What concerns me most about Wisconsin is that the whole fair employment agreements - public and private are predicated upon the good faith standards put forth by the Hatch Act, the predecessor to the National Labor Relations Board, among others. If a government feels it can just invalidate a large chunk of law, "because times are hard" that is the start of a slide down a slippery slope. The Governor would be wiser to reopen bargaining with the state workers and let the workers decide themselves whether they want to accept some reductions for the good of the whole or strike. In this economy strikes are usually short and decisive as ours was. We wound up splitting the difference. By just killing all of the agreements, the Governor now has a tiger by the tail. A tiger whose rights will be upheld int he Supreme Court. By invalidating contracts he will pay far more in legal bills and lost production rather than going through the bargaining process. Union representation is assured by Federal Law. It is wiser to work with that system than try an end run around it. The crowds in Madison bear that out.
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