Welcome to how the private sector works.

that's my quote not yours


and your point is what?

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If the Union had a measure in it to prevent the weak workers (you know that ones that don't want to work) from retaining their jobs and would fairly reward those that excelled at their positions, I would be more in favor of a union.

But reality is that many "weak" workers hide behind the protection of the union.. that is my issue with the unions I have had contact with. For the record I ran a union shop glass plant in Merrill, WI for several years. Although we grew a common relationship over my tenure, the reality was that it was very difficult to remove a worker that didn't want to work effectively.

Ridiculously difficult.

In the non union environment, you must carry your own accord.. or face the reality that you are under performing and can be replaced.

From a management standpoint, non union promotes a better environment to promote efficiency..

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Exactly. Unions set up a system in which it's absurdly difficult to replace ineptitude.

I'm no Scott Walker supporter, but I hope he does bust the unions. It would be delightful to watch all these pampered public servants scurrying around like cockroaches now that their sweet benefits packages have been exposed to public scrutiny.

They'll finally find out what it's like to be in public service without the perks of a union.

You know, kind of what it's like to be in the military.

P.S. My wife's a teacher. We stand to lose from this as much as anyone.

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There are admirable traits of a union, they just haven't kept in touch with the realities for competition of the business environment.. both nationally and globally.

Companies cannot afford to employ workers at high salaries and top end benefit packages without a fair return on that commitment to every worker in the force.

IMO, the realities of unions is that they can't worry more building the headcount of their members (and the dues that they entail) than worrying more about making sure each of their members represent the union as a whole in a favorable light within the members employment with each employer.

In other words, make it worthwhile for an employer to deal with the extra trials of a union with a stronger overall workforce than the non union shop. I think the lower third of the union shop members are dragging down the overall premise of a union workforce as a whole. And the Union will protect that segment of the members as stoutly as the best of the best.

And there lies the issue.

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those last two posts were pathetic, truly weak posts IMO.

First off, if you think Walker is going to "break" the union, you got another thing coming.

If you take away these benefits, remember, these are the people protecting your families, educating them, saving their lives. If they lose these benefits, they may chose to head off into the private sector, AND OUR LIVES WILL SUFFER FOR IT.

My wife worked in the printing industry for 20 years. Her last place of employment was 3M. She made $50,000 a year running a printing press. She was very serious about her job and very good at it.

She got stuck with someone who did not want to work, and 3m would not fire her b/c she was an african american female, gay, and they did not want her to sue them. This woman attacked my wife at work, when my wife beat this broad up, in the shop, at their press, after she was attacked, (she just defended herself) my wife's pay was suspended, not this lazy female who provoked the whole incident.

3m was not a union shop, this woman had a horrific reputation for not working, was bounced from department to department, and was never fired.

BTW, that 3m plant left town, built a plant in Mexico, and again, there was no union.

and again, nobody addresses the issue here,
Walker just decides, hey no more union, cause he said so, well dork, it does not work that way!

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I think the unions need to wake up to the reality of the economic shifts of the past couple decades.. and with them willing to concede the adjustments proposed by Walker I think they have done that.

And I think Walker should take that in stride at this point and leave their bargaining rights for another day.

If the goal is to balance the budget, then take the concessions proposed by the Union heads and tackle the rest of the project of the budget.

That said, regardless of your opinion of my views of unions as a whole, I stand by my thoughts on unions as a whole.

Additionally.. the non union shops are not perfect either, but mostly because of weak management than the system itself.

In your wife's case, the management team should have been documenting the "weak" employees work habits and rightfully proceeded to have her work herself out of a job based on her actions. Not that hard if the employee is a "turd" and doesn't want to work.. without unemployment nor any type of legal action taken. Documentation and walking them through the steps of the discipline system. IMO, sounds like the management team was just as lazy as said worker.

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and that's what created this whole dilemma, and why so many outside the state got involved.

Walker never even approached the unions for an arbitration meeting. He tried to push something through Madison real fast, and it blew up in his face.

I think unions have begun to make concessions, look at Mercury Marine and the state workers. They had a contract, and Mercury reneged on the contract, and threatened to leave. Once the company and union went to arbitration, a deal was worked out and jobs stayed in WI.

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Walker claims this is purely for balancing the budget. However, if this is true:
1) why $117 mil in tax cuts 2 weeks ago when we have "no room to negotiate the budget"
2) why are 3 public unions (fire, police, state trooper) saved while all other public unions dissolved?
3) what the hell do public unions have to do with the state budget?


People are saying the public is a bunch of freeloaders who need to own up to what private sector deals with, however,
1) In Wi, it's been reported that public makes 4.8% less than comparable private employees
2) Public employees are around 30% more educated than comparable private employees
- depsite lower salaries, and (reported) higher education (thus conceivably higher qualifications) public employees are being characterized as whiney overcompensated freeloaders.


I used to work for the Wi DNR and DO NOT DISPUTE that the public sector needs to give up some to help balance the budget, but they shouldn't be the ONLY ones. $117 million in tax cuts 2 weeks ago, cherry picking unions that Walker doesn't like, and reports of up to 35 new gov. positions created for Walker in this 'budget saving' bill do NOT help the budget crisis.


Fitzgerald, Walker, Limbaugh, and Fox news want us to believe this is all about the budget, but in reality it is clouded with political motives to weaken supporters of Democrats.

Or maybe competition will be introduced into these fields and service will improve.

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