by the Wisconsin Council of English Teachers. She lost her job because the collective bargaining agreement requires layoffs to be made based on seniority rather than merit.
Informed that her union had rejected a lower-cost health care plan, that still would have required zero contribution from teachers, Sampson said, “Given the opportunity, of course I would switch to a different plan to save my job, or the jobs of 10 other teachers.
In 2009, the City of Madison’s highest paid employee was a bus driver who earned $159,258, including $109,892 in overtime, guaranteed by a collective bargaining agreement. In total, seven City of Madison bus drivers made more than $100,000 per year in 2009.
“That’s the (drivers’) contract,” said Transit and Parking Commission Chairman Gary Poulson.
Employer must provide bulletin boards to post information about union social and recreational activities. The size and location of the board is subject to collective bargaining. 2. When a local union meets the following conditions are subject to bargaining:
1. lighting,
2. vision care and examinations,
3. noise,
4. chairs,
5. desks,
6. footrests,
7. adjustable terminals and keyboards,
8. work environment design (wall cover, carpet, windows),
9. room temperature,
Here’s a few things you get with privatization and no-bid contracts, which seem to be the hallmark of Walkers vision for Wisconsin.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/02/01/iraq/main4767378.shtml
Billions, read it again, BILLIONS in private contractor waste, fraud and abuse, and not a single, solitary word out of the oh so courageous and noble defenders of the American taxpayer.
Kind of makes your bus driver/teacher story look more than a little pathetic, doesn’t it? Kind of makes your concerns seem downright puny, eh?
I’m afraid the only honest answer is… yeah, it does.
Kind of makes big government and it’s open checkbook the problem.