Thursday, June 30, 2011

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: This is a stick-up. Your pension or your job.

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: This is a stick-up. Your pension or your job.

This is a stick-up. Your pension or your job.

Mugging in Milwaukee

Supt. Thornton just fired 519 city teachers. Now he is threatening massive lay-offs unless the 5,600 members of the Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association would agree to pay $20 million more into their own pension fund. Of course there is no guarantee that a pension give-back, once surrendered, would prevent more firings.


MTEA President Bob Peterson released a statement Wednesday night defending the union's refusal to make pension concessions. He also criticized Gov. Scott Walker and the Legislature's Republican leadership.

Instead of creating jobs, Peterson said,
"Gov. Walker and his Republican supporters have forced the