NOW THE LATEST OUTRAGE: WISCONSIN GOVERNOR RESORTS TO ILLEGAL MANEUERS TO BUST UNIONS.
THE CLASS WAR HAS BEGUN…SO FAR THE RICH HAVE BEEN VICTORIOUS…BUT DON’T DESPAIR…THERE ARE MORE OF US…ABOUT 2% OF THEM AND 98% OF THE REST OF US MERE MORTALS. THIS TIME WE WILL NOT VOTE REPUBLICAN.
WISCONSIN GOVERNOR JUST FINISHED OFF COLLECTIVE BARGAINING WITH A DEVIOUS, QUASI-LEGAL MANEUVER THAT PROVES THE ISSUE WAS NEVER THE BUDGET BUT WAS INDEED TO DESTROY LABOR UNIONS.
HOW EAGERLY THE REPUBLICANS DEFENDED THE BONUSES AND PERKS OF DEPARTING CEO’s
ON THE WAKE OF THE ECONOMIC DISASTER THE REPUBLICANS CREATED, THEY WERE ALL IN FAVOR OF RESPECTING SEPARATION CONTRACTS FOR THE ASSHOLES THAT HELPED THEM CREATE THIS MESS.
And yet, now, today, the Teahadist Republicans are talking about not honoring, totally breaking the rules, usurping contract laws and defying common sense when it comes to the contracts signed by states and municipalities with labor unions. “FUCK THEM,” they say. “We don’t want no labor unions, we want cheap, submissive, obedient and poor public servants…that way they will work harder and it will allow us to have more money to give it away to corporations and the super rich”
But there's more:
Americans reject Republican efforts to curb bargaining rights of unions whose power they say is dwarfed by corporations, a Bloomberg National Poll finds.
As battles rage between state workers and Republican governors in Wisconsin and Ohio, 63 percent don’t think states should be able to break their promises to retirees, and respondents split over whether governors aim to balance their budgets or weaken unions that back Democratic foes, according to the poll conducted March 4-7.
The poll shows that political challenges to government workers are failing to draw broad support from a public more concerned about unemployment than government deficits. Respondents are divided over whether public employees should sacrifice to help states ease their fiscal crises: About half say governors are unfairly targeting unions and 46 percent say public employees should be willing to accept benefit cuts. The fracture largely reflects party lines.
“The Republican Party sees an opportunity to attack and possibly destroy the base of their opponents’ political power,” says poll respondent Dale Palmer, 59, a Democrat and retired teacher from Zephyrhills, Florida.
Palmer says budget deficits are a result of the economy and years of tax cuts, not the actions of public employees. “They’re putting it now on the backs of their enemies even when these particular unions are willing to bargain,” he says.
And it is not just in Wisconsin…it is happening everywhere that Republicans either have a plurality in their legislature and a Republican Governor. Ohio, Florida, Indiana and today we have the news: Idaho legislature strips teachers' collective bargaining rights
Despite overwhelming opposition from the public, the first of three bills designed to radically privatize much of Idaho's education system passed in the state's House Tuesday, sending the measure to the governor.
Senate Bill 1108 passed on a 48-22 vote; it had earlier passed the Senate by a narrower margin. Gov. Butch Otter is among the bill’s co-sponsors and has indicated he’ll sign it into law.
Nine Republicans joined every House Democrat in opposing the bill; only Republicans voted in favor. But the debate Tuesday was dominated by the bill’s opponents.
State Rep. Brian Cronin, D-Boise, said, “Let’s stop pretending that SB 1108 has anything to do with” improving student achievement. “The bill intends to dismantle the Idaho Education Association, put teachers in their place, and make sure that teachers are effectively silenced … where frankly their expertise ought to be welcome.”
The bill phases out tenure for new teachers, putting all teachers on one- to two-year contracts. It strips seniority as a factor in determining layoffs, limits teachers' collective bargaining for salaries and benefits and entirely removes negotiations over issues like class size and workload. One of the other two bills included in the plan is expected to pass the House this week after having been approved by the Senate. It would institute merit pay for teachers, further limiting their ability to negotiate salary in collective bargaining. The third leg of the plan—which would dramatically increase class sizes, eliminate 770 teacher positions through attrition and institute mandatory online classes for high school student—has proven too controversial for the state Senate, and is unlikely to pass as written. The major stumbling block is class sizes.
The state's paper of record, the Idaho Statesman, lambasted the legislature in an editorial today: "But 48 House Republicans weren’t about to let public outcry and unanswered questions get in their way. In a partisan power play—fueled by an artificial sense of urgency—they voted to rewrite the teachers’ collective bargaining process." That public outcry has been loud and overwhelming. Public testimony, calls and e-mail to the legislature have been overwhelmingly negative, 95 percent in opposition to the plan.
In any other state, that kind of opposition would have led more than just nine Republicans to oppose the bill. But one-party rule has made that one party so arrogant they have no fear of running roughshod over their constituents. There's a glimmer of hope for the opposition in Idaho in the election of an old friend of Daily Kos, Larry Grant, as Democratic state party chair, an enthusiastic and effective campaigner. Hopefully he can start getting the party mobilized around the renewed hatred Idahoans feel for their legislature.
SOURCE: http://www.dailykos.com/
