Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker Readies National Guard Against Unions

By on February 12, 2011 in News 45
Scott Walker. Photo: WisPolitics.com (CC)

Scott Walker. Photo: WisPolitics.com (CC)

Bah!  Who needs democratic rights like freedom of association or collective bargaining?  Americans weren’t really usin’ ‘em anyways.  From the Huffington Post:

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) said Friday that he was willing to mobilize the state’s National Guard force in order to address the potential repercussions of his stated proposal to eliminate collective bargaining rights for state employees.

The Associated Press reports:

Gov. Scott Walker says the Wisconsin National Guard is prepared to respond wherever is necessary in the wake of his announcement that he wants to take away nearly all collective bargaining rights from state employees.Walker said Friday that he hasn’t called the Guard into action, but he has briefed them and other state agencies in preparation of any problems that could result in a disruption of state services, like staffing at prisons.

On Thursday, Walker told the Associated Press that he will propose removing nearly all public employee collective bargaining rights to help plug a $3.6 billion budget hole.

Walker, a Republican who took office in January, said no one should be surprised by the move he will ask the GOP-controlled Legislature to approve next week given that he’s talked about doing it for two months.

“This is not a shock,” he said. “The shock would be if we didn’t go forward with this.”

But union leaders, and even some Republicans, were taken aback at the scope of his proposal.”This is a shocking development,” said Bryan Kennedy, president of AFT-Wisconsin, which represents 17,000 workers. “It ends collective bargaining for public employees in our state, after 50 years of management and workers solving problems together.”

See the rest at Huffington Post

, , , , ,

  • quartz99

    It’s only a shock to people who haven’t been dealing with this prick for years. I lived in SE Wisconsin for 17 years (til this last summer). He was a terrible county exec in Milwaukee County. He reduced county employees by a huge chunk, expecting a far smaller number of people to do jobs that there hadn’t been enough staff to cover before the staff was pruned. He slashed pensions on employees who were already taking a very low salary with the understanding that the money they weren’t receiving would go toward their pensions. He’s a symptom of what’s WRONG in Wisconsin.

  • Anonymous

    It’s only a shock to people who haven’t been dealing with this prick for years. I lived in SE Wisconsin for 17 years (til this last summer). He was a terrible county exec in Milwaukee County. He reduced county employees by a huge chunk, expecting a far smaller number of people to do jobs that there hadn’t been enough staff to cover before the staff was pruned. He slashed pensions on employees who were already taking a very low salary with the understanding that the money they weren’t receiving would go toward their pensions. He’s a symptom of what’s WRONG in Wisconsin.

  • rtb61

    Don’t forget yearly employment contracts, so that you have to reapply for you job every year upon an individual basis and have your conditions of employment changed.
    Of course most workers in the US have been bending over and saying please sir may I have another, so it will be interesting to see how lame and pathetic Wisconsinites have become.
    They have been threatened with violence via their own national guard, will that stiffen their backs or will they hand their children’s and grand children’s future to more of the same, protest and be shot , their lack of courage now will be a price that future generations have to pay.

  • Anonymous

    Don’t forget yearly employment contracts, so that you have to reapply for you job every year upon an individual basis and have your conditions of employment changed.
    Of course most workers in the US have been bending over and saying please sir may I have another, so it will be interesting to see how lame and pathetic Wisconsinites have become.
    They have been threatened with violence via their own national guard, will that stiffen their backs or will they hand their children’s and grand children’s future to more of the same, protest and be shot , their lack of courage now will be a price that future generations have to pay.

  • http://voxmagi-necessarywords.blogspot.com/ VoxMagi

    Technically he can throw around statements like those…and make the threat of using the Guard to prevent any opposition by labor groups…

    …but I’d like to see him try…the discouragement from above would come fast and furious…jerking the reins out of his hands and shutting him down in public.It would represent an intervention by the federal government to restore order to a state acting outside the boundaries of its authority and misappropriating the Guard for partisan reasons.

