Reality Check: Wisconsin Unions Have Already Agreed to Major Concessions
My comments section is happily overflowing with debate over Scott Walker and the Wisconsin union protests. I've noticed that, more than any issue, people seem to be irked by the fact that public sector workers contribute so little to the cost of their health insurance compared to private sector workers.
So I just want to point out that Wisconsin's unions have already agreed to $30 million in pay cuts and to increase their members' pension and insurance contributions. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports:
Earlier Friday, Marty Beil, head of the Wisconsin State Employees Union, said his members would agree to pay more of their pension contributions and health insurance benefits as Walker is demanding. But Beil said his union would never agree to give up decades-old bargaining rights.
Beil's union is part of AFSCME, the largest state and local employee union in Wisconsin, which represents 68,000 workers for the state, Milwaukee, Milwaukee County and other municipalities. An AFSCME spokesman said Beil was speaking for all the group's union locals in the state.
"We are prepared to implement the financial concessions proposed to help bring our state's budget into
