I don't do this often - comment on politics. A lot of it is because I am a journalist. We're supposed to be objective. We're supposed to remain unbiased in the name of reporting the facts justly and letting our readers/viewers/listeners make their own informed decisions. Sometimes it's easy. Sometimes it's hard. Sometimes it's downright impossible. I'm not going to lie - when you deal with political stories and their fallout and implications every day it is extremely hard to keep your opinion to yourself. But, I think I generally do a good job.
Today I'm at the end of that rope. If you're not aware (which, for anyone living outside of Wisconsin, that is completely understandable), Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is trying to push through a budget repair bill that would strip public worker unions from having collective bargaining rights on benefits and limit their collective bargaining rights when it comes to salary. By "push through" I mean he announced it on Friday, there is a public hearing happening right now and he expects it to pass both houses on Thursday so he can sign it on Friday. From announcement to a signed bill in seven days. Wow.
There's a LOT more than just collective bargaining rights in the bill. And there are implications concerning all workers (not just public ones) packed into the 144 page bill. He does exempt some public workers - most police departments (not all) and firefighters.
Also - he has not been shy to say "I will not negotiate with unions" all week.
I get it. The state is in financial trouble. So are the other 49 states in our union.
I get it. The solution is not an easy one. It never is.
I get it. Drastic measures need to be taken to get our budget balanced, to get us back on track.
But, are these the right measures? Are these the right concessions? And will this *really* fix the budget mess Wisconsin finds itself in? I don't know. I'm not the best at mathematics (I'm a journalist for cripes sake) and I'm not a policy wonk and I'm not in charge of a state full of people who find themselves struggling to make it through the recession.
While I don't have the answers - I will say that I sincerely doubt that these drastic changes will be the fix that Walker says they will be. I think they will have much broader impact on the state's economy (in more of a negative way than a positive one) than Walker is admitting. And I think it will definitely deter good, hard workers from looking in Wisconsin for work.
I'm not saying that public workers should not make concessions. I'm not saying that unions are perfect. What I am saying is that Walker and the Legislature should take a little more time to consider additional options and that the bulk of the budget burden should not be shifted to public workers who (in the majority) work very hard and have given concessions at every turn.
They (mostly) do not have cushy jobs with incredible benefits and wonderful pay. The public workers I know (the teachers, the nurses, my mother) work long hours without overtime. They do the jobs that the rest of us won't do. They teach our children. They help us return to good health. They make sure the people who cannot take care of themselves get taken care of. The police officers and firefighters literally keep us safe. And they do it without complaint.
Do they make great salaries? No. They don't. We all know it. If working in the public sector made people rich - we'd ALL work in the public sector. Do they get thanks from the rest of us? Not usually. In fact, based on the calls I've been taking from non-public workers I'd say many of us have no gratitude for any one - let alone the public sector workers.
Benefits is the big thing that I hear private sector workers harp on when it comes to the public/private sector debate. Yes - taxpayers foot a larger portion of public sector benefits than most employers foot for private sector workers. That's true. But it's also the concession we've made to make sure people who do those important jobs can afford the benefits they deserve on the wages we pay them. A teacher friend of mine put it very eloquently to me on Friday how he feels about the difference between private and public sector wages and how he feels about the benefits public sector employees get:
In the good times - the teachers/nurses/firefighters/government workers are below the private sector average.
In the bad times - the public workers are above the private sector average.
(In summary - they're the baseline - they're the constant)
When it comes to benefits - he doesn't feel he deserves "better" benefits - but he feels he should be afforded the ability to pay for the *same* benefits as the rest of us.
I think he's right. If he's putting in extra hours away from his family to make sure my kids are getting a good education - then he should at least be getting similar benefits to the rest of us.
All of this is being "debated" very publicly in Wisconsin. But, my biggest issue with the entire thing is this: there has been no negotiation. No compromise. In fact, Walker outright refused to talk to the unions to see what they were willing to concede to help balance the budget and "save" Wisconsin.
They'd already offered to pay more towards retirement and health benefits. They've been asking Walker to sit down and talk about what concessions needed to be made since before he was even sworn in as Governor. And to the best of the public's knowledge - he refused at every turn.
We live in a Democracy. Part of the Democratic process is compromise. There is no compromise in Wisconsin right now. There's a lot of grandstanding. A lot of accusation from both sides. A lot of hurry up and get it done. But there is no compromise.
I think it will be at the detriment to our state. In many, many ways.
I think if the Governor were willing to sit down with the labor unions he might be surprised at what public workers are willing to sacrifice for the state. They already sacrifice for us every single day. In many different ways.
Here are some resources to read more about the bill, the protests and what is expected to happen:
Walker's Budget Repair Bill - http://legis.wisconsin.gov/JR1SB-11.pdf
Wisconsin State Journal coverage - http://host.madison.com/wsj/local/govt_and_politics/
WKOW coverage - (each story should be linked to related coverage) - http://www.wkow.com/Global/category.asp?C=123750
WisPolitics - http://wispolitics.com/
I do want to point out to anyone who reads this -- there is so much more to the budget repair bill that I didn't even touch on. The potential changes to Medicare and BadgerCare is a little terrifying. Part of this bill combined with the bill that gives Walker more regulatory control means single agencies can change the rules and laws with no notice and at will. Even some of the lawyers who worked to help draft the bill question if the language could stand up to a challenge in court.
ReplyDeleteHere's more on that:
http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/health_med_fit/vital_signs/article_cee543c2-3939-11e0-8619-001cc4c03286.html