Thursday, February 17, 2011

UNIONS USURP UNITY

A majority of the people in Wisconsin voted for a governor who pledged to reduce government spending and bring fiscal responsibility to the state.

Did you get that?

A majority of the people.

In a democracy.

Now when duly elected Scott Walker began to implement his pledge, a small group of people suddenly didn't want him to do what the majority elected him to do.

The trouble came when he started "messing" with the public sector unions.

Get the picture: Public sector unions are paid by tax dollars.

That is not the case with private sector unions.

But the public sector unions want to be off-limits to government cuts. They want the citizens to continue to give them FAR more than their private sector counterparts in benefits and such.

In other words, the public sector unions want to be considered very special. They see themselves as more important than others; more worthy; of more value.

Not only that, they are willing to threaten the average citizen with an "We know where your family is" type of protest, designed to frighten the people into giving them what they want.

And they are willing to pretend that people bussed in from other states and locales should have a voice in how this matter is dispatched.

They think they should have more power than the general run-of-the-mill citizens, because somehow they are special.

As Patrick McIlheran puts it in the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel: "Walker, remember, is not removing unions' fundamental power to bargain for wages. He is demanding that state workers put 5.8% of their wages toward retirement and that they cover 12.6% of their health care premiums, which would still have them paying more than $100 less a month than the average schmoe."

"...figure that if they bring 13,000 shouting people to Madison, they can overrule the election."

Unions in general, and specifically public sector unions (think SEIU), are willing to go to any extreme to impose their will on employers and employees (which they like to call "workers," after the fashion of communist countries like the former Soviet Union and Cuba).

They will go to any extreme to get their way...legal or not.

I know an employee whose union poured sugar in her car's gas tank when she dared to put the financial needs of her family above the "needs" of the union.

In the end, Unions are based on thuggery.

That's why President BO supports the efforts of the public sector unions' activities in Wisconsin.

They're of his ilk.

Do you remember back during the election how angry the left pretended to be when people hinted that President BO was Hitleresque.

Well, they do the same thing.

But that's OK, because they're so intelligent...much more than you and I.

The unions in Wisconsin are calling Governor Scott Walker "Hitleresque."

But that's OK because there can be no double standard for the liberal/progressive, just for those on the radical right.

Liberal/progressives (and union leaders) are rank idiots.

Period.

23 comments:

Ducky's here said...

Wrong as usual, Joe. There was no resistance to cuts. What they are protesting is the loss of collective bargaining rights.

Pitch till you win or get a decent news source. Remember, rabies radio and Fox make you dumb, limit your exposure.

Joe said...

Ducky: You are a slow learner.

I don't listen to "rabies radio," because I'm working for a rich company that has enough money to pay my salary.

They are NOT losing their collective barganing rights in Wisconsin. They are still able to negotiate salary and other things. The only things being cut are increases to insurance and pensions.

For some reason the teachers in Wisconsin, along with $150,000.00 per year bus drivers, think they should be making more than their private sector counterparts because they're so special.

Personally, I don't think they should have ANY brganing "rights, " because barganing is not a right.

Rights are not given by government, nor are they wrested from the hands of others.

Rights are rights, and you don't get to dictate what they are. You can only recognize them as pre-existing.

The right to life is a pre-existing right.

The right to liberty is a pre-existing right.

The persuit of happiness is a pre-existing right.

Only socialist/communist leaders think they have the right to endow rights.

BTW, is CNN a decent news source? How about CBS? Those are the only two I get to watch these days.

I don't find them very accurate.

tha malcontent said...

Well said and well written Joe. And SO VERY true.. Good work.

Scotty said...

Ducky, I live in Florida, a right to work state. I find it odd, becoming a right to work state, somehow negates peoples/union right to collectively bargain. Jeeez…..don’t tell workers at Disney that!!

That must mean Joe, that the union at Disney isn’t really collectively bargaining during contract negotiations, eh? Good thing we have Ducky to enlighten us!

Joe said...

The Malcontent: Thank you, Sir!

Scotty: Ducky makes things up, says them with malace and imagined authority and expects us to swollow it up as truth.

He's wrong, as usual.

He, sadly, is arrogant, self absorbed and uneducated (although he thinks he is well educated).

common sense said...

You nailed it Joe.

Mark said...

They don't "see themselves as more important than others; more worthy; of more value."

They are just greedy selfish you-know-whats.In fact, I'll bet they all have low self esteem. That would explain why they want to be a member of an entitlement mentality union in the first place.

Ducky's here said...

$150,000 bus drivers? You are seriously delusional.

Rights are whatever we as a culture decide they are.

Meanwhile, can we have a source for the 150,000 a year bus driver, I have my suspicions. Is it Rush or Glenn?

Joe said...

Ducky: I don't make stuff up, Ducko.

