Wisconsin: Labour’s last stand

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.redpepper.org.uk/wisconsin-labours-last-stand/

Rahul Mahajan looks at the fightback in Wisconsin



Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Libya – Wisconsin. The showdown in Madison, Wisconsin, does not compare with the long-awaited self-liberation of North Africa and the Gulf in terms of sacrifice or level of organisation, but it is the most significant labour struggle in the US in decades – and it may prove to be just as globally important as those more dramatic engagements, because it represents the first real bump in the road for the US right’s new agenda.

Madison emerged as a global flashpoint because its new Republican governor, Scott Walker, introduced what he called a ‘budget repair bill’, supposedly to alleviate a shortfall of $137 million this year and a projected $3.6 billion the year after. These measures are estimated to amount to an effective pay cut of up to 10 per cent. More important, they were non-negotiable. Indeed, Walker declared that as the state is ‘broke’ and has nothing to bargain with, it must therefore ensure that public employees have no bargaining rights.

Collective bargaining for public employees – with the exception of some police and firefighters – is to be limited to wages alone, with no mention of benefits, working conditions, or disciplinary procedures. Even on wages, possible concessions are limited to cost-of-living adjustments, unless a state-wide referendum says otherwise. Even more pernicious, the bill eliminates employer collection of union dues and imposes annual union certification votes, with a majority of all members (not just those voting) required for continued certification.

The measures are intended to destroy public-sector unions in Wisconsin. They are tried and tested – similar measures implemented by Governor Mitch Daniels of Indiana in 2005 led to a 90 per cent reduction in public-sector union membership. Other measures include the elimination of health benefits for ‘limited term employees’ and a sweeping mandate to introduce ‘efficiency’ in the state’s Medicaid programs (the federally funded but state‑administered health insurance for the poor).

The evolution of the protests against Walker’s onslaught is an object lesson in that most endangered of species: American-style democracy. Walker, in the finest tradition of US politics, formally announced the bill on Friday, 11 February, hoping to take advantage of the weekend ‘news hole’ to jackhammer the bill through the legislature before the public knew what was going on. But the public employees’ unions and many others were on the alert, since he had repeatedly telegraphed his radical austerity agenda.

FULL story at link.

[Chris_Texas]

1. Labor? These are teachers, public employees.

They earn in the top 3% to 5% of US households and have benefits that would be the envy of Fortune 500 execs.

Labor is the 90% of US households with a COMBINED income of about $35,000 per year, no benefits. They work at Walmart, America's largest employer, if they are lucky.

The last gasp of the real Labor movement came when Clinton signed NAFTA and the other FTA's.

[Omaha Steve]

2. Not so

http://www.slge.org/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC={22748FD...


The Center for State and Local Government Excellence

Key findings include:
Jobs in the public sector typically require more education than private sector positions

Wages and salaries of state and local employees are lower than those for private sector employees with comparable earnings determinants, such as education and work experience.

Benefits make up a slightly larger share of compensation for the state and local sector. But even after accounting for the value of retirement, health care, and other benefits, state and local employees earn less than private sector counterparts. On average, total compensation is 6.8 percent lower for state employees and 7.4 percent lower for local employees than for comparable private sector employees.