September 14, 2015

"Scott Walker to propose abolishing unions for federal workers."

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.
Seeking to revitalize his presidential campaign, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker plans to focus Monday on weakening labor by proposing to abolish unions for federal workers, create a national "right-to-work law" and eliminate the National Labor Relations Board....

He has been retooling his message by saying he would "wreak havoc" in Washington, D.C....

66 comments:

Mark said...

At least he mentions the subject while campaigning. That's more than we got with Act 10, abortion restrictions, or right to work.

Bay Area Guy said...

Abolishing federal employee unions is an excellent idea and would be a major policy achievement. Such unions are simply organized tools for the Left. Walker has been great on these substantive issues.

tim in vermont said...

That sounds like the last gurgle to me, down by 8 with 2 seconds to go on the fifty and you let one fly, to mix metaphors.

But then Mark comes along and reminds us of why we liked Walker in the first place.

Wilbur said...

Some fellow named Scot Ross accused Walker of "promoting the same kinds of attacks on working people that vaulted him to national prominence while conveniently ignoring how his policies left Wisconsin in shambles"

A question from a South Floridian: Is Wisconsin in shambles?

Carol said...

Let there be no good jobs left!

machine said...

"...by saying he would "wreak havoc" in Washington, D.C...."

said the lifelong politician.

such a rebel...

TosaGuy said...

"A question from a South Floridian: Is Wisconsin in shambles?"

It is within the chicken little and boy who cried wolf crowd. They believe they are living in a gulag state. Everyone else just lives their lives.

Mike Sylwester said...

Walker collapsed politically because he turned out to be a squish on immigration issues.

I myself am a former enthusiastic Walker fan who has switched to Trump.

As a start, Walker should promise to fix birth-right citizenship, even if the fix requires a Constitutional amendment.

Bricap said...

What's his position on immigration reform this week?

Ignorance is Bliss said...

I have no problem with allowing federal workers to unionize. And, as long as they are not in a public-safety-critical job, they should have the right to strike.

But the federal government ( as well as any other public or private employer ) should have the right to fire anyone who chooses not to show up for work. If you want the job, show up for work. If you don't show up for work, then I assume you don't want the job.

If conditions are bad enough that nobody wants the job, then the employer will improve the conditions.

tim maguire said...

I don't want Washington in shambles, I've had enough of Washington in shambles and would like to see it fixed. I'm on board with eliminating these government organizations that are unfortunately mislabeled as unions (they are doing something fundamentally different from private sector unions; they soil that honorable title by illegitimately appropriating it), I'm also on board with eliminating the NLRB, but am really not comfortable with the shambles remark.

David Begley said...

Trump is forcing all the candidates to take bolder positions.

MadisonMan said...

A question from a South Floridian: Is Wisconsin in shambles?

Some Unions in Wisconsin are in shambles. As for the State? Time will tell.

tim maguire said...

Oops, mixed up the wreak havoc and the in shambles. Still and all...

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

It's too bad the drowning-in-a-bathtub metaphor has already been taken.

CJinPA said...

Probably too late, but government unions are indeed indefensible. Too bad he didn't do this earlier. After immigration control, reigning in government unions plays very well with voters. At least the ones not profiting by government unions.

Peter said...

Instead of "abolish federal government unions" I'd expect something more along the lines of "Overhaul of depression-era federal labor law, including national right-to-work."

cubanbob said...

Yes he got squishy which is why he is getting nowhere. As for federal employee unions, JFK signed a Presidential order permitting them. Just revoke it if elected president and sign an order permanently suspending the Davis-Bacon Act. Why massively overpay for every federal or joint federal-state-local government construction project? I'm with Peter and would get rid of farm subsidies and subsidies in general.

MayBee said...

I do always find it amusing that those who want the government to have more control over our lives also support the unions of the people who work in the government and apparently need protection from the government.

Todd said...

cubanbob said...
Yes he got squishy which is why he is getting nowhere. As for federal employee unions, JFK signed a Presidential order permitting them. Just revoke it if elected president and sign an order permanently suspending the Davis-Bacon Act. Why massively overpay for every federal or joint federal-state-local government construction project? I'm with Peter and would get rid of farm subsidies and subsidies in general.

