In the past week or so, the nation’s eyes have been focused on Wisconsin as public union benefits and collective bargaining protest against changes in the states’ law that will restrict or eliminate collective bargaining rights. The new Republican Governor Scott Walker says that his agenda calls for a necessity to get Wisconsin’s fiscal house in order to avoid significant layoffs of state employees. Wisconsin is now not the only state to negotiate or address the concerns over the state’s fiscal situations or public union benefits. Ohio will present a bill in their state senate that concerns issues of tenure in layoff decisions, increases in health insurance premiums, institute merit-based pay for some public-sector workers, and ban any public-sector employee paid by tax dollars would be banned from striking. Indiana, Tennessee, Illinois, California, Michigan, Iowa, Alaska and New Jersey have addressed their concerns of pension benefits, collective bargaining issues, ‘right-to-work’ bills, and healthcare premiums.
This has been labeled as the most significant labor issue since the induction of unionism in the early 19th century. This new wave of tweaking state policies and addressing fiscal concerns is only the beginning of what is to come. This not only will change the state politics but will also change the national political scene. As I begin to enter into a career in teaching this movement and change has become an issue I will be watching very closely.
No comments:
Post a Comment