    Such an act generally hasn’t been tolerated in generations now…since Kent State proved that local hickerbilly politicos getting uppity with a private army can create more chaos than they actually prevent. The Guard is a tool for serious emergencies…not petty political grudges.

    Curiously, as much as I hold the administration in contempt, it would be fun to see the gauntlet thrown down. The intervention by feds wouldn’t be because they ‘care about the little people’…but because the precedent set by letting a little tin-pot Junior Napoleon play God would be worse than the consequences of stomping a boot across his neck. I don’t believe in the good will of federal power…but I absolutely believe in the federal governments willingness to engage in a pissing match with a yutz to remind him who the real big dog on the block is…and in this rare instance…that works in Wisconsin’s favor.

  • http://voxmagi-necessarywords.blogspot.com/ VoxMagi

    Technically he can throw around statements like those…and make the threat of using the Guard to prevent any opposition by labor groups…

    …but I’d like to see him try…the discouragement from above would come fast and furious…jerking the reins out of his hands and shutting him down in public.It would represent an intervention by the federal government to restore order to a state acting outside the boundaries of its authority and misappropriating the Guard for partisan reasons.

    Such an act generally hasn’t been tolerated in generations now…since Kent State proved that local hickerbilly politicos getting uppity with a private army can create more chaos than they actually prevent. The Guard is a tool for serious emergencies…not petty political grudges.

    Curiously, as much as I hold the administration in contempt, it would be fun to see the gauntlet thrown down. The intervention by feds wouldn’t be because they ‘care about the little people’…but because the precedent set by letting a little tin-pot Junior Napoleon play God would be worse than the consequences of stomping a boot across his neck. I don’t believe in the good will of federal power…but I absolutely believe in the federal governments willingness to engage in a pissing match with a yutz to remind him who the real big dog on the block is…and in this rare instance…that works in Wisconsin’s favor.

  • Bitemepigs

    F-ing Nazi. Remeber this next time the idiots in that state hold an election.

    • quartz99

      Sadly, that’s precisely what the state is becoming. There’s a couple hold-out areas, like around Madison and (oddly enough) La Crosse, but this IS what happens when the state holds an election. That’s part of why I left. Tired of the landlord allowing “atheists, gay relationships and unmarried straight relationships, and letting women be anything but barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen on their knees will cause polio, turn your children gay, and force the govt to invade to take away your guns so you can’t hunt anymore! Apocalypse and chaos!” signs to plaster my front lawn and disallowing me from removing them, while I got death threats for being an atheist, got followed by “good ol’ boys” howling after me that all I need to “cure” me is to “find the right man” (I’m married to a man. Apparently they’re too stupid to understand the difference between bi and gay, so to them I’m a lesbian anyway…). Wisconsin bemoans its inability to draw in educated workers for skilled jobs and it’s “brain drain” of students leaving as fast as they can when they’ve been duped into going to a Wisconsin college, but can’t connect the dots that educated workers are loathe to live the way these Dominionists try to force on you through intimidation and social stigma.

      Ironically, Milwaukee is the only city to have ever had a truly socialist government, several decades ago. It flourished and grew, industry was strong, people flocked to the city. Now it’s swung entirely the opposite and people are leaving like mad.

  • Bitemepigs

    F-ing Nazi. Remeber this next time the idiots in that state hold an election.

  • Andrew

    Motherfuckers are trying to take us back to the 1890s.

  • Andrew

    Motherfuckers are trying to take us back to the 1890s.

  • Tooker

    Govermor Walker must have lost his mind!! How dare he think that he can take away workers rights to bargain together with management and solve problems in a peaceful constructive manner!! The state workers salaries etc. are a minimal part of the overall state budget. Walker is trying to bust the Unions and in the bargain to turn the people of the state of Wisconsin against anyone in the union. This is deplorable!! His threat to use the National Gaurd to stop any opposition to his will smacks of dictatorship!!!!! Where have we seen this type of thing before?? Perhaps Germany, China!!!!

