Wisconsin, Ohio, and other states having protests against governor bills to get rid of collective bargaining rights!

Not a peep on channel 12 out of Cincinnati.

Here's another article that mentions both WI and OH and states there were about 3.800 people protesting in Ohio.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-17/public-employee-union-protests-spread-from-wisconsin-to-ohio.html

Labor packs Ohio Statehouse, protests union limits


http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-16/labor-packs-ohio-statehouse-protests-union-limits.html

Crowds descend as Ohio debates union overhaul



http://www.portclintonnewsherald.com/article/20110217/UPDATES01/110217005

JaneWI wrote:Here's another article that mentions both WI and OH and states there were about 3.800 people protesting in Ohio.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-17/public-employee-union-protests-spread-from-wisconsin-to-ohio.html

In a telephone interview yesterday, Walker said he spoke
with Ohio’s Republican Governor John Kasich by telephone.
“Don’t blink,” Walker said when asked what advice he gave
Kasich about demonstrations. ”The bottom line is, it’s the
right thing to do.”
Wow, these psychopaths will not be happy and won't stop until everyone is working for slave wages with no benefits.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/17/wisconsin-protests-scott-walker-police_n_824697.html?ref=fb&src=sp

Good read.

Jen wrote:

JaneWI wrote:Here's another article that mentions both WI and OH and states there were about 3.800 people protesting in Ohio.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-17/public-employee-union-protests-spread-from-wisconsin-to-ohio.html

In a telephone interview yesterday, Walker said he spoke
with Ohio’s Republican Governor John Kasich by telephone.
“Don’t blink,” Walker said when asked what advice he gave
Kasich about demonstrations. ”The bottom line is, it’s the
right thing to do.”
Wow, these psychopaths will not be happy and won't stop until everyone is working for slave wages with no benefits.

You're right, but the people that scare me more are the people that voted them into office in the first place. They are only two people, but there are millions of like minded people that voted for them.

A caller to a talk show on a rightwing fundamentalist Christian radio station said of Wisconsin's Governor Walker.....

'Whether he's right or wrong, he shows alot of courage.'

Huhhhhhhhh????????

Hitler & Stalin showed alot of courage too.....

Just saw it on channel 12. They said that the union protesters clashed with Tea Partiers at the demonstration. Your right Jane, those people that are JEALOUS of a public servant getting fairly compensated for their service to us scare me to. There are way too many of them. I've never had one of those jobs but, I sure don't want to see all of the rest of the unions busted and I'm dirt poor and not jealous like those people are!

Thanks. I thought everyone would appreciate the link. From what I'm hearing, Democratic lawmakers have completely left the state.

What I think is ridiculous is the fact that Republicans have set the state police on these lawmakers. They really cannot force Democratic lawmakers to return to the state Congress. That would seriously reek of gestapo tactics.

This clown is inside the WI state capitol calling into radio shows making stuff up about the demonstrators.....

http://www.wicapitolwatch.com/page3.html

Jen wrote:Just saw it on channel 12. They said that the union protesters clashed with Tea Partiers at the demonstration. Your right Jane, those people that are JEALOUS of a public servant getting fairly compensated for their service to us scare me to. There are way too many of them. I've never had one of those jobs but, I sure don't want to see all of the rest of the unions busted and I'm dirt poor and not jealous like those people are!

Here's the thing that gets me, major financial scandals seem to bore people even though billions of dollars were stolen from honest, hardworking people (think Enron, the mortgage crisis and the like), but people seem to get irate when it comes to public workers getting fair compensation.

Phillymg wrote:This clown is inside the WI state capitol calling into radio shows making stuff up about the demonstrators.....

http://www.wicapitolwatch.com/page3.html

Try listening to WPR for the next 45 minutes. Ben Mehrens (not sure on the spelling) is covering the situation in Madison. He is an excellent host and is speaking to quite a few people involved. WPR is online, just listen to the Ideas Network.

That would seriously reek of gestapo tactics.

Our government that is not serving us reeks of that constantly. I'm so sick of it!

The one thing I have a problem with these workers is that they should be thankful for what they got. $41,000 per year is their salary, give or take, and they are complaining that they're now being asked to contribute 50% to their pension fund and help pay for their own health care?

Forgive me for saying this but while they may have a reason to fight for their benefits if we were living in good economic times, these days are not so sweet and they really need to concede on helping pay for their benefits package.

Don't get me wrong. When we have states that are facing budget problems, these workers need to start giving something back. Asking them to help pay for their pension fund and to help pay for part of their health care coverage, it really isn't too much to ask. Would they rather be unemployed, like the rest of us 16 million unemployed Americans who continue to fight for our benefits?

I support their rights to fight for those benefits but we're living in a time when states are facing huge budget problems and these unionized workers are acting like they deserve to have their benefits paid for 100%. This isn't the 90's where employment was available for every American. They need to realize that government needs to cut somewhere and I don't have sympathy for prima donnas who have everything paid for, as well as having a very lucrative job that most of us would literally die to have.

