Gov. Walker's Overreach
I have been following with great interest the spiritedexchange between my colleagues Harold Meyerson andChuck Lane over Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's proposals going after the collective bargaining rights of public employee unions. I think Walker is wrong on this, and here's why.
Harold, Chuck and I, I think, can agree that when states, counties or localities face big budget shortfalls, it's not unreasonable for the politicians who lead those jurisdictions to ask for givebacks from public employees: Wage freezes, higher pension or health-care contributions, furloughs, which amount to wage cuts, or even, in dire circumstances, outright wage cuts. Yes, and there are always layoffs. We might disagree among ourselves over how much is reasonable to ask of public employees in various circumstances, but I don't think there's a
