E-mails reveal possible Walker concessions on union bill

[jefferson_dem]

Source: JS Online

Madison - Gov. Scott Walker's office released documents Tuesday detailing now stalled talks with Senate Democrats in Illinois about his union bargaining bill, showing his office is willing to give on some aspects of the proposal but also frustrating one senator involved in the confidential talks.

The e-mails showed ideas and counteroffers made by the Republican governor's aides and two Democrats as they sought some resolution that would allow Democrats to come back to the state. Senate Democrats have been holed up in Illinois since Feb. 17, when they left Wisconsin to block a vote on Walker's budget-repair bill.

The emails were first released to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel through an open-records request and within minutes were then emailed out to other news outlets. The Journal Sentinel also first reported Friday on some of the proposals in the documents.

The bill as proposed by Walker and approved by the Assembly last month would repeal bargaining by public employee unions over their benefits and work conditions, leaving only bargaining over wages with a cap based on the rate of inflation, barring a referendum. The measure has sparked massive protests at the Capitol in recent weeks.

Read more: http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/117584003.html

[jefferson_dem]

1. More here -

Aides to Wisconsin's Republican Gov. Scott Walker have been in talks with state senate Democrats in which the Republican position appears to be softening, according to e-mails obtained by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

According to the e-mails, while the governor's office still wants limits to collective bargaining, it's willing to allow more issues to come under such bargaining than initially the case.

The e-mails really get into the weeds but here's an example. Under the controversial budget-repair legislation SB 11, public employee unions wouldn't be able to negotiate with state or local governments for wage increases that exceeded the consumer price index unless a voter referendum allowed it.

The proposal outlined in the e-mail would remove that restriction. And while the legislation would require employees to vote annually that they wanted union representation, the proposal from the governor's aides would require a vote every three years.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2011/03/08/134369786/wisconsins-gov-walker-shows-signs-of-yielding-on-some-labor-provisions?ft=1&f=1014&sc=tw

[buddysmellgood]

2. What a dick. CB is off the table.

[underpants]

8. I read it differently. It seems that Walker is willing to relent on everything

• The bill would no longer seek to limit public employee union bargaining over wages to the rate of inflation.

• The bill would allow union bargaining over certain economic issues, including mandatory overtime, performance bonuses, hazardous duty pay, and classroom size. On this set of issues, both labor and management would have to agree to discuss them for bargaining to happen.

• The bill would allow bargaining over workplace safety but that would be limited to workers' physical health and safety. It would not allow bargaining over hours, overtime, sick leave or family leave, work schedules or vacation.

• Union contracts for public employees would be limited to a one- or two-year period.

• Unions would have to vote every three years to remain active, with the first of those votes coming within one year of the bill becoming law. The current version of the bill would require unions to vote to recertify every year and require them to get at least 51% of workers' votes.

• Employees of the UW Hospital and Clinics Authority would not lose all union bargaining rights.

• The Legislature's budget committee would explicitly have to approve changes to state health programs for the poor sought by the Walker administration. The budget-repair bill gives Walker broad powers to reshape those Medicaid health programs.

--

But then I might not know what I am talking about. Am I missing something?

[buddysmellgood]

10. Unions agreed to take cuts in health funding and retirement,

Collective bargaining should be left alone.

[Indydem]

3. So what this proves is...

the democrats ARE lying when they say there is no negotiation.

I have a bad feeling for those of you in Wisconsin who have supported these backroom negotiating fucks.

[Tx4obama]

4. Shows that Walker is trying to trick the dems to come back so repubs can get bill passed! n/t

[Iliyah]

5. Yea OK

these people are trickers. I don't trust them.

[aquart]

7. Thank you for your concern.

[onethatcares]

6. do not trust any republican in that Assembly, and definitely not the gov

in all seriousness, would you believe a word walker would say? would you believe anything he "releases"? gauddammmit, he's a liar and so are 99% of the pukes country wide.

Look, it doesn't much matter to me, or shouldn't, but I have kids and grandkids that are going to be looking for dignity in their chosen work fields in the futute. At the rate we're going these asshats won't pay more than minimum wage for an engineer let alone a clerk in a store.

There is no dignity in what the republicans and their moneyed friends want to do to the rest of us.

[Iliyah]

9. Watching

Cenk now and the 14 Dems are unaware of Gov's proposal that he just put up on his e-mails but will take a look at them. Gov is starting to crack or at least his party are in WI.

