After serving four years in the U.S. Air Force, I have been a proud dues-paying member of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers and Iron Shipbuilders L107, L443, United Association of Plumbers and Steamfitters L445, and later L298 and finally as a Life Member of the Wisconsin Education Association.
In all of my working years we had many challenges to our wages, working conditions, and benefits, but never had such a direct attack on the working class as Gov. Walker has proposed. He is attempting to undermine all the efforts put forth by collective bargaining by both labor and management since the early 1930s, when you stood in line at the company gate to be selected for three or four hours of employment.
Gov. Walker has proposed finding employment for 250,000 people in Wisconsin, but so far has been a negative factor in our state. He has cost Milwaukee County in excess of $430,000 for his decision to privatize the security guards there, cutting their hourly wage by $5 an hour. Now the laid off security personnel have been called back, at a substantial cost to the county. For those that felt paying union dues was a waste of money, I might point out the unions are a brotherhood that looks after their brothers. The productivity of a young journeyman sometimes dwindles as they age, but their experience and guidance of the younger employees pays dividends. Experience is a great teacher.
Somebody should inform Gov. Walker of how the electorate reacted on the previous election. There were a number of politicians that were voted out of office after one term. We do remember those elected officials, and how they voted on key issues that effect their constituents. Our previous governors were not perfect by any means, but they look pretty darn good in comparison to what we have now.
Jack L. Sullivan
Manitowoc
http://www.htrnews.com/article/20110217/MAN0601/102170583/Letter-Direct-attack