9/14/15, 9:21 AM


Throw in eliminating ethanol from gas and nicking the Dept of Ed and I am "all in".

Balfegor said...

Abolish labour unions for Federal workers - yes.
Abolish NLRB - maybe.
National right to work law? I am not in favour. I support "right to work" policies, but I also believe states (or rather, their voters) should have the right to set their own labour laws to some degree. The beauty of a federal system is that people in different states can strike different balances between prosperity and progressivism.

Etienne said...

Well, getting rid of Unions should put Americans back to work again, and restore the murdered middle-class.

BN said...

When all private sector jobs have been roboticized--due partly to govt policies--then all incomes will be controlled by the govt, whether through govt jobs or govt handouts. That has always been the plan, the strategy, and the relentless unfolding outcome of the left's takeover of society. The unionization of govt employees is probably their most effective tactic. Devilishly clever, since they don't create wealth themselves, they take it from those who do, dole it out to unions, who donate it back to them, in an endless circle of thievery and thuggery. One almost has to admire them for their evil genius.

Neither Walker nor anyone else will be able to reverse the wiked tide. Wrong side of the arc of history and all that. Only the inevitable math of the gods of the copybook headings--and multitudes of pain, misery, starvation, and bloody death--can stop it now.

I am not Jeremiah, but just a lowly watcher and bullet buyer.

cubanbob said...

MayBee said...

I do always find it amusing that those who want the government to have more control over our lives also support the unions of the people who work in the government and apparently need protection from the government.
9/14/15, 9:31 AM

I have to admit often times you post a most succinct and trenchant observation, an observation so obvious that it escapes most folks. Kudos!

jacksonjay said...

Now, if and when he mentions FDR, he might be onto something!

garage mahal said...

Walker should start lighting his fart on fire to get the attention he craves.

bbkingfish said...

It's Hail Mary time on the Walker Express.

tim maguire said...

garage mahal said...Walker should start lighting his fart on fire to get the attention he craves.

You should encourage people to light their farts to get the attention you crave...oh, wait!

rehajm said...

Makes him look like a one trick pony.

jr565 said...

Why should federal workers be in unions? If they go on strike they are striking agains the tax payer.
Think about the issue with Kim Davis, not following law. Now suppose govt union went on strike. Thst would be the equivalent of a whole department of Kim davis's not doing basic govt functions beciase a union tells them so. If they work in go t, they don't get right to strike.

jr565 said...

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/02/18/the-first-blow-against-public-employees/fdr-warned-us-about-public-sector-unions
FDR was right, on is at least.

uffda said...

As a condition of employment government workers should waive their right to vote for whatever level employs them - state or federal. The conflict of interest is obvious.

Bruce Hayden said...

I too find govt unions indefensible, and esp here at the federal level. For example, we had the commissioner of the patent office into a meeting recently. And the elephant in the room, always, when talking about reform is the union. One Administration routinely ties the hands of the next through union contracts. You want to fix something? Sorry - either need to wait for the contract to be up and/or it is going to cost money, in the form of salary or benefits. Making things worse, much of the work force works from home now most of the time. Which, to me is a really bad thing, given the propensity of so many govt workers to take on-the-job retirement. Most, if not almost all, of the problems with patent quality can be tied to examination quality, and much of the lack there appears to be a direct result of the union.

And who here can forget the IRS scandals over the last couple of years? Apparently, without orders, IRS employees actively prevented tea party organizations from receiving the required tax status, and numerous tax returns from conservatives have been illegally provided t o their politically, all by an agency so politically biased that almost all of the many political contributions of its primary union go to Dems. Sure, fifth Amdt taker and hard drive crasher Lois Lerner was too high up to belong, but probably did earlier. Plus the other six whose hard drives crashed around the same time. The agency is massively corrupt, due partially to its hard left union, and that is likely to adversely affect our honor based tax system.

