Posted on 12/16/2010 3:04:12 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
Madistan, WI Democrats have adjourned an extraordinary session of the Legislature and officially given up on an unusual bid to pass labor contracts for tens of thousands of state workers in a lame-duck session.
Two top leaders for both Democrats and Republicans met briefly Thursday morning to adjourn the session on labor contracts. The session had technically been left alive Wednesday night after Democrats narrowly but dramatically failed to pass the agreements.
The outcome means unions will now have to seek new contracts from Governor-elect Scott Walker, who campaigned on cutting their benefits to help balance the state budget.
"We've got to start negotiations all over again," said Brian Kennedy, president of the white-collar workers union AFT-Wisconsin.
Outgoing Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker (D-Wausau) and Sen. Jeff Plale (D-South Milwaukee) crossed party lines to vote with Republicans to reject the contracts. The agreements then failed on 16-16 tie votes in the Senate, leading Democrats to depose Decker and name Sen. Dave Hansen (D-Green Bay) to serve as their leader for the final two weeks before Republicans take control of the Legislature.
In the Assembly earlier Wednesday, all but one of the 17 contracts passed 48-47, with the decisive vote cast by Chippewa Falls Independent Jeff Wood, who was released from jail on an intoxicated-driving conviction to make the vote.
The votes were a victory for Walker and his fellow Republicans, who said the contracts should be left for them to deal with so they can extract concessions from the unions on pensions and health-care benefits. Otherwise, Walker said he would have to make deeper cuts in areas such as health care and education to address a budget shortfall of about $150 million through June and a gaping hole of up to $3.3 billion for the two-year period after that.
"Due to the delay of these contracts I have all options on the table to tackle Wisconsin's budget challenges," Walker said in a statement after the vote. "I plan to use the flexibility afforded to me to make the tough choices necessary to reduce state spending while still providing core government services."
Most Democrats said approving the contracts running from July 2009 to June 2011 was the right course because they already are 18 months old and included no raises and $103 million in concessions. That includes 16 unpaid furlough days over two years - a 3.3% pay cut.
Contracts are usually passed in humdrum, bipartisan votes that attract little notice. But this time, the difficult state budget and the transfer of power from Democrats to Republicans led to a rare fight over the agreements.
Senate Republican leader Scott Fitzgerald of Juneau said he thinks that talks between Walker and the unions can still happen in spite of that.
"I'd hate to rush to judgment and say he's not going to be able to sit down and negotiate with the unions," Fitzgerald said of the governor-elect.
Kennedy said that unions were willing to do that and knew that they were "going to have to sit down with Walker anyway." But he said the events of recent weeks have raised questions about whether Walker would bargain in good faith with them.
Walker and other Republicans have said that they are considering changing state law so state and local officials would no longer have to bargain with unions to change workers' health and pension benefits. They have also kept open the possibility of taking away unions' right to bargain with the state altogether.
"I think it's part of the discussion this time that's going on nationwide," Fitzgerald said.
Unions have promised a fight if that happens. Kennedy said he was consulting with a union lawyer Thursday about options his group would have going forward.
Officials with the blue-collar Wisconsin State Employees Union could not be reached immediately for comment.
Go, Scott! Go! Hurry, January 3rd!
It's been an interesting week in 'The People's Republik of Madistan.' *BIG SMILE*
Pay them in cheese.
LOL . . . I thought that was strictly a federal function. Standby for the impeding law suit by the Holder Dept. of Social Justice.
That got my day off to a great start when I saw the Senate failed to approve these. Plale and Decker got their parting revenge at the RAT machine and screwed them good. If you’ve read any of the comments on this or and story about the train on JS Online, the libs are all throwing hissy fits like toddlers at Wal-Mart who don’t get what they want. It’s priceless.
The situation is so delicious. Union contracts defeated while their rep
Has called Gov elect Walker a slave holder.
Did I read that right? The Dims let the contracts slide for 18 months and they are trying to pin the blame on the Republicans?
18 months? Wow. Party of the little people, I see.
Decker hates Diamond Jim Doyle, and he just gave him the finger. I love it when rats turn on themselves. hehehehe
Walker did not campaign on cutting union benefits. His proposal is to have union members pay some of the cost, like the rest of us.
The labor unions worked to defeat Plale, second middle finger.
I think I heard today that the union leaders played a big hand in the delay because they were believing that they could really score big after the elections. Of course thata diddn’t turn out the way they thought it would so they tried to cram this through. Epic FAIL on their part.
Yeah it would be funny if Scott Walker sat down at the table and looked across and said “I Won.”
and now, they will all be paying the stupid tax for their bone-headed moves...gotta love that.
Right to work state FTW
She just bitched and moaned about how her furlough days were now going to be increased, and she would have to pay more for health insurance, etc. I said, "Welcome to my world"!!!!!!
BTW... believe it or not, she is relatively conservative in the rest of her political leanings, but when it comes to her job she is hypersensitive (as we would all be).
“Walker did not campaign on cutting union benefits.”
Well when you grow up reading ‘The Milwaukee Urinal’ you learn to gloss over that kind of stuff and read between the lines LOL! :)
Weeks ago he was TERRIFIED about Walker winning the Governorship. I don't remember how we got onto the subject (I wasn't baiting him: I SWEAR, LOL!) but he's a state union worker (seriously; he's not bright enough to do anything else...) and he's beside himself over this.
The Gravy Train Days at Taxpayer Expense are OVER in Wisconsin. God Bless Us, Every One!
Oh-no. Marty “Bile” is gonter have a heart attack!
For those not in the Milwaukee area, Talk Radio was having a cow about this today. “Snarlin’” Marlin called out Vickie McKenna and (presumably) Mark Belling and Charlie Sykes (he didn’t mention their names — just called them something like “those two nitwits on the radio”. He did mention Vickie by name and was none too flattering.) and accused Walker of being “stupid” to allow the train to die and the Federal money to be assigned elsewhere. It seems that he forgot that every Federal grant demands a lifetime of state support. He also did not consult his map because there is not way for that train to get to Minneapolis without going through Wisconsin, unless it takes a lengthy detour through Iowa which doesn’t seem to be in the mood to lay tracks.
In case it wasn’t mentioned earlier, the Lame Duck session was plugging along trying to approve Union contracts that had been allowed to slide for the last 2 years. The Dems in the Assembly were having a hard time scaring up enough votes to pass the contracts. The Dems had to spring from jail a favorable member (who happened to be a Republican, but who has been shunned by the Republicans since his recent incarceration). I guess he has “work release” privileges and “work” this week meant attending the last session of the legislature. They also dragged a female legislator from her post-surgery hospital bed for another vote. These pols have no conscience. THe measure passed by 1 vote. In a week, the Assembly will be controlled by the Republicans.
But, not so fast. Over in the Senate, the current Senate majority leader (Dem) voted to approve the union contract in committee but, in a surprise move, changed his vote before the full Senate and voted with the Republicans, as did another Dem Senator. Both of these men had been defeated in their re-election bid in November. The Dems immediately called for a time out and went into caucus where they ousted the current majority leader for changing his vote. The vote then stood at 16-16, so the contract was not adopted.
This will give the new Republican Governor and new Republican Senate and new Republican Assembly a chance to re-work the contracts. It’s a beautiful thing.
The union leaders and the Dems are about to have apolexy over all of this. Harsh words are being spilled.
What’s that old saying? “I love the smell of napalm in the morning?”
Now, let's not get too cocky. We've got some Governing to do! The GROWN UPS are back in charge! :)
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