[Omaha Steve]

11. Wis. governor proposes union compromise

Source: AP

By SCOTT BAUER

MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has offered to keep certain collective bargaining rights in place for state workers in a proposed compromise aimed at ending a nearly three-week standoff with absent Senate Democrats, according to e-mails released Tuesday by his office.

The e-mails, some dated as recently as Sunday, show a softened stance in Walker's talks with the 14 Democrats who fled to Illinois to block a vote on his original proposal that would strip nearly all collective bargaining rights for public workers and force concessions amounting to an average 8 percent pay cut.

Under the compromise floated by Walker and detailed in the e-mails, workers would be able to continue bargaining over their salaries with no limit, a change from his original plan that banned negotiated salary increases beyond inflation. He also proposed compromises allowing collective bargaining to stay in place on mandatory overtime, performance bonuses, hazardous duty pay and classroom size for teachers.

Increased contributions for health insurance and pension, projected to save the state $330 million by mid-2013, would remain. The unions and Democrats have agreed to those concessions to help balance a projected $3.6 billion budget shortfall.


Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41979185/ns/politics-more_politics/

[nadinbrzezinski]

12. Cracks, lovely cracks

does that mean soon I will be able to PACK my red shirts?

[Historic NY]

13. let him swing.

[Lifelong Protester]

14. for public ed., this won't do much, because in his REGULAR

budget, he is cutting our funding by 900 million in two years... there will be no funds to bargain for. Districts will not be able to raise revenue (through taxes) to cover any shortfall, so we are in a vise here.

I want to see MORE and BIGGER cracks.

[nadinbrzezinski]

15. THis is HOW they start

we have gone to my way or the highway to showing early cracks.

[Lifelong Protester]

17. thanks for the encouragement, nadin, I agree, it starts here

we just need to keep our determination and momentum going!

[Skip Intro]

16. Blinking. (That's mine, Charlie Sheen. Don't use it!) nt

[Bozita]

18. The time for compromise was a month ago.

The battlefield looks a lot different today.

A whole lot different.

Scottie, maybe it's time for you to do a Palin.

[madrchsod]

21. your state needs to be next...

[tavalon]

25. What? Pretend to have a Down's Syndrome baby?

[nolabear]

19. Blink.

[madrchsod]

20. this has gone way beyond collective bargaining

from what i`ve heard and read the farmers are driving down to madison in their tractors to protest health care cuts. the critter lover found out that walker will let the pounds give away lost dogs to the universities for a dollar..ya someone`s pet for medical research. this week the protests are back in the districts and this weekend they will be back in madison. three republican senators will be targeted for recall. about a half a million in tv ads are being run in wisconsin.

i have a feeling that they ain`t coming back until the people have won.

[Me.]

22. Is This For Real?

[CLANG]

23. Sorry, Governor Fucker, not good ENOUGH!!!

[MasonJar]

24. I guess the Koch Brothers decided they were getting too much notice or

else they decided they'd rather get the lock on the state's energy facilities, and so had better give up on the proposals that would keep the bill from ever coming to the floor. OR BOTH.

[HDPaulG]

26. Line item veto power

Herr Walker has line item veto authority on budget bills...I don't trust the college drop out.

[bluestateguy]

27. We don't want compromise anymore. We want total defeat.

nt

[plumbob]

30. Yes, defeat!

Stay in there! The bastard has blinked. He must have read up on some of the polls, after all, or some of his buds took a look at recall.




Stay in!

[reformist2]

28. There should be no compromise on bargaining rights. None!

We can compromise on specific terms like pay increases (or even cuts), but not hard-fought rights!

And regardless of whether Walker caves in or not, we still should go for a "Total Recall" next year.

[L. Coyote]

29. Is he begging to not be prosecuted for his crimes in exchange for a deal?

[Blacksheep214]

31. You wanted class warfare?

You've got class warfare!

Wanker has woke the sleeping giant. Fuck the wealthy with their tax breaks! Fuck the corporations who pay no taxes! Fuck the governors in blue collar states who have lied in order to steal what little they have.

Maybe it was about time the regular people turned off the bullshit on TV and paid attention to the real reality.

Stay the course until we break the right wing oligarchy and restore fairness in America!

[helas girl]

32. Trap?

Here is a question. If the dems that left the state bought this compromise line and came back, what would stop him from reneging and forcing a vote?

[deacon]

34. Can't trust one word outta his mouth. n/t

[deacon]

33. Fire up those tractors and let the farmers put on the show. n/t