What must always be remembered is that the purpose of government is to benefit the taxpayers and citizenry. Benefitting the govt employees should be secondary, or even lower in priority. It is hard enough to keep govt agencies and organizations from performing badly in any case, but almost impossible when the govt employees are unionized. Instead, the good and wellbeing of the employees becomes paramount, and they become the masters, and the rest of us become their servants.

cacimbo said...

In contradiction of the Republican autopsy of 2012 in 2014 Cantor's primary opponent made illegal immigration a theme and won. Even Democrats such as Kentuckian Grimes ran ads claiming she was against amnesty. Now Trump has soared to the top of the polls by making illegal immigration a main issue. Walker's flip flopping around on the issue has been a huge turnoff - plus he seems to have landed on the wrong side of the issue. Trump has shown the path to victory - but it seems no other Republican is willing to take it.

jimf said...

There already is a federal right to work...union membership and dues payment is strictly voluntary.

jr565 said...

I'm not convince thst Trump is right on immigration. He's saying things that are popular. for conservativesthat are really,liberals or libertarian vote for who you want. But for tea partiers who want limited govt and gift to be shrunk on what basis are you saying trump is your guy? The guy is an out and out liberal on a lot of things. He's not going to give you what you want.
Sarah palin and her are falling for the cult of personality? He hasn't said a single substantive thing about how he would achieve results. His rhetoric is as vapid as Hope and Change.

Larry J said...

In addition to abolishing federal employee unions, I want to see someone make an issue of reforming the civil service laws and regulations. There's a lot of deadwood in the federal employee roster and those civil service laws make it very difficult to fire anyone. Get rid of the workplace porn watchers, those who violate citizens' privacy and civil rights, those who don't do a damned thing, etc.

rehajm said...

Larry J said...
In addition to abolishing federal employee unions, I want to see someone make an issue of reforming the civil service laws and regulations. There's a lot of deadwood in the federal employee roster and those civil service laws make it very difficult to fire anyone. Get rid of the workplace porn watchers, those who violate citizens' privacy and civil rights, those who don't do a damned thing, etc.


I think you just balanced a budget.

jeff said...

Here's how Mr Walker should frame it. The Veterans Administration (you the taxpayers) are currently paying 250 employees to work 100 % of the time for the Union. I want that money spent on our heroes and not on the Union Bosses.

MayBee said...

Awww, cubanbob. Thanks!

damikesc said...

Abolish labour unions for Federal workers - yes.
Abolish NLRB - maybe.
National right to work law? I am not in favour. I support "right to work" policies, but I also believe states (or rather, their voters) should have the right to set their own labour laws to some degree. The beauty of a federal system is that people in different states can strike different balances between prosperity and progressivism.


Agree with 1. NLRB, which is now just a union arm anyway, should end. and, yes, right to work shouldn't be imposed on states. If somebody wants to avoid being forced to join a useless union, move.

damikesc said...

As a start, Walker should promise to fix birth-right citizenship, even if the fix requires a Constitutional amendment.

Wouldn't require that.

Simply state that the child is legal but the parents will never be permitted to be legal since they violated the law to be there. And hold all defendants in immigration cases in custody as a flight risk until their hearing...then deport immediately.

I have no problem with allowing federal workers to unionize. And, as long as they are not in a public-safety-critical job, they should have the right to strike.

Unless their proposals are negotiated with EVERY tax payer, then it doesn't work. They funnel money to candidates to give them more money. Their "managers" have virtually no skin in the game but massive benefits in seeing things their way.

And the jobs cannot be rough since nobody seems to ever quit them.

In addition to abolishing federal employee unions, I want to see someone make an issue of reforming the civil service laws and regulations. There's a lot of deadwood in the federal employee roster and those civil service laws make it very difficult to fire anyone. Get rid of the workplace porn watchers, those who violate citizens' privacy and civil rights, those who don't do a damned thing, etc.

Dump civil service ENTIRELY.

Go back to the old Spoils System.

At least SOMEBODY was responsible for poor performance back then.

Michael said...

