In the state of Wisconsin a law takes effect the day after the Secretary of State publishes it. Under the law, the Sec of State has 10 days to publish the law once it has been signed into law. The current Wisconsin Sec of State is Doug La Follette is a democrat who opposed the law and now is dragging his feet get the law in place, using the full 10 days, which is allowing unions and school districts to get new deals in place. BUT, what is most interesting is many of the new contracts have several of the provisions Gov Walker has called for to help schools overcome a sharp decrease in funding that will be coming from the state. Several contracts call for increased employee contributions for both retirement funding and health care and small raises. (Read full story at Seattle Times)
There are also a few cases of contracts being awarded that are more generous then the ‘guidelines’ Walker has discussed. These counties are going to pay for this short-sightedness in the long run. I for one do not feel sorry for them, although I do feel for general public in those counties that are paying more in the newly signed contracts.
Why in heck the unions weren’t willing to make these concessions prior to all the hubbub over the past three weeks is beyond me. If they had been willing to make these concessions why didn’t they indicate they were willing to do so? Maybe they did and I missed it, but I have been following the story fairly close. I have had a feeling throughout the entire debate the folks in the union and especially those on TV a lot don’t really give a hoot about the taxpayer. It was a gimme attitude that seemed to be very clear to me.
Maybe if the unions had been willing to make concessions early on instead of take, take, take that has permeated government unions for so long, the actions take by the Wisconsin politicians would not have been necessary.
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