Posted on 02/19/2011 4:09:28 AM PST by kevkrom
The union-led school closures and demonstrations in Madison have left most ordinary Americans shaking their heads in disbelief. Months ago, I penned a message to my fellow union brothers and sisters when I found myself on the receiving end of union boss Richard Trumka’s wrath. Yesterday’s demonstrations reminded me of the full-page ads taken out against me when I put my foot down in dealing with union demands while I served as governor. My message then and now to good union brothers and sisters is that you have another option. You don’t have to kowtow to the union bosses who are not looking out for you, but instead are using you. You can join millions of other union members in a commonsense movement to help fight for the right causes in our great country – for budgets that share the burden in a truly fair way and for commonsense reforms that take power away from vested interests like union bosses and big business lobby groups, and put it back where it belongs – with “We the People.”
Here we are still struggling to get out of a deep recession and coping with high unemployment, record deficits, rapidly rising food prices, and a host of other economic problems; and Wisconsin union bosses want union members out in the streets demanding that taxpayers foot the bill for unsustainable benefits packages. I am a friend to hard working union members and to teachers. I come from a family of teachers; my grandparents, parents, brother, sister, aunt, and other relatives worked, or still work, in education. My own children attend public schools. I greatly admire good teachers and will always speak up in defense of the teaching profession. But Wisconsin teacher unions do themselves no favor by closing down classrooms and abandoning children’s needs in protest against the sort of belt-tightening that people everywhere are going through. Union brothers and sisters: this is the wrong fight at the wrong time. Solidarity doesn’t mean making Wisconsin taxpayers pay for benefits that are not sustainable and affordable at a time when many of these taxpayers struggle to hold on to their own jobs and homes. Real solidarity means everyone being willing to sacrifice and carry our share of the burden. It does no one any favors to dismiss the sacrifices others have already had to make—in wage cuts, unpaid vacations, and even job losses—to weather our economic storm.
Hard working, patriotic, and selfless union brothers and sisters: please don’t be taken in by the union bosses. At the end of day, they’re not fighting for your pension or health care plan or even for the sustainability of Wisconsin’s education budget. They’re fighting to protect their own powerful privileges and their own political clout. The agenda for too many union bosses is a big government agenda that only serves the union bosses themselves – not union members, not union families, and certainly not the larger community. Everybody else is just there to foot the bill; and if that bill eventually takes the form of thousands of teachers and other public sectors workers losing their jobs because the state of Wisconsin can no longer afford to keep them on the payroll, that’s a risk the union bosses are willing to take as long as their positions are secure. Union brothers and sisters: you are better than this and you deserve better. Don’t be led astray.
One final word of warning to my fellow Americans: back in 2009, I warned about what would happen if states accepted short-term unsustainable debt-ridden “Stimulus Package” funds. Accepting those funds allowed states to grow government, increase already unsustainable levels of spending, kick the can down the road on reforming entitlements, and create public expectations that they would continue financing these new mandates once the federal funds ran out. States were not in a position to grow government and take on new financial commitments then, and now the chickens have come home to roost. As goes Wisconsin today, so goes the country tomorrow.
- Sarah Palin
She fully supports all of her “Union brothers and sisters” and condemns those evil Union Bosses who are using them. Well, here is a stark reality, where ever there are Unions, there will be corrupt Bosses, in one form or another. (85% of the population.) The taxpayers or the public, will pay much higher prices for services, while the Union workers enjoy a much higher wage and benefits than the average worker who pays their higher standard of living.
Palin has many fooled here, but not all of us.
That's was 30-years ago, at a time when the country was (literally) trillions fewer in debt. Tough, sober times call for tough, sober leadership.
"He rightly placed the blame where it belonged. The union leadership."
Yep, you still don't get it. The problem isn't the union leadership, the problem is THAT THERE IS A UNION. PERIOD.
It's time to do what the MAJORITY of Americans want - terminate the collective bargaining "rights" of public service unions.
"Just has Palin has done here in this op-ed."
No, what Palin is doing is called "riding the fence". Scott Walker, Bob McDonnell, Chris Christie, Rick Scott, John Kasich are all governors who have the courage to speak truth to power, in the clearest, most concise manner possible. And what are they saying? That the public sector unions are bankrupting the states, and the time for negotiation is over - well over.
Agreed. A unions only real weapon in gaining what they want is denial of services. Having their membership strike. That is not tolerable among government employees. And if by law they cannot strike then what good is the union to them as opposed to some other forum for protecting their rights? Where Wisconsin is making its mistake in this is by going after only some of the unions representing government workers and not all of them. By excluding police and fire unions from the legislation, coincidentally the only unions to support the governor during the campaign, the legislature is leaving the problem only partly dealt with. And leaving itself open to criticism that the legislation is politically motivated rather that fiscally.
