Walker v. Public Employees

[Townsend]

Dirty old man vs. 17 year old.

So not interested in home movies.

[guido911]

So not interested in home movies.

Of course you are not. It is counter to your interests.

[Townsend]

Of course you are not. It is counter to your interests.

Ah, missed the joke I see.  Keep trying.

[Townsend]

Of course you are not. It is counter to your interests.

And yes, crazy and ill-informed is counter to my interests.

[nathanm]

These people are freakin "employees" like everyone else that works for another, and their employer are the taxpayers. Period.

And we're apparently a pretty crappy employer, at least at the state level where people get compensated less than average for their positions and are still getting crap from wingers about getting paid too much.

[guido911]

And we're apparently a pretty crappy employer, at least at the state level where people get compensated less than average for their positions and are still getting crap from wingers about getting paid too much.

Well if they don't like it, they can QUIT! I don't like having whiny employees around anyway.

[Gaspar]

And we're apparently a pretty crappy employer, at least at the state level where people get compensated less than average for their positions and are still getting crap from wingers about getting paid too much.

I don't know about that?  I think the gubment is a fine employer.  If we just look at the City of Tulsa and make comparisons we get this:

Our lowest level unskilled labor pool is paid at $8.85 an hour. 
I would bet that's more than the equivalent private sector position.  I wonder what McDonald's pays?
{edit} according to McDonald's website it is $7.35 - $7.56.

Basic Maintenance Workers $14.36 - $19.65/Hr.
I wonder what the private sector pays a facilities maintenance worker?
{edit} Jim, in our building just told me he gets $14.25.  He does building/landscape/HVAC/Plumbing/Construction.

Trash Workers start at $13.04/Hr.
I wonder what the private contractors pay trash technicians?

City of Tulsa employees get family healthcare plans covered for $135.94/per month with a 750 deductible.
Mine costs me over $300, with a $1,000 deductible, and it's the same brand!

They get a $0 prescription drug benefit (generic). 
$10 for me.

They get free employee dental ($53.66) for the family. 
$68 for me.

They get a 10.3%/yr paid to retirement.(4% "deferred" and 6.3% match). 
Nothing paid into my retirement.

They get 2 - 4 weeks of vacation a year depending on tenure.  12 sick days a year. 
I get 2 weeks vacation and an additional week of sick time for total of 15 days.


It doesn't seem, at least on the local level, that the gubment is a crappy employer or that workers make less, or have fewer benefits.

[RecycleMichael]

The basic refuse workers at the city start at $10.30 per hour. The water plant maintenance workers start at $10.00 per hour.

There are 1,322 workers in the Public Works department and 178 of them make less than $11.00 an hour.

Most of them are in the union.

[guido911]

Oh please, please, let this be true for humor's sake. Bwahahahaha:

http://nation.foxnews.com/politics/2011/03/01/wisc-public-employees-invest-koch-owned-company

Especially after seeing these signs:

[guido911]

Props to this dem rep in Wisconsin rescuing a repub rep from the goonioun in Wisconsin just trying to do his job.

http://hotair.com/archives/2011/03/01/video-wisconsin-dem-intervenes-to-protect-gop-senator-threatened-by-mob/

Countdown to condemnation from RM, T, and any other pro-goonioun dooshbag supporter 3...2...1

[Hoss]

Props to this dem rep in Wisconsin rescuing a repub rep from the goonioun in Wisconsin just trying to do his job.

http://hotair.com/archives/2011/03/01/video-wisconsin-dem-intervenes-to-protect-gop-senator-threatened-by-mob/

Countdown to condemnation from RM, T, and any other pro-goonioun dooshbag supporter 3...2...1

Ah yes, the drama queen is at it again!

[Townsend]

Ah yes, the drama queen is at it again!

Something has really messed him up.

[we vs us]

Something has really messed him up.

You can literally see the steam coming out of his ears.

[guido911]

AWOL senators will now apparently face a $100 per day fine for missing 2 or more days of work without leave.

http://www.620wtmj.com/news/local/117248828.html

Looks like mommy and daddy will have to kick in more money to help with this whiny kid.

http://www.nationalreview.com/campaign-spot/261111/parents-footing-bill-wisconsin-state-senator-chicago

[we vs us]

I think we're almost to an endgame in regards to the Wisconsin protests.  That is:  at some point, and probably soon, the Dems will come back, they will vote and be overridden and Walker's budget will take effect.  That will include the abolition of collective bargaining rights. 

(There's no way now that Walker's budget doesn't include abolition of those rights; it's now not only the centerpiece of his budget solution but now the centerpiece of his political career.)

So the question now is, what does it do for organized labor nationwide, what does it do for Democrats, and Republicans, and what does it do for 2012.   

My opinion is that it's been an unqualified win for labor -- regardless of the final result in WI -- simply because it's energized the unions.  This has put into very stark relief the stakes, and IMO they will now see this wave of state questions as existential threats. So the unions will be much more involved in not only funding politicians but in striking, protesting, and actively pushing back.  Conservatives will predictably hate this, progressives will predictably love it.

Conservatives are already energized for 2012 and have been since the midterms, but I think progressives are starting to finally get their mojo in gear, too.  Tellingly, it's not around Obama and his accomplishments, but around defending labor, whose accomplishments can be traced back (in the popular liberal mind, if not in point of fact) to Roosevelt, the New Deal, and Depression-era politics. 

Roosevelt has always been the place that modern American liberals wanted to go -- in tone, in policy, etc -- but Obama has been actively resisting a lot of that push.  Obama's been conciliatory, hands off, and just hasn't wanted to lead the wave that his campaign generated.  There's been a lot of momentum lost. 

Anyway, it's given a boost to progressives by showing just how far some of the GOP folks will go to dismantle not just traditionally liberal voting blocs but traditionally liberal values (unions don't vote Democratic just because they want to; there's some ideological affinity there).  I think the jury's still out on how the GOP will fare.