Anti-Union Website Sponsored by Wisconsin State Journal - More Far-Right Media

Lee Enterprises, the publisher of the Wisconsin State Journal, has set up an anti-union website with many myths, have truths, and tons of spin to make you think you're better off negotiating with employers by yourself than collectively.

The site is called Lee Union Free, and is a despicable website coming from what is supposed to be an unbiased news source.  Lee Enterprises recently chided their employees for signing recall petitions, as if signing a recall petition says you don't support Walker. They did this in an effort to look unbiased, but in fact their behavior just supports their bias towards Walker by chiding people who signed the petition but may plan to vote for Walker in the recall election, just like the far-right Walker supporting Gannett.

The biggest spin of them all on the site: "You don't need a union. Let your performance speak for itself." If that was true, we would have never needed unions, but that's definitely NOT true. Lee Enterprises would rather keep unions out so they can pay you what they want based on the performance they want to measure.

Their "Facts about Unions" page plays a video from the Daily Show. Really? I know they *can* be factual, but that's LE's only source of facts against unions? They're a newspaper for crying out loud! They couldn't dig up their own facts or reliable sources?

Besides the Daily Show video, they provide a link to unionfacts.com which is some non-profit in Washington D.C. The site profiles the extreme cases of union corruption, which I have deep concerns about, but it barely mentions the benefits of collective bargaining. Yes, any organization can become corrupt, and we must prevent that as best as possible, but that doesn't mean unions are bad. If anything, it means that anti-corruption policies that govern both unions and corporations are not working.

The site even violates their supposed policy: "Participation in public affairs or events that may leave the impression that news judgment is being influenced by activism is prohibited." Creating an anti-union website is clearly public and political activism biased against unions, but singing a recall petition is not biased. Signing a recall petition doesn't mean you can't support Walker and vote for him in the recall election. It means that you support Wisconsin's ability to choose in the future whether to replace an official before their term is up. So, signing a recall petition should not leave any biased impression. If Lee Enterprises wanted to assure their readers that their employees weren't biased for signing the recall petitions, Lee Enterprises could have simply reported on the facts of a recall, but that doesn't make for "attractive" headlines.

Now, it's very clear that Lee Enterprises is far-right Walker supporting media. They don't like unions or recall petition signers. They punish employees for taking part in an unbiased form of democracy, but then create an activist website that supports Walker's anti-union agenda.

If the Wisconsin State Journal, the La Crosse Tribune, and others want to appear unbiased, they need to shut this blatantly biased and spun website down! You can't have your cake and it eat, too. Either you're unbiased and show support for no particular cause, or you are biased.

NOTE: I'm not qualifying my statement about our far-right media in Wisconsin anymore, they're clearly far-right Walker-supporting media.

Mining Bill With Union Jobs AND Current Environmental Protections

Ya, that's right, the bipartisan Wisconsin Way Mining Reform Act from Senators Dale Schultz (R) and Bob Jauch (D) effectively retains our current environmental protections and gives Gogebic Taconite what they want to create the promised "hundreds" of union jobs (bulletpoint overview). But, we only have until noon today to convince the Republican leadership to pass it instead of pressuring Schultz to cave and vote for the Assembly's mining bill (AB 426). That's when the Joint Finance Committee is scheduled to vote on AB 426, passing it to the full Senate, and then the Republican leadership will do everything they can to force Schultz to vote for it.

We need the Wisconsin Way Mining Reform Act because getting Gogebic Taconite to open a mine is the Republican's only plan to create jobs, and they won't settle for nothing. If we don't get the WWMR Act, we'll most likely get the horrific AB 426, and there's nothing to be afraid of in the WWMR Act.

The company will announce later today that they've promised the majority of the 600-700 jobs that the mine will directly create will be union jobs (JS paywall). They're doing this in an attempt to sway Democrats to vote for the Assembly bill, because Schultz hasn't caved - they just need one. Instead of severely rolling back environmental protections, they should all vote for the bipartisan Wisconsin Way Mining Reform Act, which gives everyone what they want.

Read A Plea for the Wisconsin Way Mining Reform Act for more on why we need to support the Wisconsin Way Mining Reform Act. I know its lengthy, but its worth it to get the full picture.