Obviously, they don't know what it's like to really struggle, when you have no income and no benefits. This has happened because the unions have become so corrupt and convinced these public workers that they shouldn't give back any of their 100% paid for benefits.

JaneWI wrote:

zeke wrote:Yeah! And when WI goes bankrupt , and all the paychecks bounce, kids are taught in lecture halls or home schooled with computer classes, those teachers can live right there in the streets where they protested! These are some of the same smug bastards who said 99 ers are lazy, go to McDonalds, etc. I find it amusing when it happens to me, tough Doo Doo, when it happens to them, I SHOULD CARE!?!?! After two years of unemployment, they will be happy if they can find a job...

Please read the following editorial. Some people are saying the budget crisis is being staged to take away the collective bargaining from public workers. If this passes in WI, then it could snowball to other states. If collective bargaining is taken away from public workers I don't see much of a future for collective bargaining in the private sector.



http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/editorial/article_61064e9a-27b0-5f28-b6d1-a57c8b2aaaf6.html

I agree Jane. This is obviously an attempt to break unions. The state of Wisconsin is not going broke, paychecks won't bounce. The governor is trying to tell state workers that if they don't leave their unions they could be laid off. It's a scare tactic to keep the working class in line. There is always some company man living by the company book who says "we should take the little that they offer or they might not give us anything".
The truth is that they can't run anything without us. What is the governor gonna do? Fire all the garbage men and pick up trash himself? Can he find enough scabs to cover all the people he would have to fire? I doubt it and if he did what would the quality be like? We have all the control we just have to remember how to take it. We need to forget 50 years of brainwashing from the company man. "The company has your best interest at heart", yeah right.

kemcha wrote:The one thing I have a problem with these workers is that they should be thankful for what they got. $41,000 per year is their salary, give or take, and they are complaining that they're now being asked to contribute 50% to their pension fund and help pay for their own health care?

Forgive me for saying this but while they may have a reason to fight for their benefits if we were living in good economic times, these days are not so sweet and they really need to concede on helping pay for their benefits package.

Don't get me wrong. When we have states that are facing budget problems, these workers need to start giving something back. Asking them to help pay for their pension fund and to help pay for part of their health care coverage, it really isn't too much to ask. Would they rather be unemployed, like the rest of us 16 million unemployed Americans who continue to fight for our benefits?

I support their rights to fight for those benefits but we're living in a time when states are facing huge budget problems and these unionized workers are acting like they deserve to have their benefits paid for 100%. This isn't the 90's where employment was available for every American. They need to realize that government needs to cut somewhere and I don't have sympathy for prima donnas who have everything paid for, as well as having a very lucrative job that most of us would literally die to have.

Obviously, they don't know what it's like to really struggle, when you have no income and no benefits. This has happened because the unions have become so corrupt and convinced these public workers that they shouldn't give back any of their 100% paid for benefits.

It's not just the cuts. These governors are trying to get rid of collective bargaining rights. That's what unions are for! If you don't have collective bargaining rights, you basically don't have a union. The unions fought hard years ago and many were killed and they had succeeded in getting all of us the labor laws that are in place. Without unity, there is no fighting the greedy employers and we are just slaves.

While I'm on the side of educators and the like, I just think that we live in a time where jobs are hard to come by, there's less tax revenue coming in to these states and that they are asking for concessions. The problem is that the unions have these public workers so brainwashed that they're fighting for something that they really need to be discussing with the state legislators on what they can do to alleviate the budget problems by giving back something like helping contribute to pay for part of their health care benefits, or contributing to their pension plans, so the burden on state government isn't so severe.


My apologies if my post sounded negative. It wasn't meant to sound like it did.

kemcha wrote:Thanks. I thought everyone would appreciate the link. From what I'm hearing, Democratic lawmakers have completely left the state.

What I think is ridiculous is the fact that Republicans have set the state police on these lawmakers. They really cannot force Democratic lawmakers to return to the state Congress. That would seriously reek of gestapo tactics.

I am pretty sure they can. I know in federal congress they are required to be there and if they don't answer their quorum call they send the state police to round them up.

Jen wrote:

kemcha wrote:The one thing I have a problem with these workers is that they should be thankful for what they got. $41,000 per year is their salary, give or take, and they are complaining that they're now being asked to contribute 50% to their pension fund and help pay for their own health care?

Forgive me for saying this but while they may have a reason to fight for their benefits if we were living in good economic times, these days are not so sweet and they really need to concede on helping pay for their benefits package.

Don't get me wrong. When we have states that are facing budget problems, these workers need to start giving something back. Asking them to help pay for their pension fund and to help pay for part of their health care coverage, it really isn't too much to ask. Would they rather be unemployed, like the rest of us 16 million unemployed Americans who continue to fight for our benefits?