You can't have it both ways. Palin needs to just keep her mouth shut for a while. The more she talks, the more it convinces some of us where she truly stands. I now see her as being more Libertarian than conservative. In fact, her short record as Governor supports my opinion even further.
She added an extra tax on the Oil Companies at Prudhoe Bay and pretty much forced them to shut down. They could no longer make it profitable to produce oil even when it was over $45 per barrel.
You’ll note I’m sure that most FR Palin supporters are being remarkably quiet on this one.
The union thugs also don’t speak and write correctly. When you say “should have went” you are identifying with them.
You should also sue the school that allowed you to graduate speaking and writing that way.
She calls on the union members to become a solidity with taxpayers and share the pain of the economic problems instead of making it worse. And you call that riding the fence.
She says plainly that the union leadership cares nothing for their concerns and would rather see 10-12,000 of them laid off then give up their perks and you call that riding the fence.
She says stikes and protests are not the way and are turning the American people against them. she warns that they are being used to further the ends of the union bosses and you call that riding the fence.
Sometimes the antipalin people are blind to commonsense.
LOL!
I notice particularly the severe lack of Spam and “Sarah of Arc” pictures as well.
That's where I differ with Palin. I don't want the "rank & file" to do anything but go away, forever.
We aren't talking about the members making their leaders do anything. We - Scott Walker et. al - are talking about doing away with the collective bargaining rights of public unions, and making those heavy-union states "right-to-work" states.
Where does Palin come down in this fight? I haven't a clue, and I suspect she doesn't either. While real governors like Walker are fighting the good fight, Palin is playing grab-ass with her "union brothers & sisters". It's pathetic.
No public unions. No public union membership. No public union leadership. It's that simple.
Got to be sounding civil, Palin was talking to more than just those union slackers.
She is FOR right to work. She is AGAINST Card Check. She continually calls out the corruption in union leadership. There is a reason that so many senior union officials have been arrested for corruption (Jimmy Hoffa ring a bell?).
She understands that virtually all the large public unions are nothing more than illegal Democrat PACs. Trust me, if she becomes president this will be addressed.
You shouldn't be so mean to Sarah Palin's brothers and sisters.
Whenever someone says that I check my wallet to be sure it's still there.
This is what a true “Presidential” leader does.
Slick! Incisive!
It was just a request, not an order.
How about what I actually said (refutation?)?
You'll have to excuse me if I don't.
The Dem legislature isn't missing because they're afraid Walker might demand pay and benefit concessions from the union. They're missing because Walker is unflinchingly calling for the end of the collective bargaining rights of the union. In fact, in yesterday's interview with the Madison newspaper, they asked him that very question - would he be willing to just talk wage and benefit concessions, and take the collective bargaining prohibition off the table. Walker said unequivocally, "NO". And then, he went on to calmly explain why.
Palin, in her first comments about this mishigas, says NOTHING about that. Instead, she spends three paragraphs talking about "rank & file" and their relations with management. THIS has nothing to do with THAT.
Palin had the opportunity to say something in support of Wilson and the Republican legislators in Wisconsin. She didn't. She had the opportunity to specifically address right-to-work in Wisonsin. She didn't. She had the opportunity to address the much needed prohibition on public union collective bargaining in Wisconsin. She didn't.
Instead, she penned a three paragraph love-letter to Wisconsin public service union members, where she blames not the union, but the union leadership. Isn't that nice?
The problem isn't the union leadership or the rank-in-file membership. The problem is that there is collective bargaining, period. Until Palin addresses this as these events unfold, it says to me that she's unwilling or unable to speak strongly for conservative solutions to the problems presented by state public service unions.
It may well be a fact that you wish to pretend were not so but your wish will not alter the reality.
Walker is talking about doing away with the collective bargaining rights of unions benefits. Not wages. So in your terms he is riding the fence. Since he believes in the unions right to collectively bargain for wages right?
"Walker wants to rewrite state law governing state workers, teachers and local employees so they can bargain only over their salaries and not on benefits or any work rules. Walker's bill also would allow public employees to avoid making payments to unions if they don't join those unions. Now, workers can choose not to join unions, but they must make "fair share" payments similar to dues - a requirement that unions say is needed because all workers benefit from their work at the bargaining table. The measure would exempt from the bargaining changes local police, firefighters and state troopers - groups that in some cases supported Walker in the November election"
sometimes I wonder if the people that attack Palin over every little thing have a mind of their own.
oh yeah and Walker called these government employees these rank and file union members "good and decent public servants" not toddlers.
and if you don't understand where Palin stands after reading this op-ed you must not be able to understand plain English.
_____________________________________________
iow...she is engaging in identity politics.
She has one foot firmly planted in both camps.
When the battle rolls over that ground, from either direction, folks like that get squished.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.