Senator Dale Schultz's passionate statement on why he crafted the WWMR Act with Jauch and how it compromises with the Republican leadership is a compelling read. I strongly encourage your indulgence.

Call or email everyone: Schultz, Republican, Democrat, we need mining legislation that doesn't curb existing environmental protections, retains our level of input and review, and gives local communities the funds they deserve. We need the Wisconsin Way Mining Reform Act.

Scott Walker Has Miraculously Recovered from Debilitating Flu

Thank God, I didn't want him to miss his meeting with his REAL bosses at the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce (WMC) today. According to Scott Walker's latest tweets, he miraculously recovered from the flu that prevented him from visiting Master Lock, a union shop, with the President yesterday.

Walker first tweeted that he was sick on Tuesday morning. Wednesday morning, he tweeted that he was "still recovering from a nasty case of the flu," and then a few hours later, just after his scheduled meeting with President Obama was to take place, he tweeted that he was feeling better.

"...glad I'm feeling better after some rest.

After a good afternoon of rest, was able to host Hispanic leaders for discussion of expanding prosperity & opportunity."

I gave Walker the benefit of the doubt yesterday, believing he was sick while others doubted. However, his quick and timely recovery, allowing him to skip just the successful union shop, looks very suspicious. We all knew he wouldn't miss time in front of the media or his meeting with some of his biggest campaign supporters at the WMC lobby group early this afternoon.

One wonders why he didn't want to go to a successful union workplace with the President who's increased private-sector jobs every month for the past 23 consecutive months. Probably 'cause that's not Walker's tune: success, job creation and unions.

Disgraceful.

Join the Wisconsin Wave in protesting at Walker's meeting

"In protest the Wisconsin Wave will lead a picket and rally outside of the event to further expose and delegitimize this secretive, reactionary institution which literally wrote and funded most of the anti-worker, anti-family, anti-Wisconsin legislation forced through the legislature this past year.

WMC and its undisclosed industry backers are the entities who really run the show in Wisconsin, no matter who is in power. Join us as we call out WMC for their role in buying our democracy (more on this below) and advancing their extremist right-wing agenda."

Walker Skips Out on Event at Union Business

The President is coming to visit union shop Master Lock to tout the success of bringing jobs back to America, but Walker won't go with Obama on the planned trip. According to the Journal Sentinel, he'll meet Obama at the airport, but won't go to Master Lock, because he is recovering from a flu.

Update: I thought at first this might be Walker trying to get out, but he tweeted he was sick yesterday. So, unless they planned on sneaking out of the meeting in this fashion earlier than today, he is genuinely sick.

Mayor Shows What Collective Bargaining Looks Like

Here's a bit of good news. Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz announced today that the city has reached an agreement with the local AFSCME union to extend their contract before the bill stripping their collective bargaining rights becomes law. Mayor Dave said the union offered the financial concessions that were agreed to, saving the city nearly $3 million in 2012. If other unions make similar agreements, the city could save over $10 million in 2012. In the press conference, it's noted that this deal couldn't have been done if it weren't for the Wisconsin 14 leaving the state to give them time. From Mayor Dave in the announcement,

"This is another example of how collective bargaining works for everyone’s interest."

I believe other cities have reached similar agreements with their local unions or are in talks to, because Walker was complaining about cities working with unions to try to reach deals before the bill passed.

Can't Protest At The Capitol? You Can Help A Lot

Yesterday, my mom told me that my cousin from Oconto Falls was looking for more information about what's going on at the Capitol. She also told my mom that she wishes she could come down to the Capitol, but with work and a family with kids she just can't make it. My mom asked me to send my cousin the link to my blog (my mom's better at computers than she thinks). As I began to write my cousin an email, I realized that there's lots of ways that she can have a meaningful effect right where she lives, some of which she might not know about. I wrote everything I could think of, and sent the email. Then I thought that there might be a lot of other people wishing and asking the same things. So, if you can't make it to the Capitol in Madison but want to show your support for Wisconsin's public workers, these are some things you can do where you live that I believe can have a real impact.

