A USA Today/Gallup poll released today confirms the findings of an AFL-CIO poll released earlier this week. The public strongly supports collective bargaining for public employee unions. The margin is 61-33%--not even close. This is a strong affirmation of Wisconsin-ites protesting against Gov. Scott Walker's proposal to end collective bargaining.
Feeling the heat, Gov. Walker delivered a ten-minute speech tonight, most of which seemed lame and off-point. He kept talking about the budget, for example, when the public employee unions have already conceded on salary and benefits. Meanwhile, the Governor's position is not helped by more information coming to light concerning his close ties to the Koch brothers.
It's starting to look like some people have misplayed their hand. The working people of Ohio are pushing back hard against an anti-union bill pushed by GOP Governor John Kasich, while, over in Indiana, an astute GOP governor suggests his party not try to end collective bargaining.
You can see how they got there. In the circles frequented by Gov. Walker, most everybody hates unions. In their world, it's a no-brainer. That attitude turns out, however, to be less representative of the public as a whole than they figured.
The timing is probably not a coincidence, but today and tomorrow, my little campus is voting for the faculty to have collective bargaining! Two other campuses voted in unions last fall, and 4 more are scheduled to vote this spring.
We're hoping for a real party tomorrow when the voting is done!
Posted by: heather | February 23, 2011 at 03:57 PM
Strike while the iron is hot, so to speak. PE unions are probably more popular in Wisconsin now than they have been for awhile.
Posted by: John Petty | February 27, 2011 at 08:35 AM