Ahem... 'Tougher Than Wisconsin: Arizona Republicans Launch ‘All Out Assault’ On Public Unions'

[WillyT]

Tougher Than Wisconsin: Arizona Republicans Launch ‘All Out Assault’ On Public Unions
NICK R. MARTIN - TPMMuckraker
JANUARY 31, 2012, 5:13 PM

<snip>

With a sweeping series of bills introduced Monday night in the state Senate, Republicans in Arizona hoped to make Wisconsin’s battle against public unions last year look like a lightweight sparring match.

The bills include a total ban on collective bargaining for Arizona’s public employees, including at the city and county levels. The move would outpace even the tough bargaining restrictions enacted in Wisconsin in 2011 that led to massive union protests and a Democratic effort to recall Republican Gov. Scott Walker.

“At first glance, it looks like an all out assault on the right of workers to organize,” Senate Minority Leader David Schapira (D) told TPM on Tuesday. “And to me, that’s a serious problem.”

The bills were crafted with the help of the Goldwater Institute, a powerful conservative think tank in Phoenix that flew Walker to the state for an event in November. Nick Dranias, director of the institute’s Center for Constitutional Government, told TPM he sees Walker as a “hero” but that Wisconsin’s laws were “modest” compared to Arizona’s measures.

<snip>

More: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/01/tougher_than_wisconsin_arizona_republicans_launch.php

[Mister Ed]

1. Rec'd for visibility. n/t

[ThoughtCriminal]

2. The AZ Legislature manufactures bad ideas

On an industrial scale.

[tabbycat31]

3. kick

this needs to be very visible and our AZ DUers should mobilize and threaten recall (IIRC AZ does have recalls allowed).

[neverforget]

4. The war on the Middle Class by the Republican Party is in full swing

[Scuba]

5. The good People of Wisconsin urge the good People of Arizona to rise up against this ALEC-order.