The Walker Chronicles II

We, the people of Wisconsin, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, in order to secure it blessings, form a more perfect government, insure domestic tranquility, and promote the general welfare, do establish this constitution.

That is the preamble to Wisconsin’s constitution.  If you would like to read it in full, here is the link: legis.wisconsin.gov/statutes/wisconst.pdf.  Where in this document is the right to collectively bargain defined?  The truth is collective bargaining agreements are not a right, it is a contract between a union and an employer.  The contract defines how the employer will interact with its employees, the compensation package for the employees, and most importantly (at least to the unions) how the union will collect its dues.  I would like to write to that specific point for those of you that do not belong to a union and are not forced to pay these fees in order to keep your job. 

If you have ever sat across the table from a union representative and have been presented the framework for a collective bargaining contract, the verbiage always seems to contain a process of withholding the dues from paychecks and a method for forwarding that money to the union.  The reason the unions want this is because everyone knows that if they do not get the dues directly from the paychecks, most people will not pay the dues if they enter into a financial hardship.  This is one of the biggest negotiating tools you can have in a battle with the union.  The union representatives will sacrifice almost any employee right to protect their precious flow of money.

WEAC (Wisconsin Education Association Council) has a very interesting angle on the collective bargaining agreement.  WEAC actually owns an insurance company called WEA Trust, which is fine in itself, but negotiates in its own contracts with school districts that they buy all their benefits from their own insurance company at a greater (in some instances double) cost than if the school district put the benefit packages out for bids.  The profits of this union / insurance company are obscene.  If you do not believe me, go to www.weatrust.com or take a trip to Madison and visit the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance (OCI) and look at the public documents.  WEAC is trying to monopolize (yep that is a BIG BUSINESS term) benefit offerings in the school districts. 

The subtle point the media is missing is there is an individual contract (collective bargaining agreement) for each employer, there are thousands of contract out there.  While the union talking heads are saying they agree to the contributions Governor Walker is proposing, the local union officials are in the process of extending these individual contracts years into the future to circumvent the Budget Repair Bill and ensure the unions will not lose any of the benefits they have spent years negotiating into their contracts.  The actions of the unions speak volumes for their motives.  Unions do not care how much something is taxed, or how many businesses move out of state, they only care about themselves and their short sighted view of Wisconsin’s future.  When WEAC starts complaining about budget cuts and the local school board starts cutting hot lunch programs and funding for fire alarms in the building, just remember, they were given every opportunity and tool to prevent these events, they decided to sign contacts with the unions to circumvent Walker’s efforts.  If this has happened in your community, it is time to look at electing a new school board, preferably one not controlled by WEAC.  In fact, I would suggest the only safe vote is for a candidate that is not backed by a union.

So we have established that a collective bargaining agreement is simply a contract between a union and a specific employer.  We also established that the collective bargaining contract can contain outlandish requirements that force an employer to purchase benefits from a specific preferred vendor that the union has a vested interest in.  So why did Senator Miller lead the Democrats out of state?  The answer is money.  The amount of money that the public unions throw at the Democrats is incredible.  You hear about BIG Oil, BIG Insurance, BIG Industry, well let me introduce you to BIG UNION.  That is right, unions are BIG business and have more political and financial pull in our government than any combination of businesses could ever wish to have.  If you do not believe this, ask yourself why Senator Miller was quoted in the Wall Street Journal that the Democrats would return to Wisconsin, then reversed his decision the very next day.  Now Senator Erpenbach is saying the Wall Street Journal took Senator Miller out of context, what a joke.  The only rational conclusion is BIG Union told the Democrats to stay, so they stayed like the faithful followers they are. 

Watching the protestors and Democrats in Wisconsin reminds me of a quote from Albert Einstein “He who joyfully marches to the music in rank and file has already earned my contempt.  He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would fully suffice.”  It is time for people to start thinking for themselves and have the courage to lead, instead of acting like sheep.  The Democrats were put into office to serve their constituents of Wisconsin, not BIG UNION and certainly not Washington politicians.  We, the people of Wisconsin need to fight for our state once again and make sure the BIG UNION thugs and Washington outsiders get the message, Wisconsin is no longer for sale.

The Senate pulled the trigger on separating the collective bargaining proposal from the Budget Repair Bill and passed it without the Democrats. Senate minority leader Miller statements are as follows:

“In thirty minutes, 18 State Senators undid fifty years of civil rights in Wisconsin.

Collective Bargaining is not a civil right! It is a privilege that we the people no longer can afford.

“Their disrespect for the people of Wisconsin and their rights is an outrage that will never be forgotten.

Which outrage, the fact that we the people of Wisconsin made a giant step to take our state in the right direction or that some of our elected officials decided to turn and run out of state? Senator Miller show more disrespect towards the people of Wisconsin by siding with the minority money laundering mob, sorry I meant Public Unions.

“Tonight, 18 Senate Republicans conspired to take government away from the people.

Wrong Senator, the Republicans gave it back to We the people of Wisconsin.

“We will join the people of Wisconsin in taking back their government.”

It is about time you come back to work Senators. I hope you savor the feelings you have at this moment, it is the same feelings We the People of Wisconsin have had ever since your party decided to sell out and work for the money laundering unions.

I was speaking with a few parents this evening and they were very upset about the events of this evening. I think it goes without saying they were all members of one public union or another. While I was listening to them carry on their banter, one person made a comment that “It would be better to get a pink slip than to work in a government that can just eliminate my rights on a whim!” The only comment I could think of was “Welcome to the party that the private sector has been living in for the last 4 years. Do you think there aren’t 100 unemployed hard working people that will jump at the chance to have your job? If you are so damn unhappy, leave your job and the state, we have plenty of people in Wisconsin that can do your job.” I understand these people are upset, but they still have a job, and better benefits than I will ever have. How they can sound so ungrateful for all the blessing they have been given just because of a limiting of their unions ability to launder money. Again, it comes down to a selfish attitude and insulation from the reality of the economy. We all pay taxes, and the tax payers won one battle today, but the war is far from over.