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MADISON, Wis. – At least two dozen protesters spent the night just outside the Wisconsin state Assembly chamber in anticipation of a late Thursday morning vote on explosive union rights legislation that passed the Senate after Republicans outmaneuvered their missing Democratic counterparts and pushed through the bill.
The extraordinary turn of events late Wednesday set up Thursday's perfunctory vote on the measure that would strip nearly all collective bargaining rights from most public workers. Once the bill passes the Assembly, it heads to Republican Gov. Scott Walker for his signature.
Within hours of the Senate passing the bill, a crowd of hundreds of protesters grew to about 7,000 in the Capitol, a crowd as large as any seen inside the building in three weeks of demonstrations.
"The whole world is watching!" protesters shouted as they pressed up against the heavily guarded entrance to the Senate chamber.
Most protesters left by midnight — many were expected back Thursday for a rally preceding the Assembly vote — but dozens of others spent the night in the Capitol corridors, some sleeping on the marble floor with no padding. State officials said no attempts would be made to force them to leave.
The bill had been stymied after all 14 Senate Democrats fled to Illinois three weeks ago, preventing the chamber from having enough members present to pass it. Walker introduced it to plug a $137 million budget shortfall.
The Senate requires a quorum of 20 to take up any measures that spend money. But a special committee of lawmakers from the Senate and Assembly voted late Wednesday afternoon to take all the spending measures out of the legislation and the Senate approved it minutes later, 18-1.
Republican Sen. Dale Schultz cast the lone no vote.
"I voted my conscience which I feel reflects the core beliefs of the majority of voters who sent me here to represent them," Schultz said in a statement.
Before Wednesday's vote, it appeared the standoff would persist until Democrats returned to Madison from their self-imposed exile. But in a matter of minutes, it was over.
"In 30 minutes, 18 state senators undid 50 years of civil rights in Wisconsin. Their disrespect for the people of Wisconsin and their rights is an outrage that will never be forgotten," said Democratic Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller. "Tonight, 18 Senate Republicans conspired to take government away from the people."
In an interview with The Associated Press, Miller said there is nothing Democrats can do now to stop the bill: "It's a done deal."
Democratic state Sen. Dave Hansen said the Senate vote took him by surprise.
"We didn't believe that the Republican senators would stay with the governor and rubber-stamp his plan," Hansen told CBS' "Early Show" on Thursday.
The Democrats may put renewed energy into efforts under way to recall eight of the Republican state senators. Six Democratic senators are also the target of recall efforts.
Senate Democrats met late Wednesday night to discuss when they might return. They said they would not be back on Thursday, but gave no indication when they might come home.
"We are going to watch and see how the Assembly unfolds," said Sen. Spencer Coggs. "There will be fireworks. There will be a lot of people at the Capitol and so it will be hard to get in and out of the Capitol."
Walker had repeatedly argued that collective bargaining is a budget issue, because his proposed changes would give local governments the flexibility to confront the budget cuts needed to close the state's $3.6 billion deficit. He has said that without the changes, he may have needed to lay off 1,500 state workers and make other cuts to balance the budget.
Walker said Wednesday night that Democrats had three weeks to debate the bill and were offered repeated opportunities to come back, but refused.
"I applaud the Legislature's action today to stand up to the status quo and take a step in the right direction to balance the budget and reform government," Walker said in the statement.
The measure forbids most government workers from collectively bargaining for wage increases beyond the rate of inflation unless approved by referendum. It also requires public workers to pay more toward their pensions and double their health insurance contribution, a combination equivalent to an 8 percent pay cut for the average worker.
Police and firefighters are exempt.
Walker's proposal touched off a national debate over union rights for public employees and prompted tens of thousands of demonstrators to converge on Wisconsin's capital city for weeks of protests.
Wednesday's drama unfolded less than four hours after Walker met with GOP senators in a closed-door meeting. He emerged from the meeting saying senators were "firm" in their support of the bill.
For weeks, Democrats had offered concessions on issues other than the bargaining rights and they spent much of Wednesday again calling on Walker and Republicans to compromise.
Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said earlier that Republicans had been discussing concessions offered by Walker, including allowing public workers to bargain over their salaries without a wage limit. Several GOP senators facing recall efforts had also publicly called for a compromise.
"The people of Wisconsin elected us to come to Madison and do a job," Fitzgerald said in a statement after the vote. "Just because the Senate Democrats won't do theirs, doesn't mean we won't do ours."
Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca, the lone Democrat present on the special committee that put the bill in position to pass the Senate, shouted that the meeting was a violation of the state's open meetings law.
"The jig is now up," Barca said. "The fraud on the people of Wisconsin is now clear."
The Senate's chief clerk said hours later the meeting was properly held. Fitzgerald said he cleared the Senate's action with the Legislature's attorneys, the nonpartisan Fiscal Bureau and bill drafters.
Union leaders weren't happy with Walker's previous offer of concessions, and were furious at the Senate's move to push the measure forward with a quick vote. Phil Neuenfeldt, president of the Wisconsin state AFL-CIO, said after Wednesday's vote that Republicans exercised a "nuclear option."
"Scott Walker and the Republicans' ideological war on the middle class and working families is now indisputable," Neuenfeldt said.
