Wisconsin Ground Report: What’s happening with the teachers’ unions there?
Dear HillBuzz,
Some attention has been paid to the political situation in Wisconsin. In summation:
1. Last November, the people of Wisconsin voted for a Republican Governor (Scott Walker), and Republicans to run both the State Senate and Assembly.
2. When the Walker administration took office, he worked to balance Wisconsin’s budget, which faced a $3.6 BILLION deficit (thanks to the previous Democrat-run administration), and a massive structural deficit with debts to various state funds and other states (like Minnesota).
3. While running for office, Scott Walker promised to fix this budget and right Wisconsin’s economic ship without massive tax increases.
4. The administration balanced our budget by rolling back collective bargaining privileges for unions, requiring union members to pay 5.8% of their salaries toward retirement (i.e. a guaranteed, lifelong pension) and 12% of their health insurance costs (far less than the private sector).
5. Weeks of protests ensued, including the Democrats in the Senate fleeing to Illinois for WEEKS.
6. The budget, with the collective bargaining changes, passed.
7. Wisconsin’s budget is in better shape than the nation’s, and on pace to be a player in a down federal economy.
Despite this, the left and the unions (but I repeat myself) have made it their mission to DESTROY Scott Walker. They tried to recall Republicans, dumped $30 million into the effort, and failed to gain a majority in the Senate. So they’re reduced to stalking Scott Walker wherever he goes.
This past week, Scott Walker went to Messmer Preparatory Academy, a successful, inner-city Catholic school that participates in the Milwaukee School Choice Program (school choice allows low income families to use tax vouchers to pay for alternatives to the failing Milwaukee Public Schools). A vast majority of Messmer’s students are black, and the high school has an 85% college acceptance rate (while MPS’s drop-out rate is in the TOP 5 in the US).
Gov. Walker was at the school to read to kindergarteners in an apolitical visit. But the unions wouldn’t let that happen.
They not only vandalized the school by super-gluing the locks on several doors, they threatened the head of the school — Br. Bob Smith — promising a “riot” for having Gov. Walker at the school.
A crowd of about 100 union members and various liberals showed up.
Here is a Wisconsin blog with video chronicling their despicable, threatening, and thuggish behavior.
http://badgerblogger.com/?p=20527
Watch how they treat the staff, administrators, and students of Messmer. All for having Gov. Walker there.
Of course, the unspoken rage behind their behavior is that Messmer represents an alternative to Milwaukee’s black community, which is poorly served by a failing public school system.
Amy in Wisconsin
© 2011, Kevin DuJan. All rights reserved.
Also Recommended:
- Wisconsin Ground Report: Media not reporting that Democrats fled the state without doing their jobs and teachers’ unions are harming children with their work stoppage
- Wisconsin Ground Report: No sympathy for public unions from private sector employees out of work
- Wisconsin Ground Report: What’s happening with the state legislature and Democrats fleeing the capitol to avoid a vote on cutting union pork?
- Ground Report from Wisconsin: Governor Scott Walker and the “Budget Fix” bill
- Nevada Ground Report: How are the teachers’ unions ruining that state?
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Scott Walker did a good job distroying the Unions. The Unions hasn't figure that out yet but still being violent like the Nazis did back in WW2.
He did an amazing job. the GOP won the judge and the Senate election since. This policy will become more popular over time so the Democrats are worried that the state will go Republican in 2012 for the Presidential and Senatorial races.
I saw this at another site "Wis. County Labor Council Pres Bans GOP From Labor Day Parade" http://www.theblaze.com/stories/wis-county-labor-…
Is Labor Day just for Communist; now?
White union members vandalize mostly-Black institution that's all about economic and personal freedom for Black people and call Black institution head filthy names.
But remember, Rethuglicans are racists and Democrats love Black people.
Democrats have always been against blacks going to good schools look at the South. They want to keep black people stupid so they support the Democrats. West is right it is time Black people did have the good schools and a good shot at life. Water's and Jackson Lee have done nothing for black people and Walker is.
Where are Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson? Should they not denounce all those "white" people calling a black priest scumbag? Should they not denounce the fact that by gluing doors shut, they were in fact causing the potential harm of African American children? If there would have been a fire and some doors were shut, they could have been harmed.
Why is it that conservatives are the only racists and homophobes? They love to throw those words around, yet they also love to call conservatives "gay" in a demeaning tone. I remember seeing a clip of Andrew Breitbart asking questions of protestors and some woman said not to pay attention to him because he was gay? Bunch of hypocrites.
If I hated black people, I think the most spiteful and vindictive thing I could do to collectively harm them is to allow them to continue living under decades of uninterrupted Democrat rule.
Look no further than Detroit, Chicago, Washington DC or Philly
I can't believe this story. Scott Walker has stopped the mandatory membership fees the unions steal from teacher's accounts each month in other states this caused Union member not to pay for membership meaning the union bosses lost most of their income and can't support Democratic candidates.
This is a win for freedom and a huge blow against the funds of the Democratic Party.
If the Tea Party follewed Debbie Blabbermouth Schults around this would be a lead national story. Why is the media failing to cover this.
