I'll take Schadenfreude for $1,000, Alex !
Posted on 04/11/2013 6:16:20 AM PDT by grundle
Two years after the protracted, bitter battle that pitted Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker against the state's public-sector unions and their allies, one thing is clear: Those unions are now shrinking rapidly.
The Badger State battle was over a law called Act 10 that reined in most state and local government employee unions, primarily by the ending the automatic deduction of union dues from workers' paychecks.
Before Walker's reforms, it didn't matter if, say, a city hall clerk or a public school teacher wanted to support a union or not. They had to pay if they wanted to keep their jobs. The money was taken directly out of their paychecks just as if it were a tax.
Big Labor feared -- and conservative groups hoped -- that without this legal requirement a lot of union members would simply drop out. That assumption has turned out to be correct.
According to Labor Department data, membership at Wisconsin's American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 40 -- one of AFSCME's four branches in the state -- has gone from the 31,730 it reported in 2011, to 29,777 in 2012, to just 20,488 now.
That's a drop of more than 11,000 -- about a third -- in just two years. The council represents city and county employees outside of Milwaukee County and child care workers across Wisconsin.
The drop was even starker for Wisconsin's AFSCME Council 48, which represents city and county workers in Milwaukee County. It went from 9,043 members in 2011, to 6,046 in 2012, to just 3,498 now.
The numbers came from annual filings the unions must make to the Labor Department. In other words, these membership numbers come from the unions themselves. The numbers have to hurt since the union was founded in Wisconsin.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
I'll take Schadenfreude for $1,000, Alex !
“”and child care workers across Wisconsin. “”
I live in Wisconsin and I had NO IDEA that we have UNION child care.
Somehow that concept lacks appeal .. sometimes it's good to be a curmudgeon !
Just out of curiosity, how much do union dues run?
This really is excellent news. And they thought they would be Obama’s domestic army. Nope, that’s reserved for Holder’s people.
Scott Walker is a true American hero! What a brave, grounded man of principle!
Hero Walker is a rare Republican who instead of talking he wins.
He gets results.
The typical GOP DC hero just talks and talks “I am against...bla-bla-bla’ as each passes to Os desk.
Or is that some type of scam like in Michigan where people who received government checks for taking care of disabled relatives suddenly got smaller checks because they had been forcibly unionized?
So Wisconsin voters were being asked to bend over and kiss the ass of unions for the benefit of a total of 40,000 workers?
(now less than 25,000 hee hee hee)
it doesn’t mean their politics have changed, only their non paying of dues, I’m thinking.
Amen.
For union “leaders” it is not just a Right to Work state, it has become a “Right to Worry” State.
Hell we got unionized crossing guards for the schools! makes me want to puke.
I heard a radio talk show guy in Milwaukee the other day mention that teacher’s union (and I believe he added AFSCME too) paid about $100 a month. That hundo goes a long way for groceries and car payments.
I’m just curious as to how many of these ex-union members were part of the frothing-mouth, spittle-spraying, sign-toting, building-trashing crowd that marched on the capital when Walker was trying to turn that state around?
Was there any acknowledgement between the unionists as they sidled into the payroll office to “discontinue” their (now voluntary) union dues payment from their paychecks?
I can see it now. Union member enters the payroll office...
“Hello darling (to the payroll clerk). I need to make a few changes to my withholdings. Let’s add in an exemption... wife’s having another rugrat, you know. Also, been meaning to set up that Christmas account. I want to do that “Plant A Tree” one dollar donation thingee, too. Gotta save the planet, hee hee. That should do it. Oh, wait a minute, let’s goaheadandstopthoseunionduespayments. I’ll just mail them in myself. Uh... don’t tell the fellows about that Christmas account or anything, OK? We love ya darling. Keep up the good work. “
.
To me, it spoke of nearly the opposite -
that many workers were coerced into being in unions when they didn’t want to be,
and when freed, they unjoined.
Well we wouldn’t want the crossing guards to risk working too many hours!! (/s)
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