(1) First and foremost, find out if you live in one of the Republican 8 senate districts, the eight Republican senators who voted against workers' rights and can be recalled now. If even three Republicans are recalled, the law may get repealed (Walker can still veto if he dares). We have less than 60 days to collect enough signatures to have a recall election for each senator. So it's important that we get as many signatures as quickly as possible. WisconsinRecall.net is the best place I've found to go for information on the recall campaigns. Make sure you sign, and get as many other people you know in your district to sign. Then, watch the news for when the recall election will be held, and vote.

(2) You can help spread the word. Look at the map here. If you think you know anyone who is in one of the red areas and supports workers' rights, tell them that their state senator may be up for recall and to sign the recall form and later vote. Facebook can be a great way to easily spread the word.

(3) There's a major election for Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice on April 5th. Prosser, alleged Tea Party conservative and the current justice, was appointed by Gov. Tommy Thompson and most likely supports Walker, but now we can choose who we want to serve in his position (he ran unchallenged in 2001). His opponent, JoAnne Kloppenburg has said she's independent and will judge cases based on the facts of the law not ideology, and she most likely supports workers' rights.

A vote for Kloppenburg is a vote against Walker. Especially, since the law might be taken to the Supreme Court. Currently, the court is split in Walker's favor, but with Prosser out and Kloppenburg in, it could split the other way. If Kloppenburg wins, which may not be very likely given the massive corporate support Prosser has as we've seen with Walker, it will be a strong message that Walker is wrong. Kloppenburg can't accept donations, because she's using public financing. So you can help by volunteering, spreading the word, and voting for JoAnne Kloppenburg on April 5th.

(4) There may be other local elections on April 5th in your district with candidates who are for or against workers' rights. If you don't know how they stand, try to ask the candidate, so that all the voters know. Then vote for the candidates who support workers' rights.

(5) You may not be able to make it to the Capitol, but there are lot's of protests and events throughout the state. The best site I've found for information on events around the state is here.

(6) Tell people why unions are good. I think we as a country have forgotten the value of unions. People want to know why this whole "collective bargaining thing" matters. So it's a great time to talk about it because people are listening. If you're in a union, talk about what it means to you to be in a union, and what you get out of it, and don't forget to mention that anyone in Wisconsin can join a union. If you're a public worker, you can also talk about the value of your work, why you do what you do, and you can talk about how this law will affect you. Your story matters. Facebook is good for this, too.

Lot's of really good people are doing everything they can to help. I hope things get better, but I believe now is one of those times when action can really make a difference. The energy at the protests is unbelievable, and you see that on people's faces, hear it from people as you pass by, and are told by people who are much wiser than myself that they haven't seen Madison like this since the 60's, if even then. People from truly all walks of life show up, with no more men than women, both young and old, rich through poor, there's no better characterization than Wisconsin. We can all help each other by spreading this energy across the state, like it already appears to be.

Video of Wisconsin Assembly Republicans Stripping Collective Bargaining Rights

The Republican tricks continue, possibly illegal tricks. For the second time on a vote to strip collective bargaining rights from public employees, Republicans cut off debate. Here's the, as you can imagine, short clip from WisconsinEye.



I must ask, if collective bargaining rights for public employees have no fiscal impact, why were these rights stripped?

Public Employees Not Paying Their Fair Share?

The National Republican Trust is running a despicable ad that tries to demonize public employees with lies. The ad says public employees work less hours and get paid more. This is a flat-face lie. Many studies have shown this to be false. As an example, the recent study from the Center for Governmental Research found that skilled employees in public sector jobs are paid less than their private sector counterparts. Low-skill jobs in the public sector, such as janitors, have better benefits than their private sector counterparts, but that's because fewer private sector employees are in unions, and the salaries for these jobs average between $10,000-$20,000. This is under the poverty line for most families. Yet, the ad wants you to think that public employees aren't paying their fair share. So they want the poorest public employees to pay more, and they want the rest to make even less than their private sector counterparts.

The ad also wants you to believe the budget crisis is the fault of our public employees, which we know is not true. On top of that, even though the unions have agreed to all financial concessions, the ad wants you to believe the unions are demanding more from taxpayers. If that isn't enough lies for you, the ad says the protesters are using taxpayer money to take off of work so they can protest.