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[img]http://d.yimg.com/a/p/ap/20110310/capt.2c3c7613a4c14df2b3b7630f5dfe4c45-2c3c7613a4c14df2b3b7630f5dfe4c45-0.jpg?x=213&y=320&xc=1&yc=1&wc=273&hc=410&q=85&sig=WCihvGzqGBDces8rv0.q_Q--[/img]
[url=http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_wisconsin_budget_unions;_ylt=Aipaevud1gxOc6frI9JXGh2s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTNxc2hvNGFuBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTEwMzEwL3VzX3dpc2NvbnNpbl9idWRnZXRfdW5pb25zBGNjb2RlA21vc3Rwb3B1bGFyBGNwb3MDMQRwb3MDMgRwdANob21lX2Nva2UEc2VjA3luX3RvcF9zdG9yeQRzbGsDd2lzZ29wYnlwYXNz]Source #1[/url]
[url=http://m.cnn.com/primary/_NjCMDq-iQJBwKdyV2]Source #2[/url]
TL;DR Scott Walker and the Republicans have passed the Budget Repair Bill, this will most likely go to court or there will be a repeal.
I hate Scott Walker, How he got elected is beyond me, I didn't vote for him.
I believe you're late.
God damn Republicans, doing whatever they can just to make our lives worse. If the Democrats were in on the votes, sure as hell the vote wouldn't pass, but since Republicans are the only ones there, obviously trying to do whatever they can to make it pass, passed it did.
And in the end, I sure hope that many people wouldn't vote to put the Republicans in control of presidency...unless they want them to ruin our economy and all that.
To be fair, I'd have expected a (fairly) educated nation like America to realize their elections are a sham.
Money will always run your politics, that's the only way it will be with your system.
[QUOTE=Miskav;28524776]To be fair, I'd have expected a (fairly) educated nation like America to realize their elections are a sham.
Money will always run your politics, that's the only way it will be with your system.[/QUOTE]
Possibly why they are trying to trim down education and bring in 'bad' teachers, to prevent the realization...
Republicans want to control the house and tear down everything the Democrats put up, even if helpful. They do it out of spite. Correct me if I am wrong.
Heh. Ok so its perfectly fine that Teachers and most people who are part of unions pay less than 15% of their healthcare costs, get paid much better than the private sector, yet are bad teachers or poor workers and they get away with it because its hard to fire a union worker? Nice. Go talk to some private sector employees and ask them what they think about this bill.
[QUOTE=>VLN<;28527338]Heh. Ok so its perfectly fine that Teachers and most people who are part of unions pay less than 15% of their healthcare costs, get paid much better than the private sector, yet are bad teachers or poor workers and they get away with it because its hard to fire a union worker? Nice. Go talk to some private sector employees and ask them what they think about this bill.[/QUOTE]
Yes it is perfectly fine.
If you want to fire a union worker, then get some evidence. It is bullshit that people can be fired without providing a cause in the first place. Unions can mitigate that problem relatively efficiently.
But no, you don't want workers to have any rights and instead we should all rely on businesses to do what is right for its workers. Because that worked out great at the turn of the century and everything.
And that's why there are so many companies because people will just find a better company to work for or start their own company with better ethics.
[QUOTE=>VLN<;28527800]And that's why there are so many companies because people will just find a better company to work for or start their own company with better ethics.[/QUOTE]
Again...that worked oh swell at the turn of the century.
[QUOTE=>VLN<;28527338]Heh. Ok so its perfectly fine that Teachers and most people who are part of unions pay less than 15% of their healthcare costs, get paid much better than the private sector, yet are bad teachers or poor workers and they get away with it because its hard to fire a union worker? Nice. Go talk to some private sector employees and ask them what they think about this bill.[/QUOTE]
The protests are about the collective bargaining part, not the losing benefits part of the bill.
Because at that time, we didn't have the laws in place to prevent slavery, sweatshops, etc...
The time is now, the world is a different place. First of all, even if workplace mandates were abolished, people still wouldn't work in those conditions. And second, laws preventing child labor and horrid conditions in workplaces are in place. I don't see people working in sweatshops if they aren't in a union. :downs:
[QUOTE=>VLN<;28527800]And that's why there are so many companies because people will just find a better company to work for or start their own company with better ethics.[/QUOTE]
yeah wtfs a recession/job deficit?
[editline]10th March 2011[/editline]
[QUOTE=>VLN<;28528160]Because at that time, we didn't have the laws in place to prevent slavery, sweatshops, etc...
The time is now, the world is a different place. First of all, even if workplace mandates were abolished, people still wouldn't work in those conditions. And second, laws preventing child labor and horrid conditions in workplaces are in place. I don't see people working in sweatshops if they aren't in a union. :downs:[/QUOTE]
just because it not an outright sweatshop doesn't mean that worker conditions can't be improved. "stopping child labor and sweatshops" aren't the only things unions are responsible for
[QUOTE=>VLN<;28527800]And that's why there are so many companies because people will just find a better company to work for or start their own company with better ethics.[/QUOTE]
Hard to do that when you are a cop and your wife is a tenured professor.
Only one gig in town for a cop and your wife can't move without suffering extreme status damage.
Or perhaps you are a bus driver. Good luck finding a job elsewhere with the economy as it is.
How much pounding is it going to take to finally drive the point home that when the people as a whole are well off, then EVERYONE benefits. This is the best non-government method of protecting employees from shitty business practices. Likewise, it gives the government and business a unified front to negotiate with employees.
Like in this instance, the teachers AGREED TO ALL TERMS of the budget cuts. They understood that money needed to be cut from the budget, so the union agreed. They just wanted to retain their right to, in the future when the economy is doing well again, negotiate again.
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