He’s a preacher’s son, a perpetual optimist, and in a nod to the “Imported from Wisconsin” team he rides a Harley-Davidson Road King.
I’m talking about Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker who pledged a “return to frugality in government.”
Harley motorcycles and government frugality are two things I can rally behind, but just 6-weeks into his term, the badger state protesters, mostly public-sector workers have seized the same building and are comparing the governor to Hitler and Darth Vader.
The trigger? A bill which would reduce most public-sector workers of their union rights and pare back their benefits. The protesters interpreted “frugality” as code for “union busting” and erupted into dueling rallies and slogan chants.
In my overly basic description, unions have two sides. One is the great positive influence on democracy of people banding together for equal and fair treatment by employers. The other is the misuse of that power to force too many concessions from employers, or become unreasonable about the union making concessions when economic conditions have changed. In fact, watching the teachers demonstrate in Wisconsin I wonder how all these people obtained college degrees because a 6th grader understands that if you have $50 in the bank, you can’t withdraw $500. Can they spell bankruptcy, deficit, or foreclosure? And if your taxes are increased (suggested by legislatures who like gov. welfare programs and want someone else to pay for them), will you have more money or less to spend?
“Frugal” may describe Gov. Walker, but for many Americans we’re in ‘frugal fatigue’ fearing a job loss any day, coping with rising health care costs and hoping for any opportunity to break the economic gridlock and return to the good ‘ol days of 2005.
Take Harley-Davidson who was on a high-speed-train to utter collapse. They had to reduce labor costs and gain worker flexibility to remain competitive in the new economy. They stated it would move operations from Milwaukee to Kansas City if it did not get a new union contract with lots of worker concessions. They also had threatened to move operations from York to Shelbyville, Ky., if it could not get a contract in York. The company never blinked and I don’t think it was an empty threat of playing one location against another, and the reality was they have the capability of moving if they want too — anytime. The company wasn’t expecting much and didn’t get any pushback from the unions given the dismal job market and in the past 22 months, Harley-Davidson has negotiated competitive labor contracts with the unions, exited non-core brands, expanded internationally, rebuilt its balance sheet, and addressed the scarcity value of the brand.
Will there be fewer people employed at $35.00 an hour to manufacture a H-D motorcycle? Yes, but this wasn’t some proud attempt at “union busting” by the company management. It was about survival of the company and for the remaining few people employed it was about work or do without!
So, for all the Wisconsin fans and Wisconsonites in these troubling times – for the love of the Super Bowl champions, Bucky the badger and of course, the beer (Pabst, Schiltz, Miller and Blatz) – can we all just agree and get united to pitch in a bit more on health care and retirement benefits like the rest of us in the non-public, non-union job sectors and break the gridlock?!
Photo courtesy of WI., collective bargaining rights protestors.
Well one thing not being talked about is the Unions told the governor they are willing to make concessions on pay and benefits. The protests are really about the Governor’s attempt to eliminate the unions ability to collectively bargain benefits and pensions.
@ RT – government unions have little in common with private sector unions. Namely they don’t have hostile management on the other side of the bargaining table. To the contrary, the “bosses” of government employees are not always good stewards of the taxpayers’ money — they really could be viewed as co-conspirators with them in milking the taxpayer.
I’ve likely lost you as a reader, and so be it, but I have the viewpoint that collective bargaining has no place in government employment.
Government workers seem to think the job of everyone else in the economy is to protect their salaries, their work rules and their pensions. Protect might be too soft — guarantee? They self-righteously lecture us about public service, the children, a “living wage” — all disguised in the service of squeezing more money from the taxpayer to fund what many believe to be selfish job arrangements.
Having lived/worked and being a card carrying member of the electrical union years ago at the Stanley R. Mickelson Safeguard complex in Nekoma, North Dakota (the only operational antiballistic missile system ever deployed by the U.S.)… when I contrast my union days (working in a private sector union at Federal Electric also known as ITT (http://www.ittsystems.com/)… versus the last 20+ years in the private sector on the west coast, my experience is:
Do you have a boss who wants you to work harder for less money? In the private sector, the answer is always yes. In the unions, the answer is no/seldom. Back in the day it was always about “sticking it to the man” and working hard to do less.
But, these days the “man” is the taxpayer! True it’s been a long, long time since then and I might be guilty of making an overly broad generalization. I’m sure it’s changed…
-mac
This is the most logical address I’ve seen regarding what’s happening in WI. I’ve seen people on Twitter and FaceBook making stupid statements (yes, the Hitler comparison was there).
I’m absolutely amazed at the stupidity of people. We have to start somewhere. Pairing down government is a great starting point. Tightening belts in the public sector and showing positive results is the only way to preserve our country. It has to spread to all sectors of our lives. We can no longer sustain the spend, borrow, spend lifestyle of both the public and private sectors of our country.
It should be abhorrent to most folks that we have borrowed so much money from the Chinese government, that we can’t possibly pay it back! WHY ARE WE BORROWING MONEY? We have got to stop! We have got to take back our country from foreign governments…and we have got to start living with-in our own means!
I agree with RT’s post.
First I want to say I will not stop reading this great blog simply because I may disagree, from time to time, with the author of the blog. I am an adult. Part of being an adult (beyond simply having the number of times around the sun to qualify for that designation) is also having the personal and psychological maturity to have conflict or disagreement with someone– respecting that, not taking it personally and then moving on in humility and understanding. If I’m lucky, I may even learn a thing or two in the process–learn more about myself, learn something good about the other person and also learn a little more about how to coexist in this complex world that is likely made up of more people who disagree with me than those who do.
I disagree with your characterization of the Wisconsin protests, Mac. And that’s ok. Here is a link to an article that I believe accurately and articulately presents my point of view of this issue and also places the protests in Wisconsin within a larger context within American politics. I also agree with how that larger context is presented in the article. Here is that link: http://www.truth-out.org/print/67907
Peace!
@ Coyote – you had me at great blog. But, I had to stop reading “truth” when the article states that budget deficits are a ruse… I do appreciate your insight and taking the time to provide some well thought out comments. Cheers,
Walker is trying to bust up the union. They agreed to all of his financial cutbacks and he won’t give up his attempt to cut their right to bargain collectively.