Melvin Waldron, CGCS said: Thanks David for all that information.
Where I work now we don't have a union or what little union there is, is very weak, except for police and fire. We have merit rules that protect us from improper firing so really we don't need that union protection. Not sure if they have binding arbitration or not. In New Jersey where we all belonged, I don't think we had it there either. The county was pretty good about things, the only thing they used to do was drag their feet on raises, would wait 6 months before starting them, the union sends a nasty letter, we get a big check and continue on. Funny how those little rules of OT and stuff always pop up.
Those changes all sound good. Explaining the arbitration helps a lot, why it got to that point where it allowed basically one side to win always isn't good, hopefully it won't swing so far the other way. I would have thought that both sides could come to an agreement for the betterment of all, and wonder if the Governor could have achieved his goals without the big ruckus and then the following recall if he would have handled it a little better? It would be interesting to hear your insight on that since you were in the middle of it and we all were looking in from the outside.
Mel
So you can see that Wisconsin Public Unions are different even from other public unions and very different from private unions. You ask a great question, could have this been done without the ruckus?
The majority elected a conservative Governor and he had both houses so half the state was in favor of what he did. I do not honestly see the other half coming to the table in good faith to give up their bargaining and binding arbitration rights no way no how. So those rights had to be taken away as step one to do anything else.
Walker did not cause the ruckus, the public unions and their members did. He did what the majority elected him to do and then supported him in the recall.
The general public only hears collective bargaining and thinks it is horrible that it was taken away on everything but wages. But without the knowledge of how bargaining works and how it is arbitrated you really only have a part of the story.
There is a place for private unions, there may be a place for public unions but no group should have so much power as to hold their employer or the taxpayer hostage.