# Wisconsin GOP passes union-stripping bill **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 10, 2011, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wisconsin-gop-passes-union-stripping-bill/574111 "2011-03-10T00:56:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sully](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/48db29/32.png) [@Sully](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sully)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wisconsin-gop-passes-union-stripping-bill/574111/1 "2011-03-10T00:56:41Z")
Is anyone surprised by these weasels? [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41996994/ns/politics-more\_politics/](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41996994/ns/politics-more_politics/) ---
**Author:** ![TravisFromOR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cc9497/32.png) [@TravisFromOR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TravisFromOR)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wisconsin-gop-passes-union-stripping-bill/574111/2 "2011-03-10T01:01:00Z")
Did they give notice of this vote? If not, was the vote even legal? ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wisconsin-gop-passes-union-stripping-bill/574111/3 "2011-03-10T01:04:13Z")
Yes, how dare those republicans be the first ones in Wisconsin to do something ‘weasel-y’!! Scandalous! Scandalous! ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wisconsin-gop-passes-union-stripping-bill/574111/4 "2011-03-10T01:05:01Z")
Hey, elections have consequences, right? ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wisconsin-gop-passes-union-stripping-bill/574111/5 "2011-03-10T01:07:37Z")
Isn’t that what Walker promised, that got him elected? (Correct me if I’m wrong.) ---
**Author:** ![Brad\_the\_Impaler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8dc957/32.png) [@Brad\_the\_Impaler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brad_the_Impaler)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wisconsin-gop-passes-union-stripping-bill/574111/6 "2011-03-10T01:10:38Z")
Someone tell me again it’s about the budget and not union busting? Please? ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wisconsin-gop-passes-union-stripping-bill/574111/7 "2011-03-10T01:10:43Z")
My favorite part from the linked article: > [@](#): > > Stripping out the collective-bargaining provisions into a “non-fiscal” bill raises questions about the governor’s and the Republicans’ argument that the issue of collective bargaining rights is crucial to the budget. It was a lie. Always was a lie. And they just admitted it. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wisconsin-gop-passes-union-stripping-bill/574111/8 "2011-03-10T01:11:22Z")
Kind of strips the veneer off the claim that union-busting is required for the budget, doesn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wisconsin-gop-passes-union-stripping-bill/574111/9 "2011-03-10T01:12:23Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > Hey, elections have consequences, right? And consequences have consequences. Let’s hear no complaining when the unions shut down the state with a general strike. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wisconsin-gop-passes-union-stripping-bill/574111/10 "2011-03-10T01:15:46Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Isn’t that what Walker promised, that got him elected? (Correct me if I’m wrong.) No. He said nothing about busting the unions in his campaign. That’s what they voted on tonight. The fiscal stuff that he _did_ campaign on was not in the bill that was just passed. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wisconsin-gop-passes-union-stripping-bill/574111/11 "2011-03-10T01:16:03Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > It was a lie. Always was a lie. And they just admitted it. Don’t be silly. They couldn’t pass it as part of the budget bill, so they passed in another, perfectly legal method, with immense advance notice. Are you really surprised? Must you assign malign motive? Well, you’re liberal, so the answer is presumably yes. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wisconsin-gop-passes-union-stripping-bill/574111/12 "2011-03-10T01:22:26Z")
> [@Lamar\_Mundane](#): > > No. He said nothing about busting the unions in his campaign. That’s what they voted on tonight. The fiscal stuff that he _did_ campaign on was not in the bill that was just passed. Didn’t you even notice when **Musicat** dug a hole on the trail, covered it over with leaves, then ran snickering behind the bushes to watch? A whoosh-trap. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wisconsin-gop-passes-union-stripping-bill/574111/13 "2011-03-10T01:23:52Z")
I said it before, I expected that the Republicans would win this battle, but not by doing what is the equivalent of going for an incomplete in a college course. I also mentioned that having won this battle I thought that they were going to lose the war, and now it is more likely IMHO as the way they did it betrays the reasons that they gave for the change regarding collective bargaining. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wisconsin-gop-passes-union-stripping-bill/574111/14 "2011-03-10T01:27:23Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > …Must you assign malign motive?.. What malign motive? They are simply trying to use the legislature as a resource to augment their political power. By any means necessary. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wisconsin-gop-passes-union-stripping-bill/574111/15 "2011-03-10T01:27:41Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > They couldn’t pass it as part of the budget bill, > … Gosh, why not? Because it had nothing to do with the budget? ---
**Author:** ![ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wisconsin-gop-passes-union-stripping-bill/574111/16 "2011-03-10T01:48:22Z")
So what now? ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wisconsin-gop-passes-union-stripping-bill/574111/17 "2011-03-10T01:56:30Z")
> [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](#): > > So what now? The missing senators return, budget is passed (now that the public union collective bargaining part is a done deal). Then, the slow inexorable decline in the quality of life in Wisconsin will be blamed on the Democrats somehow. I don’t know how this will be done, but there are probably already plans in the works ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wisconsin-gop-passes-union-stripping-bill/574111/18 "2011-03-10T01:57:05Z")
I’ve seen things, I’ve seen bridges burning off the shoulders of Madison… They had to. They had to come away with something. The have the backing of a substantial minority, maybe 25-30%. But it is the backing of an hysterically motivated minority, people who are going to vote. So Wisconsin Republican politicians come in two variety: the ones who wholeheartedly agree with every jot and tittle of the Teahadist movement, and the ones who are scared to death someone will find out they don’t. They could not compromise, could not make a deal. If they did, they might very well lose even that minority support. Who’s their base then? The reasonable Republicans, the kind that drove your Dad’s Oldsmobile? They have to gamble that somehow, some way, they can cover all of this over before they have to face another election, gamble that the other side won’t be motivated enough to show up, pray for a miracle. Of course, it could be nothing more complicated than schoolyard culture in the halls of power. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wisconsin-gop-passes-union-stripping-bill/574111/19 "2011-03-10T02:21:19Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > Kind of strips the veneer off the claim that union-busting is required for the budget, doesn’t it? Sure but I am willing to bet the Governor will say they had a dysfunctional legislature and in the interests of allowing the state to get back to business as usual he removed a roadblock. Further, this measure will enable them to better control spending in the future. FTR I am with you on the bullshit here but betting that is the case that will be made (or something like it). Further, the Dems now cannot remain absent and say it is all about stripping rights. They have to come back. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2011, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wisconsin-gop-passes-union-stripping-bill/574111/20 "2011-03-10T02:31:29Z")
Any predictions? Will people go home figuring it is a fait accompli or are we about to see the re-birth of serious labor conflicts? It looked like Walker was going to lose. He simply could not abide that so he doubled-down and is calling labor’s bluff. Gutsy play if it works. My opinion is labor needs to go to the mat on this one. Strikes, protests, endless fucking with the governor. If not they are well and truly fucked. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wisconsin-gop-passes-union-stripping-bill/574111.md?page=2)