Landslide! It looks like Waterloo in Wisconsin for government unions.

WSJ ^ | APRIL 8, 2011 | James Taranto

[rhema]

< snip >

But whereas we thought Kloppenburg had a real chance of beating Prosser, we've always been skeptical to the point of incredulity about the prospects for recalling Republican senators. That's because under Wisconsin law, an official has to have served for a year before being subject to recall. That shields both Walker and all Republican lawmakers who replaced Democrats in last year's election. As Wisconsin senators serve four-year terms, only those who survived the Democratic sweep of 2006 or 2008 can be recalled.

It only gets worse for Wisconsin Democrats. Kloppenburg's campaign implied--though in her "victory" press conference she robotically denied--that she would provide the deciding vote on the court to overturn Walker's reforms. Her defeat means that those reforms will soon take effect unless they have an actual legal defect.

One of the most important reforms is that union dues will become voluntary. State and local government will no longer take money out of their employees' paychecks and hand it over to the unions. This is likely to be the last Wisconsin election in which the Democrats have the advantage of support from organizations with the power to raise campaign funds coercively.

The unions' show of muscle in this week's election was not unimpressive, even though it was insufficient to the task at hand. Starved of the nourishment of forcibly collected dues, they may look like a 98-pound weakling by 2012.

[SandRat]

At least a GM product.

[haircutter]

John Kerry more than likely helped that union babe make her sign!!!!!!!!

[Nevadan]

re: “Also there should be alternatives to union group premiums for professional insurance. A teacher told me years ago that the ONLY reason he belongs to the union is because of the insurance. If he carried solo, it would be more than his union dues and the insurance premiums through the union combined.”

Well, I don’t know what the union dues are in your friend’s state, but in my state, I can get professional liability insurance through Christian Educators of America, Inc. (CEAI) for a fraction of what union dues cost. He is correct about why many teachers join the union - it is simply because of the liability protection.

Also, you can tell your friend that CEAI is non-sectarian. You don’t have to belong to a church or even be a Christian to join. I also believe that there are other sources of professional liability insurance out there as well for fairly lost cost. Some of the teachers in my state said they added their insurance through their homeowners policy.

[karnage]

WHOA!!!!!

[scooby321]

How much money did the Unions lose in this race that Obama won’t get. I love it.

[oh8eleven]

the liberal Supreme Court justice candidate is some 7000 votes behind after declaring victory.
You mean the one who "won" by about 100 votes and then said something to the effect that, "the people have spoken in no uncertain terms."
Freakin' Libs, I hate 'em.

[meyer]

And Astro-Turf doesn't VOTE!

Well, not legally anyway. Dollars to donuts says that there were a fair number of out-of-state union thugs voting last Tuesday.

[chiller]

The way the unions dug in tells me IN SPADES they know their funds will dry up. They’re done.

[Reily]

That's an interesting observation. I remember going back to a high school reunion, a classmate of mine an state teacher's union organizer. He went from so-so high school basketball player to PE teacher back at my old high school (Yes a “Welcome Back Kotter” sort of thing!) to a very few years teacher's union guy. Apparently PE teaching was too challenging!

[ponygirl]

That illustrates why they usually make them carry mass-produced signs. The union goons are illiterate.

[Popman]

One of the most important reforms is that union dues will become voluntary. State and local government will no longer take money out of their employees' paychecks and hand it over to the unions

Every GOP run state dealing with pubic sector unions who collect union dues for thug unions must do the same thing

That alone will cost the congress at least a couple dem seats

[RnMomof7]

It is the only bright spot ... funny how Republicans lose their courage when they move to Washington ...it must be the air

[Mygirlsmom]

Here in Wisconsin the teacher's union has an extra special racket. They own a health insurance company which charges outrageously high premiums and then through collective bargaining the union forces the school districts to get their insurance through them. The teachers don't care what their premiums cost because they don't pay them.

it's money laundering pure and simple, and without the changes to collective bargaining, they will continue to extract even greater sums than union dues straight from the pockets of the taxpayer.

[jersey117]

Hope she’s not a teacher. LOL

[rhema]

The Association of American Educators has a bigger and better professional liability policy than the NEA's.

And AAE dues are $15 a month.

And AAE is the kind of professional organization the NEA could never even hope to be.

[gitmo]

One of the most important reforms is that union dues will become voluntary.

Dam*** liberty keeps breaking out! This is intolerable! < /sarc>

[JPG]

Must be a teacher...”Our are kids learning?”

[ponygirl]

Yep, when I was an airline union member, not joining was not even discussed. It was, "Here is the card that you sign and everything else is taken care of." Somebody in our class asked, "What if you don't want to be in the union?" and the response was, "You don't want to not be in the union. Just sign the card."

I will never forget one trip I took where one of the pilots came up to me in the galley before the flight and "informed" me that the captain was a "scab." My response was, "So? What do you want me to do about it?" "I just wanted you to know."

Later in fight, the captain would not take any beverages or food from any of us. Never said why, but it was obvious. He brought his own lunch and coffee. I felt sorry for the guy the way his co-workers treated him. It was ridiculous. And it was all over a strike that had happened over 15 years prior.

My union rep called me once to picket Burbank airport. I told him I was busy. "Well how about tomorrow? Or the next day?" "Nope, I'm pretty much busy for the rest of my life." "You do know that your union negotiates all of your benefits, don't you?" "And you do know that I never was given the option of not being in a union, don't you?" That was pretty much the end of the conversation.

[txhurl]

I don’t know, after a couple visit by the unions goon knee-breakers to members that “forgot” to mail in their dues.

---

If the knee-cappers are forced onto commission only, then what? What happened in Indiana when the dues became ‘voluntary’?

[GVnana]

Starved of the nourishment of forcibly collected dues, they may look like a 98-pound weakling by 2012.

How many more states to go?