Last week, Metro bus driver John Nelson became a household name in Madison for his 2009 paycheck of $159,258. It's twice the median income of a Madison household plus a nice used car. While arguments over whether Nelson deserves all this are pointless, the number does dig up some deep issues in the Metro Transit System.

Bus drivers' entry into the $100,000 club is not new to Madison. Since 1998, Metro drivers have been frequenting the city-paid top earners list, which The Capital Times pointed out early in 2007. Last year, the hourly pay of these drivers was $26.02 with 50 percent more for overtime hours. As federal guidelines on hour-limit do not apply to city bus drivers, they can basically work however many hours they want, so long as there is at least a 10-hour break between shifts, according to Metro General Manager Chuck Kamp. Union contracts further catalyzed the overtime boom by allowing senior bus drivers like Nelson the first chance at overtime hours. Nelson worked more overtime than regular hours in 2009. All told, his hours added up to 3,909, averaging 75 per week. We all remember being constantly warned against drowsy driving, but the same warning seems to be neglected in the Metro buses. Thanks to the union and its overtime policy, Nelson's salary jumped from $113,610 to $159,258 within three years, an increase of 35 percent

http://www.dailycardinal.com/opinion/metro-transit-should-prioritize-riders-over-increasingly-wealthy-drivers-1.1146896

Silverfiddle said...

Always entertaining to hear from the delusional duck...

80% of the workforce does just fine without collective bargaining. The very idea of credentialed professionals forming a union is ridiculous anyway.

Serious professionals drive the rotten apples from their ranks. Unions attract them

shoprat said...

While the unions are "willing" to concede some of the demands, they are probably thinking give a yard today and take a mile tomorrow. Limiting some of their collective bargaining power in some areas is the only way to prevent this.

Spidey said...

The teachers have no shame. What kind of lesson is this for our kids?
The rest of the country, those who have to pay into their health care and pension plans, as I do, are getting sick of supporting these leeches.
Fire the Teachers for not showing up for work and any FEDERAL workers who did not show up. REPLACE them immediately! It's time to show these Union thugs we mean business.

Trekkie4Ever said...

"Liberal/progressives (and union leaders) are rank idiots."

That about sums it all up.

BetteJo said...

Unions have outlived their usefulness. They are too powerful and use money from their members to sway political parties, not to better their member's job situations. AND their tactics are pure thuggery. Their time has come.
Public and private.

David Wyatt said...

Nice & on target as per usual, bro. Joe. And silverfiddle, you nailed it 100% with your comment, "Serious professionals drive the rotten apples from their ranks. Unions attract them..." Absolutely! Seen it over & over again.

Z said...

Thuggery? That's my buzz word for Chicago types and the White House......gee, think there's a connection with this story?:-)

Ducky...pathetic. ANybody who you disagree with WATCHES TOO MUCH FOX!
Talk about "Keep pitchin'!"

cary said...

Not to pick nits, but ...

Hitler did not outlaw the unions.

He co-opted them. And used them to his fullest advantage.

Mark said...

These teachers chose to be teachers.

If they truly got into teaching to "help the children", they wouldn't be whining about their pay and/or benefits package.

If they chose teaching as a profession for the money it pays, obviously, they chose wrong.

They need to either stop whining and live with these minor concessions, or get out of the profession and find something more to their likinmg.

That's called "taking personal responsibility".

ablur said...

With unions taking over the public employee section they have finally found a bottomless pit of money from which to draw and fulfill their every dream. Sadly for them we have noticed the flaw in the system and are acting now to close the door.

Lisa said...

I was watching HGTV House Hunters International and a poor teacher wanted a vacation home and was only able to afford a 2nd home in Italy for 60,000 because that's all she could afford on a teacher's salary. Oh boo hoo.
These are some teachers I know:
One Aunt and Uncle-who went to Europe 2 times a year. They lived in PA and went to NYC almost every weekend to take in the newest Broadway shows and stayed at 4 star hotels and rented a beach house every summer for a month on the Jersey Shore.
Another Aunt who went to Italy every year and when she had to go into assisted living was paying 6,000.00 per month.
A friends parents-3 homes-One in Florida,one in Virginia and one in Seattle. So when they visit they can stay at their own places because the Winnebago they travel in is only good enough for roadside sleeping.
Another friends parent-Own a yacht and an apartment complex and her yearly Christmas gift is 5,000.00.
Plus they paid for their siding ,roof ,new front and back doors for them.
Yep those poor teachers have it so rough living off the taxpayers.

Joe said...

We live in a culture of "I want what I want, when I want it, where I want it, for whatever reason I want it and I want it because I deserve it just because I breathe."

Anonymous said...

Is Ducky's first name Daffy?

Joe said...

juandos: Could very well be!