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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Poll: Americans favor union bargaining rights
By Dennis Cauchon, USA TODAYUpdated 9m ago |
2074 | 46Share
MADISON, Wis. — Americans strongly oppose laws taking away the collective bargaining power of public employee unions, according to a new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll. The poll found 61% would oppose a law in their state similar to such a proposal in Wisconsin, compared with 33% who would favor such a law.
By Danny Johnston, AP
Arkansas union members rally in support of Wisconsin union members at the Arkansas state Capitol in Little Rock on Tuesday.
Republican Gov. Scott Walker and Republican legislators in Wisconsin have proposed cutting union rights for most state government workers and making them pay more for benefits. Ohio, New Jersey, Indiana, Iowa and other states with Republican governors are considering similar laws.
Thousands gathered in Madison for an eighth day to protest Walker's plan. Rallies were also held in Columbus, Ohio, Des Moines and Montpelier, Vt.
"Most people ... mistakenly think worker rights come from collective bargaining," Walker told USA TODAY Tuesday. He said his plan would not remove union workers' protections from wrongful termination or inappropriate discipline or hiring. "When you alter collective bargaining, it doesn't alter workers' rights," he said.
Walker wants union members to pay more for their health care and pension benefits, moves he and other Republicans say would save $300 million over the next two years as the state faces a projected $3.6 billion budget shortfall.
Fourteen Democratic legislators have left the state for the past week to keep the Senate from having a quorum needed to vote on the bill. Democrats in the Indiana House of Representatives also stayed away from their Capitol on Tuesday as unions protested Republican-backed labor bills.
Almost two-thirds of those polled say their states face budget crises, but respondents oppose or are split on potential solutions, from tax hikes to spending cuts.
Key results:
— 71% oppose increasing sales, income or other taxes while 27% are in favor that approach.
— 53% oppose reducing pay or benefits for government workers while 44% are in favor.
— 48% opposed reducing or eliminating government programs while 47% were in favor of cuts.
"This underlines the difficulty of solving these problems," Jeffrey Jones of Gallup says. "It's hard to find a consensus on what to do."
Despite the opposition to tax hikes or spending cuts, those surveyed agreed overwhelmingly that their state was facing a budget crisis.
Sixty-four percent said their state was in financial crisis while only 5% said it wasn't. The rest were unsure.
The poll found people were divided on whether public employee unions were a good thing. A slight majority of 46% said unions were generally more harmful to states while 45% thought they were helpful.
Still, this mixed view did not extend to supporting changes in pay, benefits or bargaining rights.
Republicans supported limiting bargaining by a 54%-41% margin. However, only 18% of Democrats favored restrictions while 79% were opposed. Independents were against bargaining restrictions by a 31% to 62% margain.
Jones says that public support for unions has been strong for decades, although it has dropped in the last few years. Still, he says the poll shows Americans are reluctant to take away something that unions have already.
USA TODAY/Gallup Poll
Q. Would you favor or oppose a law in your state taking away some collective bargaining rights of most public unions, including the state teachers union?
Source: USA TODAY/Gallup Poll of 1,000 adults Monday. Margin of error: +/-4 percentage points
USA TODAY/Gallup Poll
Q. Do you favor or oppose these ways to reduce state budget deficits?
Source: USA TODAY/Gallup Poll of 1,000 adults Monday. Margin of error: +/-4 percentage points
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
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Wed Feb 23, 2011 2:14 pm |
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Dave Starr
F L I N T O I D
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Gas prices skyrocketing, food prices climbing, 25% water bill increase, millage increases, etc., no pension or SS increase, NO savings or investments. So where does the money come from?
It's going to be a very rough ride this year & into the foreseeable future. |
_________________
I used to care, but I take a pill for that now.
Pushing buttons sure can be fun.
When a lion wants to go somewhere, he doesn’t worry about how many hyenas are in the way.
Paddle faster, I hear banjos. |
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Wed Feb 23, 2011 2:21 pm |
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untanglingwebs
El Supremo
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Wisconsin gov. caught in prank by caller posing as donor
Updated 4m ago |
524 | 9Share
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A prank caller pretending to be billionaire conservative businessman David Koch was able to have a lengthy conversation with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker about his strategy to cripple public employee unions, the governor's office confirmed Wednesday.
On the call, Walker joked about bringing a baseball bat to a meeting with Democratic leaders, said it would "be outstanding" to be flown out to California by Koch for a good time after the battle is over, and said he expected the anti-union movement to spread across the country.
Audio was posted on the Buffalo Beast, a left-leaning website based in New York, and quickly spread across the Internet.