Wow! Retired state employees pay only12% of their insurance costs? Guess I should have gone there. As a retired AZ state employee, I pay 75%, going up to 100% when I hit 65.My mother-in-law, who retired from a private firm got far better benefits that I am. In other words, the poor beleagered union members in Wisconsin get zip sympathy from me.
I thought that was video embedded w/tha Badger blogger's posts, but turns out those were just screencaps. There's some video of the protests here, including Mr. Badass scraggly beard getting all badass with 1 of the Messmer teachers- demanding to know where she lives & all that. http://bit.ly/rmBcnw
This is a great video that demonstrates Gov Walker's school choice program. Pay particular attention to the commie lad with the glasses who is harrassing the woman.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHnbtkbgkfM
This sadley has become an international movement. These teachers are Soro's useful idiots and soon there will be an international backlash against parisitical commies who do not respect the results of free and fair elections. ACORN was fractured and went international and is now under the mame Community Organizers International. Community Organizer must become synonymous with communist because that is what the hell they are. At least in Europe a communist is honest enough to properly identify themself. Here they call themselves democrats.
I notice that this is a phenomena across the Country….we blame the Teachers Union, but not the Teachers. There is no Teachers Union without the Teachers approval. They magically keep their hands clean, and chant their mantra "its for the children" and many still believe them. The Teachers are responsible and need to clean up their Unions ASSUMING THEY ACTUALLY WANT TO DO SO.
My guess is that they are happy with the thuggery, as long as they can hide their part in it.
Not completely. There is certainly some brainwashing (maybe not so harsh a word is needed, but it gets a point across). But also – there's no choices in most places. The union is what you do, no questions asked. Most teachers, actually, grudgingly join the union, don't necessarily want to be a part, but there aren't really any choices.
My friend worked at the drugstore when I was a kid, and she had to pay to get into the union. Apparently, that took something like 8 weeks or so (maybe 12?). She didn't have a choice about that…they just deducted it from her pay. And she was making min wage at the time, maybe a tad more.
Then she got a better job that paid more, just as she was finished paying for her 'entrance'. It was so strange, and no one really could figure out why they would want to join the union.
Don't get me wrong, there definitely were great things the unions have done. Many many years ago. It got my grandmother much better working conditions (you know, not going to work at 8 and all, not being beaten by the boss, better conditions, better work hours, etc). But their time for the most part has gone.
Seriously – if you are a math teacher, you make the same as an english teacher, even though there is a shortage of math teachers (why? well, um, hello!). If they paid more, they'd get what they want. English teachers are willing to work for less…blahblahblah….
From The Corner
"Most recently, the anti-Walker folk seem to have fallen back on a popular, albeit less creative tack, an old favorite among liberal activists: calling your opponents Nazis.
Apparently, an actual Nazi group — the National Socialis Movement — has scheduled an “In Defense of White America” rally this weekend in the small town of West Allis, Wis., in response to reports of “black flash mobs” at the Wisconsin State Fair earlier this month. Predictably, the same crowd who made clear during the massive budget protests that they have no qualms about making the “Walker as Hitler” comparison, just couldn’t resist. Wisconsin Reporter has the story:" http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/275832/jackb…
As a follow up to my other post, also from The Corner, Jonah Goldberg nails it
"I keep meaning to do an omnibus post on Hitler and labor unions because we keep hearing so much from the Left about how Governor Walker is copying from Hitler’s playbook. This is, of course, nonsense. Yes, Hitler destroyed independent labor unions — by nominally turning them into government unions! Without collective bargaining of course. And, at least ideologically, the idea of creating the DAF (German Labor Front) was to give labor a “seat at the table,” as it were, inside the government." http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/261951/hitle…
These are dangerous times, I saw this yesterday
"At a protest sing-along against Governor Scott Walker at the Wisconsin Capitol on Friday, a member of the Red & Anarchist Action Network (RAAN) held up a huge banner saying “Class War” and then delivered a message to someone filming the event: “All you f**king Tea Party Baggers, It’s coming, get ready.” http://www.theblaze.com/stories/wis-protester-pre…
and then there's the whole health insurance thing, where walker has saved the state billions…because in the union contract was the provision that the state HAD TO use the health insurance co. that THEY said to (no shopping around). Which just happened to be owned by the union. hmmm…
I will reiterate atlmom's comments about unions. My first introduction to unions I was living in CA and you had to join, no ifs ands or buts. Also the dues were taken out of your check, so there wasn't much you could do about it. I agree the unions have done some great things, but that's pretty much in the past.
I watched the video about the Messmer school at the Althouse blog so I've already seen it. I saw the obnoxious dude with the beard harrassing that lady at the school ( I didn't know if she was a parent or teacher) but she just ignored him. He was an asshole if you don't mind me saying so, almost sounded like he had practiced the speech many times using all the code words from the playbook. What a jerk. I don't know if he knew he was being taped, but if that woman wants to sue his ass the guy or gal who taped him has the evidence of harrassment.
In my Wisconsin county, quite a few teachers left before the re-negotiation of contracts. Good riddance