If you make less than public employees with the same job, you and your coworkers can join a union to negotiate better wages, hours, and benefits. That right doesn't need to be taken away from our public employees.

I think someone should make an ad detailing all of the time and money wasted by the stubbornness of Walker and the Republicans.

Wisconsin Wave

I just saw this article about the Wisconsin Wave, and I think it's what most of Wisconsin has been asking for. They had a rally Saturday at the Capitol with some prominent members of our state.

It's a non-partisan Wisconsin movement that stands for these basic things:

• Our state government must guarantee a fully funded public sector including education, health care, human services, transportation, public safety, and vital regulatory agencies.
• Taxes on large corporations and wealthy individuals should be returned to reasonable levels in order to solve the state’s fiscal crisis.
• The state must respect the rights of workers to organize unions and bargain collectively.
• Initial budget priorities must be established through public participation instead of closed door meetings between public officials and special interest lobbyists.
• Voting rights must be expanded, not limited, to insure that every Wisconsinite can take part in our democracy.
• Wisconsin deserves government of, by, and for the people, not the corporate elite; corporations have no constitutional rights and may not buy our elections or government.

Wisconsin Wave seems to be the most organized group aligned with the interests of the protesters, and it includes many leaders from our communities. We really need to get behind a few good organizations, so we can focus our energy best.

Middle Class Income Shrinks With Union Membership

This isn't necessarily singular proof of the need for unions, because a correlation in statistics isn't sufficient proof of a cause and effect relationship, but it does give weight to the reasoning behind unions.

The graph comes from ThinkProgress.

Collective Bargaining Not Feasible? (Part 2)

I would like to continue the discussion from the post, Collective Bargaining Not Feasible?, because Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is standing by his claim that collective bargaining must be stripped for public employees in order to balance the state budget. Given that the unions have conceded all of the financial provisions needed to balance the state budget, what's the argument for stripping these rights?

The only evidence that Walker provides is his own anecdotal evidence from when he was a county executive. He says that negotiating with unions is "difficult," and that stripping collective bargaining rights would help local governments. Walker has added that some local governments have requested the stripping of collective bargaining rights from public employees. However, many local governments have said that they haven't requested Walker strip public employees' right to collectively bargain and that the local governments don't need such an extreme step.

About 300 local Wisconsin governments have signed a petition opposing Walker's budget, saying they oppose the stripping of collective bargaining rights. "Far from being a problem, collective bargaining is part of the solution. We work cooperatively with our employees to solve problems," Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz said. The local governments include large (in Wisconsin terms) constituent regions of the state such as La Crosse, Eau Claire, and Oshkosh.

As I stated in the previous post, Wisconsin has had collective bargaining rights for public employees since 1959. We've faced larger budget deficits in the past in which public employees have taken financial concessions to keep the state moving. We've never had to strip collective bargaining rights to balance the budget, because our government leaders have done the difficult task that many business owners do of negotiating with the unions.

The budget is set by our legislators. Public employees have no direct say in the state or other government budgets. So the issues with the budget cannot be the fault of our public employees. Instead, it must be the fault of those who have the power to set the budget, our legislators. If the legislators have issues they feel they can't solve by negotiating, they need to convince their constituents to put pressure on the employees. That's how democracy works. It may be difficult. It may be messy. That's democracy. That's how government has worked in Wisconsin for over 50 years.

Consider a current example. Texas is a Right-To-Work state that doesn't allow collective bargaining for public employees. Yet, Texas has a much larger deficit than Wisconsin. Wisconsin has about a two-year budget deficit of about $3.6 billion, and Texas is looking at a two-year budget deficit of near $27 billion. These are facts provided by the respective states. So, clearly budgets can get out of control whether public employees collectively bargain or not, and Wisconsin is not in nearly as much trouble as other states.

So, history has shown that collective bargaining doesn't destroy governments, our budget issues aren't the fault of our public employees, the public employees have agreed to pay more, and the local governments want to keep collective bargaining for their employees. Why can't our public employees collectively bargain?

It's a serious question that I'm asking.

WI Dems' Budget Saves $11 Million and Unions

The Wisconsin Assembly Democrats introduced an alternative to Gov. Scott Walker's budget repair bill that removes all policy items from the bill and saves $11 million more than Walker's bill.

