Wisconsin Protests: 5 Months Later

It seems like a lifetime ago.

In February of this year, the state of Wisconsin seemed to be in a state of chaos.  Members of the State Senate gone AWOL, to avoid voting on bills they didn’t like.  Union members descending on the Capitol, with their signs, chants, and fury over Governor Walker’s union busting bill. 

On March 10th, the bill passed the Senate, as the Runaway Democrats watched on a live online stream from their hotel rooms in Illinois.  On March 11th, it was signed.

May 26th: a judge, who said that the Senate violated the “open meeting law,” voided the bill.

June 14th:  The Wisconsin Supreme Court overruled the lower court Judgment.

It seems like so long ago.

Here we are. July. The school year is right around the corner.  The bill was eventually passed.  The Wisconsin budget was signed.  The protesters have left the Capitol.  The TV cameras are now off.  What is going on now that the eyes of the nation are no longer on Madison?

“Act 10” was simply an attempt to remove collective bargaining from employee groups within that state except for wages.  Benefits would no longer be a negotiated item.

To make things even more challenging, the new state budget cut education spending by $1.85 billion (including $250 million from colleges).

Governor Walker signed the budget on June 27th.  Teachers braced for increased classroom sizes, lower take-home pay.

That brings us up to this month.  The biggest changes seen were that teachers would be required to pay 12.6% of the cost of health insurance, and 5.6% of their salary for retirement.  Also, union dues would not be automatically collected from paychecks.

The Kaukauna school district in particular showed a tremendous improvement in their financial situation.  Once the budget was signed, the school board acted quickly, and ended the relationship with the WEA Trust - a health insurance company owned by the teachers union.  They found out that they could get a better deal elsewhere, and that combined with the other savings, and a $1.5 million hole turned into a $400,000 surplus.         

In addition, they are lowing class sizes.  Many other school districts have seen similar improvements, and have been hiring back teachers that were laid off, instituting merit pay for outstanding teachers.  $11 million in Green Bay, $6.6 million in Sheboygan 19.2 million in Racine and $3.5 million in Eau Claire.

Some school districts went into a state of panic when these new union rules went into place, and hurriedly locked into contracts before before Scott Walker was sworn in as Governor. 

In Milwaukee, they are still operating under the previous agreement, and don’t have the flexibility until the current contracts run out.  They are laying off 354 teachers this year, (482 teachers were laid off the year before when the Democrats still controlled state government) and nine schools are closing. When given the option of saving the jobs of 200 teachers and paying 5.8% of their pay toward retirement, the teacher’s union President said that they had conceded enough, and blamed Governor Walker for the layoffs.

The town of Kenosha also inked an agreement with the teachers before the new rules took effect.  212 teachers have lost their jobs this year. 

Just 5 months ago, President Obama complained the new law in Wisconsin was an assault on unions.  Ironic ... because he never has said a thing about federal employees lack of collective bargaining power, which has been in place since Roosevelt was President.  He must think that Wisconsin employees are more important than Federal workers. 

Democratic State Senator Lena Taylor, one of the many who hid out in Illinois during the debate, has compared Walker to Adolf Hitler.

Recall elections are coming up - as Democrats attempt to get rid of state Legislators who voted for these changes.

Things are looking much different than the horror that was predicted during all the protests in February. 

Lets hope the voters are paying attention to whom was telling them the truth.