Walker, a protege of the billionaire Tea Party founding Koch brothers, launched a blistering attack on working families today with his budget proposal. It has been correctly described as a "massive, job-killing power grab that would hurt the state's economy."
Associated Press has the story:
Public employees were reeling Friday trying to figure out what to do after Gov. Scott Walker asked the Legislature to remove nearly all collective bargaining rights for teachers, prison guards and other government workers across Wisconsin.The Teamsters are getting activated to defeat this monstrous proposal. If you live in Wisconsin, your help is desperately needed to write, call or email your elected officials. And that's for starters.
They don't have much time to mobilize.
Walker, a Republican who took office in January, is asking the Republican-controlled Legislature to ram the bill through next week, maybe without a public hearing. Walker's administration sent Republican and Democratic legislative leaders a letter on Friday outlining his proposal but an actual draft of the bill was not yet available.
Among other heinous things, the budget would
- remove all collective bargaining rights, except for pay, for roughly 175,000 public employees
- require any requests for a salary increase higher than the consumer price index to be approved by referendum.
- limit contracts to one year, freezing wages until next contract is settled.
- allow freeloaders who don't pay dues to be covered by union contracts i.e., right to work (for LESS).