OVERNIGHT: Dems filibuster to block governor's bill
POLL: 61% oppose law similar to Wisconsin's
Democrats ripped Walker's comments on the call on the Assembly floor Wednesday morning, saying they had nothing to do with his assertion that legislation stripping public employees' collective bargaining rights is needed to help solve a looming budget deficit.
"That's why we must fight it! That is why people must come to the Capitol and fight this!" Rep. Jon Richards of Milwaukee yelled as thousands of protesters inside the rotunda roared in approval. "This isn't about balancing the budget, this is about a political war."
Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie confirmed Walker took the call, which will only heighten widespread suspicions that brothers David and Charles Koch are pulling strings in Wisconsin's battle as part of a conservative agenda to limit the unions' power.
The governor's plan would take away the ability of state and local public employees to collectively bargain for working conditions, benefits, or any other than their base salaries. Unions could not collect mandatory dues and would face a vote of its members every year to stay in existence.
The plan has set off more than a week of demonstrations at the Capitol, and prompted Wisconsin Senate Democrats to flee the state to block its passage. Similar ideas are being pushed in some other states with Republican governors.
The man pretending to be Koch said, "You're the first domino."
"Yep, this is our moment," Walker said.
The brothers own Koch Industries, Inc., which is the largest privately-owned company in America and has significant operations in Wisconsin. Its political action committee gave $43,000 to Walker's campaign, and donated heavily to the Republican Governors' Association, which funded ads attacking Walker's opponent in last year's election.
The Kochs also give millions to support Americans For Prosperity, which launched a $320,000 television ad campaign in favor of Walker's legislation on Wednesday and already has a website, standwithwalker.com, where more than 60,000 have signed a petition supporting his plan.
On the call, Walker talks about speaking with Democratic Sen. Tim Cullen, one of the Democrats hiding in Illinois to stop the bill, and telling Cullen he would not budge. After Walker said he would be willing to meet with Democratic leaders, the caller said he would bring "a baseball bat." Walker laughed and responded that he had "a slugger with my name on it."
The caller suggested he was thinking about "planting some troublemakers" among the protesters, and Walker said he had thought about doing that but declined. Walker said the protests eventually would die because the media would stop covering them.
At the end of the call, the prankster says: "I'll tell you what Scott, once you crush these bastards, I'll fly you out to Cali and really show you a good time."
"Alright, that would be outstanding. Thanks for all the support and helping us move the cause forward. We appreciate it and we're doing the just and right thing for the right reasons and it's all about getting our freedoms back," Walker said.
The caller: "Absolutely. And you know, we have a little bit of vested interest as well" and laughs.
"That's just it. The bottom line is, we're going to get the world movement here because it's the right thing to do."
Walker ends the call by saying, "thanks a million."
Cullen called the call an "astounding confirmation of what we've been saying for a couple weeks now."
"This bill is about the money," he said. "This bill is about destroying public employee unions
."
Cullen said he felt the call "displays a level of partisanship and pettiness on the side of the governor I don't think is going to sit well with the public."
Werwie, the governor's spokesman, said the phone call "shows that the governor says the same thing in private as he does in public and the lengths that others will go to disrupt the civil debate Wisconsin is having."
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
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Wed Feb 23, 2011 2:31 pm |
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twotap
F L I N T O I D
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Maybe we can get someone to pretend to be George Soros and have him give Obama a call.  |
_________________
"If you like your current healthcare you can keep it, Period"!!
Barack Hussein Obama--- multiple times. |
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Wed Feb 23, 2011 4:33 pm |
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Ted Jankowski
F L I N T O I D
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Those are some cute comment I got a chuckle.
But what amazes me. Is
+ Politicians have their Pay and Benefits tied into Constitutions . With Constitutionally guaranteed pay increases. Then argue they could make more in private sector.
+ Executives can contract bonuses and benefits that provide for Huge bonuses for failing at their positions and running the company into the ground.
+ Management in most cases complain about having to deal with the Union because they don't want to have to follow the contracts they bargan in good faith with the Union.
+ Many republicans will argue their are Laws to protect workers and Unions are outdated. Yet complain that about border laws that aren't being enforced?? Yet they believe the labor laws are protecting workers?
This whole thing really boils down to Union busting.
If we really want to fix the underlying issues. We need to stop the "Free Speech" of businesses and Unions being able to buy politicians. Most people consider that bribery. But in the USA we call it free speech. That's what the Governor really wants to do. Break the Union so they can't buy politicians. That way only Big business can afford them. |
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Thu Feb 24, 2011 1:54 pm |
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