I’ve never met Governor of Wisconsin Scott Walker, but I can definitely tell you the kind of kid he was growing up: In middle school, he most likely beat up second-graders for their lunch money. When he played Monopoly against his grandma, he probably played as the banker, paving his figmented bank account with auspicious golden bills and using his fictitious financial clout to force her to make cookies.
Recently, Walker has stepped up his political game: In a move capturing international spotlight in the press, the governor extraordinaire has attempted to seize control of Wisconsin unions’ collective bargaining rights for the public sector. Collective bargaining, the unions’ ability to come up with terms including wages, hours and benefits, and essentially the unions’ lifeblood of power against out-of-control business, would no longer be within union control.
Walker has claimed the cut to collective bargaining is for the sake of the Wisconsin economy — and truly, a $137 million deficit is certainly nothing to scoff at. But moments after dusting off his mahogany desk and positioning his collectable Gov. Scott Walker bobblehead doll, Walker made the controversial decision.
Walker hadn’t even hinted at cutting the right when he campaigned to be gubernatorial dictator of Wisconsin, nor did he really campaign much for union busting at all. Still, with the state’s economy in shambles, there had to be some tough financial decisions to be made. Certainly, with so many other sectors taking hits, unions could offer up this financial sacrificial lamb to fix the state’s decrepit economy.
Of course, within weeks of attempting to make the cut — which has, until now, not been proven to save any amount of money — Walker passed several tax breaks that expanded the Wisconsin budget deficit unilaterally; The only thing that has been proven is that Walker has some wildly unethical legislative cojones on him.
By now, I’m sure many of you readers have finished skimming this weary tirade and, finding it unrelated to your day-to-day life, are currently hard at work finishing today’s crossword puzzle. Wisconsin is states apart from our humble university — who gives a flaming cow pie what happens in the milk and butter state?
Much of the danger stems from legislators’ go-to argument, the oft heard “We’ve got to do it for the good of the economy” excuse, which has working-class Americans trade inalienable rights for a politically dispensed cure-all solution. Sound familiar? It’s the same inebriated excuse we students hear when cuts are made to education.
But there is far more at stake than that: Hiding behind the guise of cutting red tape, democratically elected legislators are able to pass laws unrepresented by their constituents. Even further, it’s obscene how much political strategizing is behind this act — unions almost universally vote democratic, except for public safety unions such as police and firefighter unions, which coincidentally are exempt from Walker’s bill.
The fight for worker’s rights rages with the thousands of protesters camping in Wisconsin’s capitol, battling below-freezing temperatures to have their voices heard. Bizarrely, the only thing keeping Walker from passing the act is the exodus of the state by Wisconsin democrats, who must be present at the vote for the law to be enacted. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the sad, sorry circus of American politics. Barnum and Bailey, eat your heart out.
With so much power returning to the control of big business, there must be some force in place to ensure workers’ rights will be respected. The early 20th century saw some of the worst labor abuses America has ever seen, all for the sake of productivity.
Historically, unions are responsible for wage equality and relative income equality. They won us the weekend, which, because of union strikes during the 1870s, cut down the 61 hours a week the average American had to work. They ended child labor. They’re responsible for widespread employer-based health coverage. And finally, they helped create The Fight For The Family And Medical Leave Act in 1993, guaranteeing workers as many as 12 weeks annually of unpaid leave to take care of newborns, seriously ill family members or for their own illness.
While some unions with gluts of power exist, unions are the only thing keeping our capitalist, industrial economy from running wild, from turning blue collar workers — like so many current college students — into mere mechanical cogs of a corporate machine.
California may be states away from Wisconsin, but the future of our respective work places is not. Five other states in the Midwest are already adopting similar measures, regardless of the stance of their respective constituents. Students, this may be all the importance of a flaming cow pie to you, but if we don’t resist this nonsense, this blazing piece of cow s-— could very well affect your livelihoods and future careers. Bon appétit.
—Chris Pocock is a journalism junior.
—The views expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Daily Aztec.