  • Tooker

    Govermor Walker must have lost his mind!! How dare he think that he can take away workers rights to bargain together with management and solve problems in a peaceful constructive manner!! The state workers salaries etc. are a minimal part of the overall state budget. Walker is trying to bust the Unions and in the bargain to turn the people of the state of Wisconsin against anyone in the union. This is deplorable!! His threat to use the National Gaurd to stop any opposition to his will smacks of dictatorship!!!!! Where have we seen this type of thing before?? Perhaps Germany, China!!!!

  • Tooker

    Govermor Walker must have lost his mind!! How dare he think that he can take away workers rights to bargain together with management and solve problems in a peaceful constructive manner!! The state workers salaries etc. are a minimal part of the overall state budget. Walker is trying to bust the Unions and in the bargain to turn the people of the state of Wisconsin against anyone in the union. This is deplorable!! His threat to use the National Gaurd to stop any opposition to his will smacks of dictatorship!!!!! Where have we seen this type of thing before?? Perhaps Germany, China!!!!

  • Guest

    Unions are the worst thing that ever happened to the American worker.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Donovan-Moore/715651471 Donovan Moore

    I live in Madison, WI. Your headline is 100% bullshit. What Walker said was the national guard would stand ready if needed to be used to guard in the state prisons. I can’t stand the lying of Fox News. As progressives, we should do better. peace out.

    • quartz99

      Local news reports say that he’s primarily “briefed” them to deal with “unrest,” with “staffing prisons” only being one of the things they might be called on to do.

      “However, if there is worker unrest, Walker says the Wisconsin National Guard is prepared to respond. … The governor says he’s briefed the National Guard and other state agencies, to prepare them for any problems with workers, as they learn of Walker’s emergency budget plan.” http://www.wuwm.com/programs/news/view_news.php?articleid=7765 That’s just one example.

      The point is, he specifically brought the National Guard into it as an attempt to keep workers from fighting back. He did it as a threat. Considering he said it just after we were all watching the government bring in police and thugs to try to disperse the protests in Egypt through violence, he was either trying to play off that fear or he’s too stupid to be expected to lead anything. Then again, considering he did such a bad job as county exec in Milwaukee that the city was contemplating removing the position entirely, you might be able to convince me that he really is just that stupid and incapable of understanding how threatening to call in the Guard might be taken by the people he directed it at.

      • Liam_McGonagle

        Yeah, Donovan’s quite the genius, there. His first instinct seems to have been to ignore the broader implications of scabbing, and his first to forget (or remain ignorant of) the meaning of the term “unrest”.

        I personally regard it as incredibly sad that Dumbovan needed you to actually read the thing to him, as if he were an eight-year old. You may not feel this way, but I myself feel that the shithole that Wisconsin is turning into is exactly what we deserve as a culture for tolerating such slovenly stupid mediocrities as Donovan.

        My caustic, nasty approach hasn’t won me any friends, but at this point I’m not sure I give a flying’ fuck. I’m so thoroughly exhausted by the low standards in our society in general that I barely have the energy to post any responses some days. Thanks for taking this one.

        • Liam_McGonagle

          P1, S2 s/r ” . . . scabbing, and his SECOND . . ”

          Frickin’ editor mode won’t work.

          Anyhow, you get the point.

          • quartz99

            Yeah, no worries, I knew what you meant :D

            Don’t be too hard though in this case. I have a few friends who are from the Madison area and Madison is really its own little island in the state (or has been). I would talk about Milwaukee with my Madison friends and they wouldn’t believe me about what was going on there… not til I sent them pictures of the several block long sinkholes along the major non-highway entrance to the city that happened because the maintenance budgets kept getting slashed and raided, and the concrete facing falling off the parking city/county “maintained” parking structures… etc etc. it really is kind of hard to believe how different the areas are for being so close geographically. This is just more of the same crap Walker’s been doing all along.

