A bit off-topic, but this is important news. On Friday, our new Republican governor Scott Walker introduced a bill that would severely curtail collective bargaining (i.e. unions) for state employees. UW-Madison staff including Chancellor Martin are up in arms. Why..? Because they've become accustomed to being grossly overpaid and having great benefits, retirement plans, etc. And they'll say anything and everything to try to keep the money.
For example, UW folks claim that the teaching assistant's union, started in 1997, has improved UW-Madison. Nope. On the contrary, UW-Madison has fallen steadily in the U.S. News college rankings since the early 1980s:
Year 83 88 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 08
Rank 13 23 32 41 38 36 34 35 32 31 32 32 34 38
Amazing that 25+ years ago, UW was almost ranked in the top 10 nationally. Oddly, there was an anomalous dip in UW's ranking right about the time the TA's took power, but TA unions have nothing to do with anything except looking out for TAs.
Collective bargaining in general is a non-sequitor for public employees. Historically, unions benefited workers in industry by helping keep corporate power in check, but they have nothing to do with state employment. If you don't like your government job, then quit and get a job in the more competetive corporate world. That's where you need a union.
Wisconsin's massive $2.5 billion budget deficit is nothing less than robbery on an incredible scale. It's 200,000 overpaid state employees stealing from the other 4 million Wisconsin residents--by giving themselves raises, extra benefits, shorter hours, etc. But we already knew that many state employees are crooks. Wis. Union employees are especially adept at getting paid for doing nothing.
Monday, February 14, 2011
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