The full details of the alternative, including the Legislative Fiscal Bureau memo showing the savings, are on the WisPolitics Budget Blog.

As another show of what this budget repair bill is about, GOP leader Fitzgerald said the Republicans won't vote for the money-saving alternative. The bill would save $11 million more than their bill at a time when everyone agrees we need to save money. However, for some reason this alternative, which saves more money, is somehow not as good. I would like a little explanation, please.

Update: The alternative bill failed on a party-line vote, but the vote has been expunged so that legislators have more time to consider the bill and vote on it again later.

This is the time to contact your representative to tell them how you feel.

Walker Opens Up To Prank Caller

A blogger from the Buffalo Beast called Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker saying he was David Koch. According to the Buffalo Beast article, that's all the blogger needed to do to talk to Walker.

I'm still reading the article, but I wanted to get this out there.

Update: The first thing the prank caller notes is that Walker isn't taking anyone's phone calls. So he decides to see if Walker would answer the call of a Koch brother. Surprisingly, or not surprisingly, Walker made room for Koch in his schedule and took his call. So, apparently Walker won't talk to the public employees, protesters, unions, or Democrats. Walker said on Morning Joe this week that he will not discuss the bill with the Democrats. But Walker will gladly talk to a Koch brother, possibly because they gave $43,000 to Walker's campaign in 2010.

In the conversation Walker discusses how he has thought about planting troublemakers to sway public opinion. "You know, well, the only problem with that [planting troublemakers] - because we thought about that." Walker goes on to say how his "gut reaction" is that if he were to introduce troublemakers it could end up backfiring on him. I can only wish he could come up with other reasons for not planting troublemakers.

Many times in the conversation Walker refers to people who disagree with him as "not one of us." How far does this relationship between Walker and the Koch brothers go? What is Wisconsin's interest in the Koch brothers?

"Koch: Beautiful; beautiful. Gotta crush that union." Not one time does Walker say otherwise, instead he continues on about how he plans to accomplish crushing unions.

Another empty threat: "Walker: …I’ve got layoff notices ready…" - more on that and why it's an empty threat later.

Walker also accepts an invitation for a paid flight from the faux David Koch. From the Buffalo Beast article:

Koch: [Laughs] Well, I tell you what, Scott: once you crush these bastards I’ll fly you out to Cali and really show you a good time.

Walker: All right, that would be outstanding.

Update: Here is the full transcript.

WI Fire Fighters Say Cut Our Pay, Keep Others' Rights

In true Wisconsin fashion, the fire fighters have been standing with the citizens of Wisconsin since the beginning of the protests. Anywhere the fire fighters walk around the Capitol they walk into cheers, and rightfully so. The fire fighters are not under attack by Gov. Scott Walker's budget repair bill, but they have been standing in solidarity with other Wisconsinites to oppose the stripping of collective bargaining rights from Wisconsin workers.

Now, the fire fighters have taken a much greater step in the effort to save the rights of Wisconsin workers by agreeing to reduce their pay. According to WisPolitics, the President of the Professional Fire Fighters of Wisconsin said if Walker needs the money to save other employees' rights, they would include themselves in the budget repair bill's financial concessions.

Wow! Everyone who opposes this bill thanks you and the rest of the fire fighters with ever greater appreciation.

I think many police officers may be included in this concession, but I'm not sure. If anyone knows, please tell. I'm sure they would be if they aren't currently, and we thank you, too.


Update: As a reader pointed out, and should have been evident to me, there is no reason for the fire fighters to make any concessions because the other public employees have already agreed to do so. Money is not the issue that stops the passage of Walker's budget repair bill. Still, thanks go out to those workers who would voluntarily take concessions to save others' rights.

Protesters Not From Wisconsin?

In Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's "fireside chat" tonight, Walker said that the protesters are increasingly from out-of-state, as if to say very few protesters are Wisconsin citizens.

Has he looked outside? I'd like to think the Badgers are that popular, but I highly doubt all of that red is from out-of-state.

Does he talk to the people? Anyone walking around the Capitol during the protests talking to the people around them would know nearly everyone is from Wisconsin. I haven't met a person from out-of-state yet, though I have seen them as they were speakers and entertainers.

