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Op/Ed: Wisconsin Recall Amnesia
Remember the Greek-style protests in Madison, the union sit-ins, the lawmakers who fled to Illinois to avoid voting on Scott Walker's collective-bargaining law last year? Now that the recall election of Mr. Walker is in full swing, Big Labor must be wondering where the outrage went.
Since last summer, unions have been throwing millions at defeating the man who reformed collective bargaining for government workers and required union members to pay 5.8% of their paychecks toward pensions and 12.6% of their health insurance premiums, modest contributions compared to the average in private business. As the May 8 Democratic recall primary nears to determine who will run against Mr. Walker on June 5, this should be their rhetorical moment ne plus ultra.
So, let's see. Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, the front-runner, has focused his campaigns on jobs, education, the environment and "making communities safer." One of Mr. Barrett's ads singles out "Walker's War on Women," with nary a mention of collective bargaining. Former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk is heavily supported by union groups, but even her issues list makes only passing reference to collective bargaining.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker
No wonder. Since Mr. Walker's reforms went into effect, the doom and gloom scenarios have failed to materialize. Property taxes in the state were down 0.4% in 2011, the first decline since 1998. According to Chief Executive magazine, Wisconsin moved up four more places this year to number 20 in an annual CEO survey of the best states to do business, after jumping 17 spots last year.
The Governor's office has estimated that altogether the reforms have saved Badger State taxpayers more than $1 billion, including $65 million in changes in health-care plans, and some $543 million in local savings documented by media reports. According to the Wisconsin-based MacIver Institute, Mayor Barrett's city of Milwaukee saved $19 million on health-care costs as a direct result of Mr. Walker's reforms. Awkward turtle.
Some of the good news has been in the schools, because districts have been able to avoid teacher layoffs and make ends meet because of flexibility created by the changes. In the Brown Deer school district, savings created by pension and health-care contributions from employees allowed the school to prevent layoffs and save some $800,000 for taxpayers.
In Fond du Lac, school board president Eric Everson says the district saved $4 million as a result of last year's reforms, including $2 million from the changes in employee contributions to their pensions.
Another 52 schools across the state saved an average of $220 per student thanks to the ability to introduce competitive bidding for health insurance, rather than automatically going through WEA Trust, the favored provider of the Wisconsin Education Association Council. If the savings are even half as large as the Governor's surveys indicate, they are still enormous.
All of this is making an impression on Wisconsin voters. According to a Marquette University Law School poll released Wednesday, only 12% of Wisconsin voters say "restoring collective bargaining rights" is their priority, which explains the Democratic decision to fight on other issues.
One of those issues is an investigation by Milwaukee Democratic District Attorney John Chisholm into alleged wrongdoing by former staffers to Mr. Walker when he was Milwaukee County Executive, including whether some did political work on government time. Mr. Chisholm's political impartiality was, er, questioned last month when it was revealed that 43 people in his office had signed recall petitions.
Mr. Walker's reforms were a modest but necessary response to the state's fiscal problems, and the proof is in the emerging results. The union reaction was so ferocious because the reforms reduced Big Labor's clout over state and local taxpayers and thus its ability to milk taxpayers year after year without challenge.
Democrats and unions will still do all they can to recall Mr. Walker to prove to would-be reformers nationwide that unions can't be crossed. But it speaks volumes that Democrats are running on everything except their real goal?which is to restore the political dominance of government unions.
Re: Op/Ed: Wisconsin Recall Amnesia
This is kind of where the op-ed lost me. Walker gutted unions, even after they agreed to the financial concessions. How exactly is that a modest reform? If the WSJ supports it, fine. But own up to the fact that it was pretty drastic.
Total overstatement. The changes only applied to public sector unions. Proof is in the pudding that he was right. The other options: - lay off more public sector employees or raise taxes - neither of which would solve the problem. Ohio has had similar results with their union changes as well.
my read shelf:
It was still pretty drastic, considering he rejected the compromise of the unions paying what he wanted but keeping their collective bargaining power. How is that modest? Modest would have been having the unions increase their contributions but keeping their collective bargaining rights.
I don't think the recall will be successful.
Hitting him on jobs is a good strategy, though. He campaigned on jobs, and guess which state has had the biggest job loss in the country? WISCONSIN!
I want to hear Sisugal address that one. It will be awesome.
I haven't really talked to my mother much so I feel a little out of the loop. Is there a lot of anti-union sentiment up there these days? Is that why the candidates are steering clear? I am by no means a big union fan but even I was horrified at what he did. It seems illogical to me that Wisconsinites have turned their backs on their unions.
my read shelf:
Here's where they lose me:
"Some of the good news has been in the schools, because districts have been able to avoid teacher layoffs and make ends meet because of flexibility created by the changes. In the Brown Deer school district, savings created by pension and health-care contributions from employees allowed the school to prevent layoffs and save some $800,000 for taxpayers.
In Fond du Lac, school board president Eric Everson says the district saved $4 million as a result of last year's reforms, including $2 million from the changes in employee contributions to their pensions."
The primary reason that schools were able to avoid layoffs is the HUGE number of teachers that are retiring.
My BIL teaches at Fond du Lac High School (one of the largest in the state). Last year they had 45 teachers retire. Not one was replaced. Not one. The result? Increased class sizes. Which may not be a big deal... until you have 32 kids in a chemistry class with lab stations for 24. And at some point, that's going to start translating into poorer educational outcomes.
Accepting the compromise offered would not solve the problem - as the problem was systemic. - it would only postpone dealing with it.
Wisconsin had an unemployment rate in April 2012 of 6.8% - well under the national rate. It is growing in job creation and attracting new businesses. Yes, there were alot of jobs lost in manufacturing - more due to Obama's policies and earlier in the recession.
Ohio and Indiana have instituted the same policies concerning public unions as well as my state of Michigan. Ohio and Indiana have been very successful in balancing budgets, lowering taxes and have low unemployment rates. Michigan is improving, but has not yet matched Ohio and Indiana. Since all of these Governors are Republican and are having success -- perhaps that says something about their approach ?!