You wanna know why they're protesting?
They want to take away their bargaining rights because the state has failed to live up to their part of the retirement bargain. In the interest of being everything for everyone and to keep funding earmarks and other misuse of state funds, the state has not made full if any payments into the pension funds of the state employees. The employees on the other hand have done everything they've said they would. Now, the state wants to have the emloyees pony up more money after defaulting on their payments and slap the state employees with the problem of balancing the budget that they the lawmakers have F*cked up to begin with! The state caused most of their own mess by defaulting on payments and giving bigger tax breaks, (Sound Familiar?) that brought down state revenues and is now looking at their state employees to fund the repair as well as take away their collective bargaining power so in the future they can roll over them some more. The state was fine and should have had a surplus. Had the state deposited their share that THEY AGREED to, the system would still be sound and functioning as it should.
As much as I am anti union, they did not cause the mess they're in.
I'll agree, state employees have a good deal. They also, like us, have not seen a pay raise in about 7 years, have seen pay roll backs, pay more for health pension etc. and there is no end in sight. However when you talk of reducing state spending, you are met with half azzed attempts that do little if nothing to stem over spending and actually cause more deficits. How bout we cut out the earmarks? How bout we cut out the bull sh*t spending.
Walker has not suggested once to compromise.
Why?