Maybee

I second Cubanbob's compliment. Uniformly succinct, honest and thoughtful. Common sense shining through.

Thanks.

Rusty said...

Coupe said...
Well, getting rid of Unions should put Americans back to work again, and restore the murdered middle-class.


Public or private?
Getting rid of public unions would lift the burden of supporting them from the taxpayer. Private unions, no.

machine said...

mebbe he can borrow Rick Perry's glasses...since he doesn't need em anymore.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

I haven't read a wholly convincing account of why Walker's slipped so much, but it seems pretty apparent he's falling out of consideration. A similar thing happened to Fred Thompson--I don't know enough about primary campaigns to really say where they went wrong.

MadisonMan said...

I will speak in favor of some Federal Unions, in particular the NWSEO, which serves as a vehicle to curb the foolish notions of High-level Federal Bean-counters in the Dept of Commerce. Bean Counters propose very foolish things: Eliminating tech support at National Weather Service offices, for example. Consolidating Offices. The NWSEO makes the common sense arguments about why the proposed changes are lunacy and the Union structure makes the changes hard to implement.

It is true that Federal Unions can inhibit flexibility and change. Do not assume that all proposed change is good however.

Birkel said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Birkel said...

MadisonMan:
You want to tell me more about those foolish Germans who cannot find that anthropogenic glowball warmening?

Did you read about them comparing normal fluctuations over the last 2500 years and saying recent trends are within historical norms?

As for your defending the federal government, there is no evidence private payments would not replace government payments. But you, rock on.

buck smith said...

great idea. Government will never succeed with unionized employees.

MadisonMan said...

Birkel, I'm feeling like Umbridge when HP tells Snape that they have Padfoot in the place where it's hidden.

IOW, what the heck are you talking about?

MadisonMan said...

This is a really interesting Weather Channel show on this Journal of Climate Article by Jon Martin.

Links make compelling reading.

MadisonMan said...

(I'm not sure if the link to the article works outside a .edu domain).

damikesc said...

It doesn't.

And the lack of warming is causing significant damage to the AGW cult. When the basis of your belief system is false, it tends to compromise things.

Birkel said...

I am talking about the years-ago conversation in which two German physicists proved the anti-science (violating the Laws of Thermodynamics) nature of anthropogenic glowball warmening. And you were the science denier.

Now three German scientists have published a paper showing the warming from ~1950 thru 1998 is well within norms for the last 2500 years. Or, in other words, about how the theories behind AGW were based on horse shit piled ever so high.

I know you were wrong. So do you. I am waiting for you to admit that you were wrong. I promised you I was patient and would see you admit you were wrong. Do go on pretending you don't remember though. It amuses.

Fandor said...

Good idea. MacArthur rebuilding Japan (1945-1950) had the perfect tone on goverment unions. In short, he was against them.

tim in vermont said...

Maybe Scott Walker's biography could take the same name as BoJack Horseman's: "One Trick Pony."

MadisonMan said...

Birkel, why do you never provide links?

Birkel said...

Because Google works for you too, smart guy.

Birkel said...

And the one time I provided links, to a physics paper, you dismissed what you did not understand.

MadisonMan said...

So you say.

Original Mike said...

"(I'm not sure if the link to the article works outside a .edu domain)."

I have a .edu account and I can't get it from the link. Can you provide the reference?

Carnifex said...

For those dissing on Trump. I never wanted a Trump candidacy. I argued with my wife that he wasn't a conservative. I truly believe he isn't. But if the choice is Trump vs. the Washington Establishment of either party, I'm picking Trump, each and every time. For one reason and one reason only. He's the only one... THE ONLY ONE...Who from the get go, has said, "Lets put America and Americans first."

Fuck the rest of Washington. It can burn to the ground with all the federal employees with it, and I wouldn't shed a tear.

MadisonMan said...

The article is from the Journal of Climate: Link.

I found it via a google search: Journal of Climate Cold Pool Jon Martin

Original Mike said...

MM: link doesn't work for me on my iPad, but it does on my desktop. Thanks!

Birkel said...

It's fun to pretend, right, MadisonMan?