          • quartz99

            LOL, in Wisconsin, when even the Packers are against you, you know it’s time to step back. That’s a state that loves their gladiators, er sports figures.

          • quartz99

            Liam, in case you haven’t seen this: http://www.change.org/petitions/recall-scott-walker

            Not being a resident anymore, my signature would be meaningless but you might want to spread this one around.

          • Liam_McGonagle

            Thanks! Just posted it to Facebook.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Donovan-Moore/715651471 Donovan Moore

    I live in Madison, WI. Your headline is 100% bullshit. What Walker said was the national guard would stand ready if needed to be used to guard in the state prisons. I can’t stand the lying of Fox News. As progressives, we should do better. peace out.

  • Anonymous

    Sadly, that’s precisely what the state is becoming. There’s a couple hold-out areas, like around Madison and (oddly enough) La Crosse, but this IS what happens when the state holds an election. That’s part of why I left. Tired of the landlord allowing “atheists, gay relationships and unmarried straight relationships, and letting women be anything but barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen on their knees will cause polio, turn your children gay, and force the govt to invade to take away your guns so you can’t hunt anymore! Apocalypse and chaos!” signs to plaster my front lawn and disallowing me from removing them, while I got death threats for being an atheist, got followed by “good ol’ boys” howling after me that all I need to “cure” me is to “find the right man” (I’m married to a man. Apparently they’re too stupid to understand the difference between bi and gay, so to them I’m a lesbian anyway…). Wisconsin bemoans its inability to draw in educated workers for skilled jobs and it’s “brain drain” of students leaving as fast as they can when they’ve been duped into going to a Wisconsin college, but can’t connect the dots that educated workers are loathe to live the way these Dominionists try to force on you through intimidation and social stigma.

    Ironically, Milwaukee is the only city to have ever had a truly socialist government, several decades ago. It flourished and grew, industry was strong, people flocked to the city. Now it’s swung entirely the opposite and people are leaving like mad.

  • Anonymous

    Yeah, health coverage, work weeks that aren’t seven days a week for 12-16 hrs a day, and overtime pay, are such horrible things. Making companies responsible for how they treat their workers, making them make sure that workplaces aren’t deadly, making them pay something approaching a livable wage. Yeah, that’s so terrible. Worst thing ever.

  • Anonymous

    Local news reports say that he’s primarily “briefed” them to deal with “unrest,” with “staffing prisons” only being one of the things they might be called on to do.

    “However, if there is worker unrest, Walker says the Wisconsin National Guard is prepared to respond. … The governor says he’s briefed the National Guard and other state agencies, to prepare them for any problems with workers, as they learn of Walker’s emergency budget plan.” http://www.wuwm.com/programs/news/view_news.php?articleid=7765 That’s just one example.

    The point is, he specifically brought the National Guard into it as an attempt to keep workers from fighting back. He did it as a threat. Considering he said it just after we were all watching the government bring in police and thugs to try to disperse the protests in Egypt through violence, he was either trying to play off that fear or he’s too stupid to be expected to lead anything. Then again, considering he did such a bad job as county exec in Milwaukee that the city was contemplating removing the position entirely, you might be able to convince me that he really is just that stupid and incapable of understanding how threatening to call in the Guard might be taken by the people he directed it at.

  • Sargeschmidt-rubin

    Eh…no, but ridiculous unsupported statements by people such as yourself? Very much more so

  • Liam_McGonagle

    Yeah, Donovan’s quite the genius, there. His first instinct seems to have been to ignore the broader implications of scabbing, and his first to forget (or remain ignorant of) the meaning of the term “unrest”.

    I personally regard it as incredibly sad that Dumbovan needed you to actually read the thing to him, as if he were an eight-year old. You may not feel this way, but I myself feel that the shithole that Wisconsin is turning into is exactly what we deserve as a culture for tolerating such slovenly stupid mediocrities as Donovan.

