Tactic to Pit Worker Against Worker

A conservative issues advocacy group affiliated with Republican strategist Karl Rove (yes, that Karl Rove) has stuck a whole lot of money into union bashing.  Recently, Rove and his group spent $750,000 on a national television ad depicting unions as liberal-backing bullies.

In this Rove advertisement, union members are storming state capitols in order “to protect a system that pays unionized government workers 42% more than non-union workers.”

Once more, politicians are pitting citizen against citizen in hopes that we take our eye off the ball.  It’s done time and again.

To be clear, union members do earn more than non-union members.  How much more?

According to the Freedom Foundation, a group which supports Governor Walker’s efforts,  found that union members make between 11-12% more.

According  to researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, union members earn 5% more.

Economists Keith Bender and John Heywood  seem to support the 5% figure.

In an article in the Green Bay Press Gazette, non-union worker Jimmy Ryan is quoted as saying, “It’s the fear of people unionizing that keeps us making what we make and working the house we do.”

Meanwhile, the teachers’ union in Slinger reconstructed their deal with the Slinger School District and saved the district $1.35 million.

"This is maybe a model of how things of this nature can be handled," Superintendant Robert Reynolds said. "It's more like we didn't sit across the table from each other; we sat around the table with each other and figured it out."

Superintendent Reynolds said it was a negotiator for the teachers union who reached out to him after reading about his concerns about the effects that state education funding cuts could have on the district, given that it had a four-year teachers contract that would remain unaffected by any changes to collective bargaining or benefit levels.

Those unions sure do sound like bullies.

As politicians do their bidding, Nice-Pak Products, Inc. is relocating its production facility from Green Bay to Indiana. 

  

Is it those nasty unions that caused the loss of jobs?  The high taxes perhaps?  NO!

See previous post “My Fellow Citizens, Let’s Be Careful Out There” for that answer. It’s worth saying over and over, like a mantra “Let’s be careful out there.” Don’t get fooled into thinking it’s you vs. me.