Al "Alfonse"D'Amato
I commend Walker for his refusal to back down. He has warned union leaders that there will be no compromise, and if the strikes continue he is ready to fire as many as 1,500 workers.
His threats didn’t fall on deaf ears. Republicans in the Wisconsin Assembly abruptly passed the measure to strip collective bargaining from most public workers. However, the bill must now pass the Senate, but, sadly, most Democratic senators have left town, thus continuing the political standoff.
Walker isn’t alone in the fight. He is joined by fellow Republican governors like Ohio’s John Kasich, who has also drafted a proposal that would no longer give union workers the right to bargain for fringe benefits.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has emerged as the champion of this movement, announcing that he would double a state property tax credit if lawmakers require public employees to pay 30 percent of their health care premiums by 2014. They currently pay an average of 8 percent.
Christie has also told legislators that they must increase the retirement age of state workers and abolish cost-of-living adjustments.
This turbulence between elected officials and union workers reminds me of President Reagan’s fight with the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization in 1981.PATCO called a strike in an effort to win better pay and working conditions. Reagan, citing a federal law that prohibited federal unions from striking, gave the workers a deadline to return to work. More than 11,000 PATCO workers refused, and Reagan fired all of them. His actions set a precedent that our leaders would not cower from a fight against powerful unions. As a result of the PATCO strike, strikes nationwide have steadily declined.
Democratic members of the state’s legislature succumbed to the pressure and have literally walked out on their responsibilities. Many remain secluded and are holed up in a hotel in Illinois.
Meanwhile, our friends at MoveOn.org have capitalized on the momentum in Wisconsin and are planning nationwide strikes in an effort to display solidarity against the anti-union bills.
What would happen if you or I disappeared from work and our responsibilities for a few days? I imagine we’d be fired.
I admire the Republican governors in Wisconsin, New Jersey, and Indiana for taking strong, no-nonsense stances against their municipal work forces and for making it clear that in their states, union pension and benefit packages will no longer hold the people hostage. Reagan would be proud.