    My caustic, nasty approach hasn’t won me any friends, but at this point I’m not sure I give a flying’ fuck. I’m so thoroughly exhausted by the low standards in our society in general that I barely have the energy to post any responses some days. Thanks for taking this one.

  • Anonymous

    P1, S2 s/r ” . . . scabbing, and his SECOND . . ”

    Frickin’ editor mode won’t work.

    Anyhow, you get the point.

  • Anonymous

    Yeah, no worries, I knew what you meant :D

    Don’t be too hard though in this case. I have a few friends who are from the Madison area and Madison is really its own little island in the state (or has been). I would talk about Milwaukee with my Madison friends and they wouldn’t believe me about what was going on there… not til I sent them pictures of the several block long sinkholes along the major non-highway entrance to the city that happened because the maintenance budgets kept getting slashed and raided, and the concrete facing falling off the parking city/county “maintained” parking structures… etc etc. it really is kind of hard to believe how different the areas are for being so close geographically. This is just more of the same crap Walker’s been doing all along.

  • Anonymous

    LOL, in Wisconsin, when even the Packers are against you, you know it’s time to step back. That’s a state that loves their gladiators, er sports figures.

  • Anonymous

    Liam, in case you haven’t seen this: http://www.change.org/petitions/recall-scott-walker

    Not being a resident anymore, my signature would be meaningless but you might want to spread this one around.

  • Liam_McGonagle

    Thanks! Just posted it to Facebook.

  • Don’t shoot
  • Don’t shoot
  • http://twitter.com/SueDinNY SueDinNY

    Unions should NEVER have been allowed in gov’t. It’s a conflict of interest. There’s no incentive for our politicians to curtail expenses because they have an unending flow of money coming from us. All they have to do is say yes to everything. All they care about is the union vote. We now see what 40+ years of unions have done to our schools. The children have been damaged by unions who protect their employees at our children’s expense. They CANNOT be fired. They can be totally incompetent and still keep their jobs. Benefits are out of control with huge pensions and cadillac health care. The time is NOW to shut this down!

  • http://twitter.com/SueDinNY SueDinNY

    Unions should NEVER have been allowed in gov’t. It’s a conflict of interest. There’s no incentive for our politicians to curtail expenses because they have an unending flow of money coming from us. All they have to do is say yes to everything. All they care about is the union vote. We now see what 40+ years of unions have done to our schools. The children have been damaged by unions who protect their employees at our children’s expense. They CANNOT be fired. They can be totally incompetent and still keep their jobs. Benefits are out of control with huge pensions and cadillac health care. The time is NOW to shut this down!

  • http://www.disinfo.com Disinformation

    Good Facebook discussion as well here, thanks Liam for the heads up:

    http://www.facebook.com/disinfo#!/disinfo/posts/152952908095463

  • http://disinfo.com Disinformation

    Good Facebook discussion as well here, thanks Liam for the heads up:

    http://disinfo.com/2011/02/wisconsin-governor-scott-walker-readies-national-guard-against-unions/

  • Pingback: Back to the (Dystopian) Future: Scott Walker’s CV Explains a Lot | Disinformation

  • Pingback: Madison, Wis. – The Cairo of the United States? | Disinformation

  • Pingback: “Herr Prösser?!!”: The Madison Uprising to Shift Gears on April 5th | Disinformation

  • quartz99

    Yeah, health coverage, work weeks that aren’t seven days a week for 12-16 hrs a day, and overtime pay, are such horrible things. Making companies responsible for how they treat their workers, making them make sure that workplaces aren’t deadly, making them pay something approaching a livable wage. Yeah, that’s so terrible. Worst thing ever.

  • Sargeschmidt-rubin

    Eh…no, but ridiculous unsupported statements by people such as yourself? Very much more so