Friday, March 18, 2011

Unions and the Courts

Well, we only thought it was over.  Last week, Wisconin Governor Scott Walker and his legislative allies were unsuccesful in their attempts to get the Democrat senators back into session, so they split the controversial bill into two parts and passed the non-budgetary portion without the presence of the Democrats.  This portion was the part of the bill that limited the bullying (ie, collective bargaining) tactics of the unions. 

Apparently, there was some procedural issue with the vote that allowed the Dems to challenge the law in court, and so they have.  The result: an injunction against the law that was recently issued.  And now, some thoughts from WEP:

First, I just wanted to point out that the protests at the Wisconsin capitol have been ongoing.  For three...four...five weeks and counting the public union workers have been demonstrating against the state government.  The interesting thing is that the Wisconsin government hasn't really noticed.  These people have been out of work for quite some time and the state of Wisconsin hasn't missed a beat.  So why do these people still have a job?  Obviously, the service they provide isn't THAT crucial since they can skip work for weeks and hardly anyone notices.  No drop off in production.  No services disrupted.  No portion of the government is shut down.  Seems like a perfect opportunity to trim the state payroll a bit. 

When the bill was split and passed, the union protestors went berserk.  They decried the action as "undemocratic", "unAmerica", "unfair".  They used terms like "assault on democracy", etc, etc.  Pretty much any hyperbolic description that could portray the GOP legislators and governor as anti-public fascists was tossed around.  But when the Democrat senators fled the state during the debate of the issue no one had a problem with it.  And in the course of the union protests, there were numerous arrests of unruly demonstrators.  Many people attempted to block the entrance of the capitol to prevent the legislators from entering.  There were death threats made against some of the legislators.  Apparently, this behavior exemplifies the unions' idea of democracy.  Thuggery and bully tactics.  Death threats.  Using force to prevent elected representatives from voting on behalf of the people.  Fleeing when the time comes to vote.  This is democracy in the eyes of our union workers.

And in a separate display of their view of democracy, the Wisconsin Bolsheviks have decided to pursue recall votes for the governor and multiple legislators.  Again, they are fine with elected representatives going AWOL, abandoning their post during the legislative session.  That's okay.  But pass a law they don't agree with, and they mobilize to subvert the will of the people. 

That's democracy in the eyes of union.

When President Obama and the DC Dems decided to pass a bill that deconstructs our entire health care system, all without ANY GOP input, without a single GOP vote, without abiding by the rules of the senate, and with a procedural gimmick that bypassed built-in senate rules meant to prevent one party from imposing its will against the will of people...when all of this was done there was not a whimper from these public sector unions.  No court challenges.  No protests.  No talk of "recall" or any opposing action.  For the unions, it's all about their political interest.

And where is the mainstream media?  You know, the ones who refer to the tea party as "teabaggers", accuse them of racism, of trying to interfere with the democratic process?  Did any of these people have a problem with the union thugs blockading the Wisconsin capitol, threatening harm on state legislators?

Nope.

Bottom line, the public sector unions are bad for America.  There is nothing American about them.  They are a microcosm of the communist party and they do nothing beneficial for our economic system and our way of governance.  The sooner they are pushed from power the better.

If I were Scott Walker, in light of the recent injunction, I would immediately pink slip however many government workers were necessary to help balance the budget.  Let the court system run its course.  Whatever.  Meanwhile, there are budget issues that need to be addressed and we don't have time to wait.  And if the union refuses to confront them then other measures are necessary.

But it looks like this issue will have to be settled in the courts.  So much for the will of the people.

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