Understanding Government

The big news from Wisconsin yesterday was that the state supreme court upheld the law taking away most collective bargaining rights for state public employees who are neither police nor fire fighters. This is obviously a huge, though expected, victory for Gov. Scott Walker and the state Republican party. One thing to note, though, is that Walker’s anti-government employee agenda has recently met resistance among even Republicans in the state legislature. The legislature rejected a plan to significantly roll back the number of state employees who work on behalf of food stamp and Medicaid recipients. The main result of the anti-public employee union bill may be a backlash on other Walker policies as well.

Gutting the pensions of public employees has become something of an Internet meme in California, where tired talking points about coddled public sector employees appear in comments following almost every story about the state’s budget problems. Meanwhile, John Fensterwald of Thoughts On Public Education writes that reeling in benefits to public employees — especially teachers — may prove more complicated and save less money than those demanding reform imagine. (more…)