Unintimidated, by Scott Walker: on Jobs

Barack Obama: No assault on unions: don't denigrate public employees

Of course, we had not "vilified" anyone. If anything, I had bent over backward to avoid criticizing public workers. Moreover, we were giving our public workers in WI a much better deal than President Obama gives most federal workers in Washington, DC.

To the contrary, Obama unilaterally froze their pay--and he didn't have to get permission from a union steward to do it. If limiting collective bargaining in WI constituted an "attack on unions," then why didn't the president champion giving collective bargaining powers to workers at the federal level?

Butch Otter: Restrict collective bargaining in public schools

Just look at what some of our nation's Republican reformers have accomplished at the state level: In Idaho, Governor Butch Otter passed legislation in 2011 that restricts collective bargaining for Idaho schools, institutes merit pay, and eliminates teacher tenure. And there are countless other examples. In NJ, Governor Chris Christie enacted a 2% cap on property taxes, passed public employee pension and health benefit reforms that will save taxpayers more than $130 billion over the next 30 years, balanced 4 budgets without raising taxes, and gave taxpayers $2.35 billion in job-creating tax cuts.

Jimmy Carter: 1978 Civil Service Reform Act limited collective bargaining

John Kasich: No strikes allowed for public employees

One big difference between our bill and the bill in Ohio was that we exempted firefighters and police officers from our collective bargaining reforms. Kasich had not. This allowed the unions to cast Kasich as an enemy of public safety.

Kasich never got a chance to implement his reforms. Kasich's opponents simply needed to gather 230,000 signatures to trigger a referendum. By July 2011, they had gathered 1.3 million. That meant his reform law was immediately suspended and put on the ballot, where it was repealed before the changes could take effect. Ohio voters never got an opportunity to see whether or not the reforms had worked as Kasich promised.

Mitch Daniels: Got rid of collective bargaining for state employees

Mitch told me his reform had been a huge success. Eliminating collective bargaining saved taxpayers buckets of money, he said, but those savings were only the secondary benefit. The primary benefit was the flexibility to make state government perform better.

None of the hundreds of operational reforms he enacted during his 2 terms in office--from consolidating state agencies to privatizing toll roads--would have been possible if he had been required to put each decision through excruciating negotiations and compromises with the unions. Getting rid of collective bargaining freed him to act--to downsize government offices, shift workers from one job to another, and to make dysfunctional agencies functional again.

Mitch Daniels: Make union membership optional for government employees

They were right. Once the WI supreme court upheld Act 10, and the paycheck protection provision went into effect, many public workers did in fact decide to keep the money. In August 2011 "the statewide teachers union issued layoff notices to 42 employees, about 40% of its staff."

In March 2011, when we passed our reforms, membership in AFSCME stood at 62,818. A year later, membership had fallen by more than half to 28,745. It was exactly as Mitch Daniels had predicted.

Mitt Romney: Message of Wisconsin: no more teachers, firemen, or cops

Unfortunately, it was Romney who did not get the message of WI. In one of my first campaign ads for the recall, I had looked into the camera and said: "We saved taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars and kept thousands of teachers, firefighters, and police officers on the job."

Our reforms had protected the jobs of firemen, policemen, and teachers. We had avoided the mass layoffs of public workers that local communities were facing in other states across America. The message of Wisconsin was not that the American people want fewer people, or police, or firefighters.

Scott Walker: Make union membership optional for government employees

1. We would limit collective bargaining to base wages capped at the CPI.
2. No other issues would be subject to bargaining including benefits such as health insurance.
3. Instead of barring the unions from negotiating with the government, we would require that they first demonstrate they had the support of a majority of all their members by holding an annual recertification vote.
4. We required teachers and other public employees to contribute at least 5.8% of their salaries toward the cost of their pensions, and to pay 12.6% of their health insurance premiums.
5. Finally, we made union membership optional.

Scott Walker: Union bosses donate to campaigns, then get sweetheart deals

1. The government automatically collects compulsory union dues from the paychecks of public workers.
2. The government then gives the money to the union bosses.
3. The union bosses then give that money to pro-union politicians campaign contributions.
4. The union-backed politicians use that money to get elected
5. Once elected, the union-backed politicians then sit across the table from the union bosses to "negotiate"--purportedly on behalf of the taxpayers.
6. But instead of representing the taxpayers, they do the bidding of the unions by providing excessive wages, benefits, and pensions.
7. They line the pockets of union bosses through sweetheart deals.
8. Taxpayers lose tens of millions every year in higher costs.
9. The cycle starts all over again.

Scott Walker: When given the choice, employees don't choose union

For unions, this was the core of their opposition. Paycheck protection gave government workers the right to choose whether or not to join a union and pay union dues. The unions didn't want them to have that choice.

Once the WI supreme court upheld Act 10, and the paycheck protection provision went into effect, many public workers did in fact decide to keep the money. In August 2011 "the statewide teachers union issued layoff notices to 42 employees, about 40% of its staff." In March 2011, when we passed our reforms, membership in AFSCME stood at 62,818. A year later, membership had fallen to 28,745.

Scott Walker: Federal employees have limited collective bargaining power

Ever since 1978, when President Jimmy Carter signed into law the Civil Service Reform Act, collective bargaining for federal employees has been severely limited. Today, federal workers cannot bargain for benefits or wages, and cannot be compelled to join a union or pay union dues. I don't recall President Obama suggesting that they were being abused in any way, or lifting a finger to right this supposed injustice. To the contrary, Obama unilaterally froze their pay--and he didn't have to get permission from a union steward to do it. If limiting collective bargaining in WI constituted an "attack on unions," then why didn't the president champion giving collective bargaining powers to workers at the federal level?

Tea Party: Wisconsin: counter-protest to abolish collective bargaining

Tea Party groups organized a counterprotest that day. I was grateful for their support, but having seen how some of the union protestors accosted Republican legislators and officials, I worried how they might respond to a sizable contingent of conservatives. I spent much of that day praying for the safety of folks on both sides, and asking my staff for regular updates. Thankfully, while there was some yelling back and forth, nothing happened.

Tom Barrett: 2011 TV Ad: Wisconsin dead last in job creation

It was a powerful attack, and it was starting to work. But then Mayor Barrett made a strategic error. He suddenly stopped talking about jobs and started running multiple ads attacking me over misconduct by some of my former aides in Milwaukee County. The following year, I was cleared.

The jobs statistics Barrett had been citing were not accurate. Unfortunately, the final BLS report for 2011 that would have undermined Barrett's charges was not scheduled to come out until 3 weeks after the recall election.