Democracy Prevails In Wisconsin - Governor Walker WINS!!!!

Well, it's been nearly a year since Gov. Scott Walker claimed victory against the corrupt unions in Wisconsin. Let's see how things have progressed for the unions. Not very good for the unions it seems. But, if you believe in freedom, it been VERY good for the workers.

Wisconsin public sector unions report drastic membership declines


More than two years after Scott Walker’s showdown with organized labor in Wisconsin, the official numbers for the state’s public sector union membership are in — and they are down. Way down.

According a Labor Department filing made last week, membership at Wisconsin’s American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 40 — one of AFSCME’s four branches in the state — has gone from the 31,730 it reported in 2011, to 29,777 in 2012, to just 20,488 now. That’s a drop of more than 11,000 — about a third — in just two years. The council represents city and county employees outside of Milwaukee County and child care workers across Wisconsin.

Labor Department filings also show that Wisconsin’s AFSCMECouncil 48, which represents city and county workers in Milwaukee County, went from 9,043 members in 2011, to 6,046 in 2012, to just 3,498 now.

These numbers come from the locals’ LM-2 filings, annual reports they must make to Labor Department. They can be found here.

They show why the state worker unions and their liberal allies fought such a protracted, bitter battle in 2011 over Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s changes to the state’s labor laws. Under the old laws, state employees were obligated to pay dues to a union even if that worker didn’t want to belong to a union. Walker changed that to allow state workers to opt out of paying those dues. He also required unions to submit to an annual re-certification vote. Without those requirements, the unions have found it much harder to retain members.

Neither council responded to a request for comment. The numbers have to sting given that AFSCME was founded in Wisconsin.

The labor Department filings don’t paint of a complete picture of ASFCME in Wisconsin. It has two other branches in the state,Council 24 and Council 11, but they do not have to file these reports. According to a Labor Department spokesman, these federal disclosure requirements do not extend to unions that solely represent state and local government employees. Councils 40 and 48 must make the filings because they represent some private sector employees. The other two do not.

Still, the filings do confirm earlier reports that the union’s overall membership has fallen in the Badger State. Last year, the Wall Street Journal reported that statewide membership “fell to 28,745 in February from 62,818 in March 2011, according to a person who has viewed AFSCME’s figures.” A union official disputed the figures to me at the time but refused to provide their own numbers.

Other public sector unions in the state haven’t suffered much. American Federation of Government Employees Local 45 reported to the Labor Department last month that its membership was 4,362. That is up slightly from 4,256 in 2012 and 4,236 in 2011.

http://washingtonexaminer.com/wisco...rss&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

 

However... freedom and liberty were slapped in the face recently in Maryland:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201...y-union-fees-reversing-right/?intcmp=HPBucket

 

This is an old thread, but one that's worth keeping alive.

Here's some recent news concerning death threats Scott Walker received. JoeNation, I hope you weren't involved in any of this:

November 13, 2013
Protesters angry with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's effort to break Big Labor’s financial hold on the state in 2011 at one point blocked his exit from a manufacturing plant, then surrounded his police cruiser while “beating on the windows and rocking the vehicle.”

The episode is one of several violent threats that the Republican governor and his family have faced, and which are detailed in his upcoming book “Unintimidated: A Governor’s Story and a Nation’s Challenge." The book, excerpts of which were obtained Tuesday by FoxNews.com, describes what was going on behind the scenes during his campaign to end costly collective bargaining agreements for most of Wisconsin’s unionized public employees.

The 2011 episode at the manufacturing plant happened about one month into his first term, after his government required unionized workers to contribute more toward their health-care and retirement benefits.

The bold mandate was part of his larger Wisconsin Budget Repair Bill that passed later that year to help reduce a projected $3.6 billion budget deficit.

“As we prepared to leave, the state troopers saw that the protesters had physically blocked the entrance we had used to come onto the property. So they turned the squad car around and headed toward the other exit. We watched in disbelief as the throng of people rushed toward the second exit to block our path,” writes Walker, a potential 2016 presidential candidate.

“As we tried to pull out, they surrounded the car and began beating on the windows and rocking the vehicle. Just as we extricated ourselves from their grip, a truck pulled up and blocked our path, playing a game of chicken with the troopers. They turned the lights and sirens on warning them to get out of the way. Eventually he backed up, and we sped off,” he continued.

Walker reflects on the incident by writing: “It was a lesson in how much our circumstance had changed in a matter of a few days. We were dealing with people who were so blinded by their anger that they were not in the least bit afraid to storm and shake a police car.”

However, the most unnerving incidents for Walker appeared to be the death threats -- specifically one in which the sender wrote about following his children to school, the street on which the Walkers lived and family members being potential targets.

“According to my staff, the only time they ever saw me angry during the entire fight … was after I read that letter. They were right. I didn’t mind threats against me, but I was infuriated that these thugs would try to draw my family into it,” Walker writes, according to Wisconsin Interest Magazine, which first published excerpts -- provided by publisher Sentinel, a division of Penguin books.

At least one menacing letter was directed at Walker’s wife, Tonette, and threatened to “gut her like a deer,” which combined with the others resulted in heavy police security.

Beyond the inside look at the governor's successful effort to pass Act 10 and survive a 2012 recall attempt, Walker, who is also seeking re-election as governor next year, tries to explain his brand of fiscal conservatism.

He suggests that other lawmakers too often get trapped in the “false choice” between spending cuts and tax increases and that fiscal conservatives too frequently “present themselves as the bearers of sour medicine, when we should be offering a positive, optimistic agenda instead.”

Walker argues he was able to cut government spending without mass layoffs and cutting Medicaid while still improving education and public services, through a plan he calls a “hopeful, optimistic alternative to austerity.”

The state's Supreme Court heard oral arguments Monday on Act 10, after a lower court last year ruled parts of the law that apply to school and municipal employees are unconstitutional.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201...-in-upcoming-autobiography/?intcmp=latestnews

 

Will Oshkosh become the next "Benghazi"?