According to The Huffington Post, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker refuses to do what makes democracy work: compromise:
As union supporters moved inside for a sixth straight day of protests at the Wisconsin Capitol, Gov. Scott Walker reiterated Sunday that he wouldn’t compromise on the issue that had mobilized them, a bill that would eliminate most of public employees’ collective bargaining rights [via Madison Protests Continue, But Governor Scott Walker Is Unmoved].
I am an educator in the State of Ohio, and I stand with the workers of Wisconsin. It is important for educators to stand together to deal with the State, university administrators, and boards of regents, because we cannot protect our employment, our rights, and our wages alone in what is undoubtedly a politically charged realm.
It seems that Wisconsin is the first of many States that are attempting to revoke workers’ rights to bargain collectively. At least in the case of Wisconsin, it is troubling that the governor sought tax cuts that contribute to a budget gap, and then he wants to make up for this gap by not only increasing the financial burden on those unionized state employees but also eliminating their right to bargain collectively. This is in the face of the fact that those unions Walker wants to cripple are willing to negotiate a plan that would help the Wisconsin state budget without eliminating the right of employees to bargain collectively. What this means is that Walker and his Republican supporters in the Wisconsin legislature want is to take from Peter to pay Paul–take money and rights from state workers in order to give breaks to businesses and the wealthy while solidify their power base.
Here are some other resources on the Walker’s bill and the protests by folks like me:
According to Reuters, President Obama said in a television interview that, “Some of what I’ve heard coming out of Wisconsin, where you’re just making it harder for public employees to collectively bargain generally, seems like more of an assault on unions”
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MSNBC has a solid rundown of many of the facts leading up to the protests here.
The Christian Science Monitor has an article looking at the changing public opinion of unions in general here.
Mother Jones reports that Walker’s funding comes from the Koch Brothers here.
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