Journal Sentinel Backs Walker's Reform Effort – Fighting Union Monopoly Power Not For The Squeamish!

Journal Sentinel Backs Walker's Reform Effort – Fighting Union Monopoly Power Not For The Squeamish!

Subscribe to The National Right to Work Committee® by Email Click Gov. Walker's image to send him a meesage. A major newspaper in Wisconsin is backing Gov. Scott Walker's efforts to reform the runaway power of government workers unions: Restoring Wisconsin to fiscal health is not for the squeamish. The medicine is going to be bitter. Gov. Scott Walker's proposals to strip state employee unions of much of their bargaining power illustrates just how bitter. But Walker is right to do this. He must insist that state workers pay a bigger share of their benefits. And he's right to take steps to compel them to do so. The governor is overreaching in some respects. And even if he wins the bruising fight to come in the state Capitol, he risks alienating broad swaths of independent voters. But Walker must fill a gaping budget hole of $137 million for the fiscal year that ends June 30 and a much larger imbalance in the next two-year budget. Something has to give. Walker's proposals affect virtually every unionized public worker in the state, at both the state and municipal levels. But the alternative to trimming benefits is laying off thousands of workers. The state, not to mention the economy, is better served by keeping as many of its workers on board as possible, albeit at a lower cost. Walker estimates his proposals will save the state $30 million between now and June 30 and $300 million over the course of the next two-year budget. That doesn't count savings at the local level, which should help make up for expected cuts in state aid. Our analysis:

Journal Sentinel Backs Walker's Reform Effort – Fighting Union Monopoly Power Not For The Squeamish!

Journal Sentinel Backs Walker's Reform Effort – Fighting Union Monopoly Power Not For The Squeamish!

Subscribe to The National Right to Work Committee® by Email Click Gov. Walker's image to send him a meesage. A major newspaper in Wisconsin is backing Gov. Scott Walker's efforts to reform the runaway power of government workers unions: Restoring Wisconsin to fiscal health is not for the squeamish. The medicine is going to be bitter. Gov. Scott Walker's proposals to strip state employee unions of much of their bargaining power illustrates just how bitter. But Walker is right to do this. He must insist that state workers pay a bigger share of their benefits. And he's right to take steps to compel them to do so. The governor is overreaching in some respects. And even if he wins the bruising fight to come in the state Capitol, he risks alienating broad swaths of independent voters. But Walker must fill a gaping budget hole of $137 million for the fiscal year that ends June 30 and a much larger imbalance in the next two-year budget. Something has to give. Walker's proposals affect virtually every unionized public worker in the state, at both the state and municipal levels. But the alternative to trimming benefits is laying off thousands of workers. The state, not to mention the economy, is better served by keeping as many of its workers on board as possible, albeit at a lower cost. Walker estimates his proposals will save the state $30 million between now and June 30 and $300 million over the course of the next two-year budget. That doesn't count savings at the local level, which should help make up for expected cuts in state aid. Our analysis:

Change in Wisconsin

Change in Wisconsin

 Newly elected Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is not backing down from a fight to protect taxpayers.  Walker has proposed reforming the state's collective bargaining laws to protect taxpayers.  The Wall Street Journal takes note:  Wisconsin Governor-elect Scott Walker has laid out an ambitious agenda, such as turning the department of commerce into a public-private partnership and lifting the cap on school vouchers. But his boldest idea may be rescinding the right of government employees to collectively bargain. Mr. Walker floated the idea last week in response to union opposition to his modest proposal to require employees to contribute 5% of their pay to their pensions and to increase their health-care contributions to 12% from as low as 4% today. Even along the Left Coast most state workers contribute 10% of their salary to pensions. The Republican estimates that these changes would save the state $154 million in the first six months. Over two years they'd reduce the state's $3.3 billion budget gap by nearly 20%. The ability of public workers to form unions and bargain collectively is a phenomenon of the last century when state and local governments were relatively small. But it has proven to be a catastrophe for taxpayers, as public unions have used their political clout to negotiate rich deals on wages, pensions and health care. California governor-elect Jerry Brown greased the wheels for his state's long fiscal decline when he allowed collective bargaining during his first stint in the statehouse in the 1970s. Republican Governor Mitch Daniels of Indiana and then Governor Matt Blunt of Missouri rescinded collective bargaining by executive order in 2005, and the change made it easier to cut spending and restructure government services. In Wisconsin, the legislature would have to rewrite the Employment Labor Relations Act, but Republicans will control both the assembly and senate and have the political incentive to go along with Mr. Walker.Rescinding public collective bargaining rights restores a better negotiating balance between taxpayers and government employees who ostensibly work for them. Political officials are no longer on both sides of the bargaining table—representing taxpayers in negotiations with the unions while seeking union cash and endorsements when running for re-election.