Protests rage in Madison, Wisconsin. Governor Scott Walker signed a bill on Friday, March 11th that cuts many collective bargaining rights, in effect severely weakening unions. Collective bargaining refers to the negotiation of wages and other conditions of employment by an organized body of employees. Union leaders use these rights to gain benefits such as healthcare and cheaper pensions for their unions.
The previous governor of Wisconsin, Democrat Jim Doyle, ordered up to sixteen furloughs, unpaid days off, while he was in office. It is estimated by CNN.com that those sixteen furloughs amounted in a three percent pay cut. It is Governor Walkers' aim to avoid such furloughs by cutting the bargaining rights of unions. It seems as though those furloughs would be preferable as long as employees would still have their benefits such as healthcare and dental insurance. Without collective bargaining rights the state employees have the potential to lose healthcare benefits, which would require them to pay more for healthcare. Some employees might not be able to afford such healthcare without the state benefits. Also, they can also now be overworked for lower wages.
Governor Walker recently issued a statement to public union employees that unless the bill was passed there would be as many as 1,500 layoffs. Wisconsin's state deficit is predicted, "to grow to $3.6 billion deficit over two years," according to CNN.com. The idea is that cutting collective bargaining rights would allow local policy makers to be more flexible in their decision making, and avoid laying off employees.
The new "Repair Bill" may have been passed illegally, according to Fox47.com, "The vote shortly after one a.m. Friday was taken abruptly, with the measure passing 51-17, with more than two dozen Democrats unable to get to voting mechanisms in the chamber in time to record their votes." This is because the assembly started before it was scheduled to begin. This means that the bill may not last long because it might be repealed for being unconstitutionally passed. The Republican's sneaky tactics may have facilitated the passing of the bill, but there are over 100,000 protestors in Madison, Wisconsin's capital, who want his head on a plate.
There must be a better way of reducing the state's deficit while maintaining healthcare and pension benefits for state employees. Going behind the backs of their Democratic assembly leaders was a sneaky move that doesn't cast the Republicans in a positive light, especially when following the controversy of cutting their citzens' rights.
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