How Scott Walker won the Wisconsin recall election (29% of Union Memebers Voted for Walker)

CBS News ^ | June 6, 2012 | Sarah Dutton, Jennifer De Pinto

[Colonel Kangaroo]

I thought all union members were thugs. How come more than a quarter of them voted for Walker? I wish more conservatives would try harder to differentiate between the members and the sorry political intimidators that run the show. Sarah Palin, the daughter of a public school teacher, knows the difference and directs her attack toward the political bosses, not the people who actually work for a living.

[Steely Tom]

29% of Union Members Voted for Walker

This is why the unions so want to end secret ballots ("Card Check").

It's also why the "exit polls" (a ridiculous term that makes them sound far more official than the media stunts they actually are) were so wrong. Who's going to publicly state that they voted against the unions when gangs of union thugs are standing around listening to every word?

[duckman]

“I thought all union members were thugs.”
IMO, it may be the folks who resented union dues deducted from their pay checks.

[cripplecreek]

In a forced union state you’re going to get a sizable number of conservative leaning union members. In Michigan, the Union Conservatives openly support right to work legislation and have even testified against union political fundraising on capitol hill.

http://www.unionconservatives.com/

I suspect that nearly every Michigan FReeper has been a union member at some point. I was AFL-CIO myself and hated it.

[alloysteel]

Union membership, by and large, are not thugs. But when the membership in the union becomes mandatory, as it was with many state and local government offices throughout Wisconsin, then the thugs get into control, and use the fear and intimidation tactics to keep the membership in line. The rare instances when an internal reform candidate attempts to challenge the established thugs, bad things happen to him, his family, and his reputation, and the unfortunate one is chased from what should have been a secure position. Not by management, but by supposed peers.

Truly a Wild West situation, where the toughest outlaw of all was made sheriff, to keep the other thugs in line, but also resist any attempts at reform by the non-thug populace.

[mo]

Quite simple...public employees should have no better benefits and perks than those of their employers , We the People.

[VanDeKoik]

It was positively annoying reading all of the “Unions are busing in members to cast fake votes” conspiracy posts yesterday.

People on our side still fear those goons and act like they are these supermen that can sway election! They are just loud-mouth apes, people!

[aruanan]

I thought all union members were thugs. How come more than a quarter of them voted for Walker?

Remember the problem in Wisconsin and about 30 other states isn't unions. It's public-sector unions. And it's not about collective bargaining for wages. It's about the use of collective bargaining for perquisites like health care, pension. The public-sector unions are compensated at rates absurdly higher than private-sector employees with comparable experience. And the problem is that they are making a crapload of money off the taxpayers and jacking up future state liabilities for their pensions into unsupportable levels. Screw them.

[Colonel Kangaroo]

Quite simple...public employees should have no better benefits and perks than those of their employers , We the People.

Quite true, but that doesn't make them thugs or change the fact that a lot of them work hard and do their best on the job and that many have very conservative instincts. When I worked at the US Postal Service in the 1980s, I'd say that most of my union coworkers I knew well were strong Reagan supporters.

[cripplecreek]

Lots of times, unions use hired guns rather than rank and file. When I was union, we never talked about politics in our shop. You also have to separate urban from rural members along the usual lines.

Personally I think we need to drive a wedge between public and private sector unions. After all, public sector unions cost jobs both union and non union. There are obvious problems with private sector unions but nothing like the public sector. Besides, I’m not so sure public sector unions are quite constitutional.

[Fireone]

“Voters in Wisconsin also give President Obama the edge on improving the economy “
Say what?

[mo]

Politics of it is irrelevant....it’s a practical, financial reality. They cannot exist without a financially healthy private sector. Overpaying and over benefitting is a prescription for bankruptcy in any industry, anywhere, anytime.

The Laws of Economics...in the end are Laws of Mathematics and .....reality.

[yldstrk]

when I was working for the state, we had to sit through an initiation talk from a union rep. I pretended to listen and trashed the handouts asap

[Colonel Kangaroo]

Lots of times, unions use hired guns rather than rank and file. When I was union, we never talked about politics in our shop. You also have to separate urban from rural members along the usual lines.

Personally I think we need to drive a wedge between public and private sector unions. After all, public sector unions cost jobs both union and non union. There are obvious problems with private sector unions but nothing like the public sector. Besides, I’m not so sure public sector unions are quite constitutional.

I think a lot of the danger is lessened if the right to strike is not given to public employee unions. The three big postal unions, APWU, NALC and Mailhandlers, are not allowed to strike by law.

[N. Theknow]

As expected, those voters who approved of Walker's policies voted overwhelmingly for the governor. Opponents of his policies backed Barrett, the Democrat.

What a total surprise! I am totally amazed. Indeed, I am flabbergasted! In fact, I cannot remember a time when my flabber has ever been more gasted!

This idiot actually gets paid to write drivel like this?

[LibLieSlayer]

Dang... 71% of Wisconsin union members are marxists... lots of work left to do.

LLS

[cripplecreek]

One clear display of the problems with public sector unions.

Cop Union Boss Boasts of Beating Lawmakers With Flashlights: If Soldiers Don’t Have Unions, Why Do Police and Teachers?

"We intend to walk into Lansing after the summer break and ask the Republicans who have been so eagerly screwing us, 'who's next?' If we cannot earn their respect we will do what we have always done; hit it with a flashlight until we gain compliance."

The thing is that unions were supposed to protect workers from unfair and dangerous working conditions but when you work for the government who is supposed to enforce our labor laws, the union becomes redundant and needs to justify their existence in other ways.

One thing that bothers me is the potential danger of a system where you have union cops, union judges, and union prison guards. What is to prevent them from using their collective power to justify their jobs? After all, Jenny Granholm was importing inmates from California for no other reason than to keep union guards employed.

[Erik Latranyi]

Further proof that Obama has lost the private sector union vote.

First, Obama has demonstrated, again, that he is a failed leader because he would not come to Wisconsin.

Second, Obama’s stimulus, for “shovel-ready” jobs for unions, ended up going to public-sector unions while private-sector unions got few projects.

Lastly, Obama’s economy has been abysmal for private-sector unions with their membership declining even further.

Any private-sector union that backs Obama after this debacle risks a revolt from its membership.

[Colonel Kangaroo]

Dang... 71% of Wisconsin union members are marxists... lots of work left to do.

But considering that 100% of them were being bombarded with propaganda that a vote for Walker was a vote for their own ruination, I find the results heartening. We need to value everybody who supports the cause. Anybody who votes against their generally accepted self-interest for the common good is a hero and patriot in my book, even public sector union members.

[cripplecreek]

You’re looking at things from the perspective of a postal worker which isn’t quite the same as a teacher, cop, or fireman. Kind of a strange no man’s land that isn’t quite public and isn’t quite private.

Personally I think the postal service and their unions would be better off if they were let off the government leash.