Why Gov. Walker can’t take Collective Bargaining out of his Budget Repair Bill

A lot of people have questioned why Governor Walker has remained so adamant about leaving the collective bargaining language in his budget repair bill, when to most of us it seems so…what should we say…non-budgetary. Even Mayor Barrett wondered exactly this question at Charlie Sykes Insight 2011 forum just yesterday. But I think the Mayor was speaking euphemistically.

Obviously if he removed the collective bargaining from the budget repair bill and brought it before the legislature as a separate bill, he wouldn’t need the quorum in the state Senate and they could repeal collective bargaining for public employees in a heart beat. But such a move presents several major problems for the Governor.

The first one exposes the lie that restricting the collective bargaining rights of public employees is a fiscal issue. It then will be obvious as the union busting stratagem that it truly is.

Second, if it’s really honey to placate the local governmental agencies and educational facilities losing state revenue sharing in his biennial budget, it has to remain in the budget repair bill or he loses all support locally. And his whole robbing Peter to pay Paul strategy falls apart.

Third, if it is split off of the budget repair bill, he blows the cover for many of his Republican legislators who have strong union representation in their districts. If it’s in the budget repair, they can dodge and weave (like Jeff Stone) and say I don’t want to give it up but the rest of the repair bill is too important to vote against it. Many of them wouldn’t dare vote against it if it were presented in a stand alone bill.

And, he loses his wedge with the 14 Democratic Senators who are on sabbatical in Illinois and the unions. Eventually he can keep the benefit give backs and the nefarious schemes against state assets and health care and declare victory overall by only giving away the non-fiscal collective bargaining.

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7 thoughts on “Why Gov. Walker can’t take Collective Bargaining out of his Budget Repair Bill

  1. Yeah, Walker and the Republicans really have painted themselves into a corner here, and there’s no way out for them that doesn’t leave them with egg on their collective faces.

  2. 1. “It then will be obvious as the union busting stratagem that it truly is.” … Is it a secret now?
    2. …”it has to remain in the budget repair bill or he loses all support locally.” And what are the ramifications of that?
    3. ” If it’s in the budget repair, they can dodge and weave (like Jeff Stone) and say I don’t want to give it up but the rest of the repair bill is too important to vote against it.”… Who is saying anything like that now?

    I don’t buy that this is a Wisconsin issue. I think that this is a national Republican strategy in which Walker is leading the charge. While each state may have governors attempting this, I firmly believe there is nothing local about this at all. There are common talking points and variations on the theme but this is a national pay-it-forward to manufacturers to lure them back to the US.

    The veneer of local issues is already penetrated by the protesters in Madison and 14 senators sleeping in Illinois.

  3. 1) No it’s not a secret but Gov. Walker is still pretending it’s a fiscal issue.
    2) Losing local support? Besides his ambitions for higher office, until then I am sure he’d like to hold on to the governor’s mansion…and let’s face it, he still will need the help of the various county Republican and/or Tea Party organizations.
    3) Well only Jeff Stone so far…but we’ll see what kind of conversations turn up if the recalls are effective and of course during the next election cycle.

    No it’s not a Wisconsin issue in the form that you state it, but it IS a Wisconsin issue in the fact that it is here now and affects our state, our friends, our neighbors and our families.

    The majority of the protestors in Madison are Wisconsinites…and like me, not all of them are public employees or even union members.

    1. And if you watched Rachel Maddow tonight then you know that this is a national Republican strategy.

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