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
Your point? You obviously have some animosity toward my post.
Or you would have gone and done ignored it:)
Ar you a teacher?
Yep. What’s refreshing is not only that she’s a rare Republican to reach out to the union rank and file, but that she does so with solid conservative principles, rather than than some sort of pandering, Democrat-light position.
God Bless You!!! You obviously have the capacity to step outside yourself and see the big picture here. I can only hope you have these discussions with your fellow teachers. All you have to do is go back and study history and follow Lenin and the union story to see the potential outcome.
Yes, and that's legal and constitutional, isn't it? So I can see how that might not be his preferred option! :)
http://www.stateline.org/live/details/story?contentId=170453
Now this is interesting. “Over objections from all 50 governors, Congress in October tweaked the 200-year-old Insurrection Act to empower the hand of the president in future stateside emergencies.” Article dated 2007. Bush’s fault!
Wouldn't surprise me if they hired some Tawana wanna-be to accuse the gov himself. The left was never too subtle.
Congress, October 2007? That would be Nancy Pelosi's fault.
She using the "divide and conquer" strategy which IMO is very smart of her.
There are huge chunks of the union membership in America that resent being bullied by the Trumkas of the world. She is offering them encouragement and I hope she and America get their support in return.
“when I put my foot down in dealing with union demands while I served as governor (for half a term).”
Fixed it.
No, I am not a teacher, but as a literate person I find the misuse of language and bad grammar disturbing.
Remember the old Mapo commercial (maple flavored oatmeal)? There was this little kid who, after getting his first taste said, “I want my MAPO” , after that there was no shaking the little bugger... I see the union folks as the Mapo kid...
Huh? "My?" If she meant Todd's union brothers and sisters why didn't she that?
I think she's trying to insinuate herself into a position of "solidarity" with the union members. Sounds VERY odd to me.
Did she join a union when she joined FOX news?
She is being relatable, compassionate, and getting the point across without being contentious. She has the ability to state her position in a way that shows she sees the other side, agree or not. She is the anti-Pelosi.
“No, I am not a teacher, but as a literate person I find the misuse of language and bad grammar disturbing.”
...and possible proof that currect teacher union demands are not justified. (And, yes, I am a teacher.)
I find the grammar police disturbing, but not as disturbing as union thugs and communists at the gates.
Get over yourself.
Hey, where’s the patriotism here? If paying higher taxes is considered “patriotic”, then gov’t workers taking a cut in benefits must be like wrapping yourself in the flag.
Get it right! It was for 2.5 years as governor.
Sarah Palin: Union Brothers and Sisters, Join Our Commonsense Cause!
Two years ago almost to the day, I was thrilled to meet with union members at the Alaska AFL-CIO Convention in Anchorage to sign important job-creation legislation related to the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act. As a former card-carrying IBEW sister married to a proud former IBEW and later USW member, it was a great moment for all of us. Our Alaska union brothers and sisters helped build our state! Many of them risked their lives to complete our infrastructure, including the Trans-Alaska Pipeline that stretches over treacherous mountain ranges from the North Slope oil fields to Valdez. By signing that job-creation bill surrounded by union members, I was paying tribute to them and acknowledging that they would be valued partners in the construction of Alaska’s long awaited natural gas pipeline. I was honored that day to receive a standing ovation from them for signing a bill that provided a Project Labor Agreement to bring good jobs to these good men and women.
Today, AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka came to Alaska (on a trip paid for with union dues) to preach the usual Beltway nonsense. There was a bit of the politics of personal destruction thrown around, and he mixed it in with the same old big government agenda that has been rejected in union halls, town halls, and voting booths all over our country.
I’m not sure why he’s attacking my record when I’m not the one responsible for the policies resulting in continued mass unemployment and a weak economy (that would be the man in the large white house on Pennsylvania Avenue). Among my “crimes,” the union boss cited the fact that I sometimes write notes on my hand (guilty as charged!); that I appear on cable television every once in a while to comment on the news (it’s called the First Amendment, Rich); and that my commonsense conservatism makes him laugh. Well, I guess that’s better than the failed leftwing big government policies of “his friend” Barack Obama, which makes the rest of us cry.
Trumka’s even worried I’m going to get violent against him. It’s kind of ironic that a union boss has the gall to accuse anyone of threatening violence. After all, we remember the violent attempts by SEIU to intimidate those who wanted to make their voices heard in last year’s town halls. And unlike Trumka, I never threatened that any effort to break a picket line would lead to violence. Come to think of it, neither did I ever hide behind the Fifth Amendment during a federal investigation about union corruption. Then again, I was just an ordinary, card-carrying union member, not one of the big shots who ended up, unfortunately, giving unions a bad name.
Read the rest here: http://www.facebook.com/sarahpalin#!/note.php?note_id=423051013434&comments
Trumka went to Alaska for Lisa
Thing is, unions don’t *need* to be something like SEIU or the other parasite organizations you seem to have been saddled with over there. There are other and more modern models for that kind of thing, and the US is something like 80 years out of step - just like the Brits and their insane TUC.
The trick is local unions strong enough to keep the thugs out and working with their company. It is doable, practical and profitable for workers and owners alike :).
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