by SJGulitti
Scott Walker’s Trials and Travails Continue
10:12 am in Uncategorized by SJGulitti
Scott Walker - Cartoon by DonkeyHotey, on Flickr
“While certain statutory obligations regarding publication of Act 10 have been satisfied by the Legislative Reference Bureau, the statutory obligation that relates to the effective date of Act 10 has not yet been satisfied by the Secretary of State, and at this time the Secretary’s actions remain subject to the temporary restraining order issued in Dane County Circuit Court.” The legislation has now been twice enjoined and more likely than not will end up before the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Governor Walker’s problems have now mushroomed past the mere specifics and technicalities that exist in the legal realm. For one thing, actions beyond his electoral mandate have served to galvanize support for the rights of collective bargaining in spite of the fact that many people remain skeptical about the role of unions. Citing a New York Times/CBS News poll from late February:
“Americans oppose weakening the bargaining rights of public employee unions by a margin of nearly two to one: 60 percent to 33 percent. While a slim majority of Republicans favored taking away some bargaining rights, they were outnumbered by large majorities of Democrats and independents who said they opposed weakening them. Those surveyed said they opposed, 56 percent to 37 percent, cutting the pay or benefits of public employees to reduce deficits… The poll found that an overwhelming 71 percent of Democrats opposed weakening collective bargaining rights. But there was also strong opposition from independents: 62 percent of them said they opposed taking bargaining rights away from public employee unions.”
A compendium of poll results available on this issue appearing in PollingReport.com reveals that the public generally supports the right to engage in collective bargaining, often by large margins.
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