Does he read the signs? Most of the personally constructed signs I've seen were easy to recognize as Wisconsin-made from what the signs said. Many of the people at the Capitol are local firefighters, teachers, street workers, students, and other concerned citizens.

Collective Bargaining Not Feasible?

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker continues to say that collective bargaining rights must be stripped to balance the budget. However, the only evidence he provides is his own anecdotal evidence from when he was a county executive about how "difficult" it is to bargain with unions. That's not enough evidence to pass any bill, much less a bill that strips people's rights away. So what does the evidence say about the effects of collective bargaining for public employees on the state budget?

Wisconsin has had collective bargaining rights for public employees since 1959. We've faced larger budget deficits in the past in which public employees have taken financial concessions to keep the state moving. We've never had to strip collective bargaining rights to balance the budget, because our government leaders have done the difficult task that many business owners do of negotiating with the unions. Gov. Scott Walker has only held office for a few weeks.  How could he have made a genuine effort to negotiate with the public employees in such little time?

And now that the public employees have agreed to the financial concessions needed to balance the budget, what does stripping collective bargaining rights give our state that we don't already have? I can also ask, what does stripping collective bargaining rights take from Wisconsin?

Go here to see a summary of the history of labor rights in Wisconsin.

Feel free to discuss this in the comments, and I'll revisit this question in the near future.

Wisconsin Polls Show Strong Majority Oppose Walker

Many people have been talking about the national Rasmussen poll that shows more national voters side with Gov. Scott Walker. However, I've been reminding people that this is Wisconsin, not the nation. The local polls have shown consistent opposition to Gov. Scott Walker's budget repair bill. We're the people who brought you collective bargaining, and our opinions are the only ones that matter in this case. Now, Nate Silver from FiveThirtyEight says he's skeptical of the Rasmussen poll because of the way in which the questions were asked. So it's clear we should focus more on results from local polling.

Two new local polls have been released since the Rasmussen poll that show strong opposition to Walker's plan in Wisconsin. These polls could be biased as well, but they are fairly consistent with previous local polls. There's a poll released on Monday from Madison public opinion analysts Forward Strategies, and another poll released today from the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO. Both polls show that a strong majority oppose Gov. Scott Walker's plan to strip public employees of their collective bargaining rights.

The poll commissioned by the state AFL-CIO shows that 52% of Wisconsinites oppose Walker's plan to eliminate people's rights, with 42% supporting the plan. These results are consistent with the majority of local polls I've seen before. We should remember that Walker was elected with 52% of the vote. It's clear, even though Walker says no one should be surprised by his plan, many of us, myself included, are surprised.

The WisPolitics Budget Blog has a good summary of the entire poll with links to the actual poll.

The Forward Strategies poll targeted key Republican Senate districts instead of the entire state. The poll found that over two-thirds of Wisconsinites in those districts think Walker should compromise before stripping public employees of their bargaining rights. This is well outside any margin of error, which was 4.89%, though it was a very small sample with only 400 voters questioned.

The Senate districts that the Forward Strategies poll targeted were:

Rob Cowles, Green Bay
Randy Hopper, Fond du Lac
Dan Kapanke, La Crosse
Luther Olsen, Ripon
Dale Schultz, Richland Center
Sheila Harsdorf, River Falls
Terry Moulton, Chippewa Falls

Tell your Senator how you feel if you are in one of these districts, or anywhere in Wisconsin for that matter.

Law Enforcement Thanks Protesters for Peaceful Protests

With crowds estimated to be well over 60,000 at the Wisconsin State Capitol in Madison on Saturday, and the first large gathering of budget repair bill supporters, people questioned if the protests would remain peaceful. However, many protesters were carrying signs reminding everyone, "This is a peaceful protest." Even though some people were scared, angry, or worried, and tensions were high, both sides remained peaceful.

The police who were protecting those in and around the Capitol helped in the effort by setting up buffers between the two sides of the debate and escorting the substantially smaller crowd of bill supporters in and out of the Capitol. Many protesters could be seen and overheard thanking the police for their work, and now the police have publicly thanked the protesters for their efforts.

Thanks to protesters on both sides for keeping this debate civil, and thanks to law enforcement for enabling everyone to take part in this debate.