I support their rights to fight for those benefits but we're living in a time when states are facing huge budget problems and these unionized workers are acting like they deserve to have their benefits paid for 100%. This isn't the 90's where employment was available for every American. They need to realize that government needs to cut somewhere and I don't have sympathy for prima donnas who have everything paid for, as well as having a very lucrative job that most of us would literally die to have.

Obviously, they don't know what it's like to really struggle, when you have no income and no benefits. This has happened because the unions have become so corrupt and convinced these public workers that they shouldn't give back any of their 100% paid for benefits.

It's not just the cuts. These governors are trying to get rid of collective bargaining rights. That's what unions are for! If you don't have collective bargaining rights, you basically don't have a union. The unions fought hard years ago and many were killed and they had succeeded in getting all of us the labor laws that are in place. Without unity, there is no fighting the greedy employers and we are just slaves.

Well, that's the one problem I had with this one thing. Of course, state government shouldn't be in the business of destroying their collective bargaining agreement. On that, I support the workers 100%. It's just wrong and is nothing more than preventing these workers from negotiating for higher pay when the economy is doing better. It's basically union-busting. Workers rights should always be protected. I would say, get rid of the unions but that state government allow these workers to retain their collective bargaining. However, I also think it should be vacated in times of great economic distress and that public workers should be willing to work with lawmakers to help ease the budget of state government.

kemcha wrote:While I'm on the side of educators and the like, I just think that we live in a time where jobs are hard to come by, there's less tax revenue coming in to these states and that they are asking for concessions. The problem is that the unions have these public workers so brainwashed that they're fighting for something that they really need to be discussing with the state legislators on what they can do to alleviate the budget problems by giving back something like helping contribute to pay for part of their health care benefits, or contributing to their pension plans, so the burden on state government isn't so severe.


My apologies if my post sounded negative. It wasn't meant to sound like it did.

Actually, the state workers have made quite a few concessions regarding pay, pension, health insurance and non-paid furlough days.

The governor has also added a lot of "pork" to the budget, all while saying the union workers have to make sacrifices? Something isn't right there...

The main issue right now is the governor wants to take away all rights for collective bargaining.

That may be, but, there workers, if they don't concede, could also end up losing their jobs. The end result would be, if the bill doesn't pass, is that thousands of public workers could lose their jobs.

It doesn't matter who is at fault here, in the end, the budget has to be balanced and the governor has stated that if the bill doesn't pass that he would lay off thousands of state workers in order to balance that budget.

Jen, you're not the only one. What makes the situation in Congress so disturbing is that everyone is plugged into C-Span now and it puts a greater strain on both parties. When unemployment doesn't get passed, it also directs voter anger toward anyone who votes against it and that makes both parties jittery. They are probably angry at themselves since the internet brings greater scrutiny to what happens in Washington and the majority of Americans now pay careful attention to what happens in Congress.

lendmeflight, I know. I seem to recall something similar happening back a few years ago when Democrats fled the state in order to protest a bill that was about to be passed by a Republican controlled state Congress. I believe that standoff lasted for almost a week or two before things finally became resolved. Those Democrats left that state, as well. Matter of fact, I think it may have been one of the mid-western states.

kemcha wrote:That may be, but, there workers, if they don't concede, could also end up losing their jobs. The end result would be, if the bill doesn't pass, is that thousands of public workers could lose their jobs.

It doesn't matter who is at fault here, in the end, the budget has to be balanced and the governor has stated that if the bill doesn't pass that he would lay off thousands of state workers in order to balance that budget.

Are you reading the same articles that I'm reading?? The WI unions are *WILLING* to make concessions. The Governor has refused to meet with them!! He doesn't want to balance the budget. He wants to end collective bargaining. He wants to be a Dictator.

Heck his own representative said today 'Egypt has come to Madison'.....without realizing he was comparing the Governor to.....MUBARAK!!

kemcha wrote:That may be, but, there workers, if they don't concede, could also end up losing their jobs. The end result would be, if the bill doesn't pass, is that thousands of public workers could lose their jobs.

It doesn't matter who is at fault here, in the end, the budget has to be balanced and the governor has stated that if the bill doesn't pass that he would lay off thousands of state workers in order to balance that budget.

http://www.infowars.com/day-of-rage-americans-finally-reacting-to-economic-rape/
Whether you’re in favor of making public sector workers pay more in
contributions or not, the fact is that Americans in general now face
the terrible consequences of a derivatives debt black hole that
threatens to shut down the entire economy.
No budget cuts, public sector pension contributions, or any
austerity measures whatsoever can redress the $1.4 Quadrillion dollar
derivatives debt tsunami that Americans will now have to face as a
result of the financial terrorists unleashing what promises to turn into
an inflationary holocaust.

The reason that our country and the states are in debt is because they got duped into investing in fraudulent derivatives by the global banks and had all of our money stolen. This is what the mainstream media does not tell you! It is not our fault that we are broke. It is the fault of JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, etc. It is fraud and we don't really owe the money.