Friday, April 8, 2016

Walker's Right To Freeload Law Struck Down

On Friday, the Honorable William Foust ruled that the so-called Right to Work law ramrodded through by WISGOP and Scott Walker was unconstitutional.

The gentle reader can read Foust's ruling here but in brief, he found that the law illegally forced unions to represent non-members without just compensation. To make it worse, this was mandated by the state for the "benefit of the public," even though doing so was in direct violation with state and federal labor laws.

In other words, per the standing law, if a union is representing a majority of workers at a place of employment, it is because the majority of workers voted for it.  The law also forbids unions from discriminating against nonmembers when they represent them in contract negotiations, grievances and/or disciplinary hearings.  In compensation for their services, nonmembers are required to pay a nominal "fair share."

The Right to Freeload law was just that.  It said that unions had to provide these services without being compensated for it.  In other words, it was legalized theft.  It would be like a person taking a taxi but then refusing to pay the fare because they chose not to.

The really ironic part which the ruling didn't address is that the Republicans were authorizing the theft of the unions' services because it would benefit the public by creating a more favorable business climate for the state.

However, the proof is that it did anything but that.  Wisconsin is still lagging behind the rest of the nation in economic growth and job creation.  Of course, this is not surprising unless one was gullible enough to think that Walker and the other corporate puppets were actually being honest about their reasoning for it.

8 comments:

  1. Time for Rebecca to "be your public servant."

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  2. If anyone believes that the most informed primary voters (Bernie supporters because the republican party is so toxic and Hillary is tied to the same financial interests) and that these same voters, highly motivated and even willing to stand in long lines for hours; somehow did not choose to vote for a Supreme Court Justice in essentiallyt he exact margin of "victory" the media proclaims elected Bradley -- then those fools deserve everything the republicans do to this state.

    MEMO TO PROGRESSIVES: ELECTIONS ARE BEING STOLEN, THE MEDIA IS COMPLICIT, AND OUR CURRENT ONE-PARTY STATE IS ENTIRELY ILLEGITIMATE.

    The Wisconsin Constitution demands that the power to govern be given by consent of the people -- THIS HAS NOT HAPPENED SINCE REPUBLICANS HAVE REGULARLY STOLEN ELECTIONS WITH VOTER SUPPRESSION, GERRYMANDERING, AND OUTRIGHT ELECTION FRAUD!

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  3. What are you doing then WTPODC...posting on here? Get off your ass and demand to see the ballots. I called my district in deep red Mequon and found they're aleady gone? Where the hell did they go? Why are we all just sitting around? What do we have to do to get our hands on the ballots? Funny how I must show who I am to cast a ballot but I received nothing to prove who I voted for was actually who the voting machine counted.

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    1. You might want to give this a read.
      http://isthmus.com/opinion/madland/why-did-kloppenburg-do-so-poorly-in-milwaukee-county/

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    2. What am I doing? Looking for some collaborators to break this story and talking with some of the best election integrity analysis in the U.S.

      I am off my ass and your reply is offensive because you assumed otherwise -- people like you are part of the problem.

      Let me know if you actually want to work on doing something constructive instead of just bashing people you know nothing about and slandering them in a public forum.

      I have done a great deal to promote election integrity in Wisconsin, but there are always people like you that should be on "our" side, but instead just attack -- sure, it's possible you are a troll.

      Maybe you are one of these contrarians that can't say anything reasonable about anyone else -- narcissist perhaps?

      How about you get off your @ss and quit attacking people that are beginning to strategize a response?

      Frankly, it is people like you that make me consider giving-up and letting the repugs steal it all -- perhaps that is the only way people like you will learn that "action" is not pounding on your keyboard attacking others for that which you will not or cannot do.

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    3. Bernie -- I saw this and probably before you. What is curious is how your source just responds that this is a curious phenomina, but then hoists the propaganda that it is Sander's fault because, unlike the democratic party, it is solely his duty to to make sure stooopid people vote for more than the national primary race.

      I am hearing that Kloppenburg did not want the party to help educate the public about this race -- in 2011 when they stole the race on a bogus recount (putting Choke-A-Palooza Psycho-Judge Prosser in for another term), she terribly under-performed in Milwaukee -- likely due to a very poor effort to get out the vote and inform the public why the race mattered.

      There are legitimate election integrity issues in this week's race -- I would not trust the media narrative, nor should anyone consider anything published by Isthmus as the definitive story -- but at least they were willing to publish a story that outcome appears irrational.

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  4. You mentioned Federal law. If that is in the decision and it is taken all the way to the US Supreme Court it might have a chance of holding. But with the current collection of "tough on crime" hacks now on the Wisconsin court it will get shot down in minutes even if they skip oral arguments....

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    1. US Supreme Court is neutered for the foreseeable future -- if Bernie were to win White House, they wouldn't approve any of his nominees (and they won't for Clinton either).

      We have a full-blown constitutional crisis right now that has been developing for years -- entirely unreported by the media.

      If this gets hauled into Federal Court, the SCOTUS will not be able to do anything but let lower-court rulings stand with 4/4 votes.

      Ironic this comes out after stolen Wisconsin Supreme Court race. There were enough hacks on the bench to rule for Walker even if Kloppenburg was seated, but then if the rule-of-law had demanded the judges that took millions from the same folks underwriting this unconstitutional seizure of union funds recuse themselves, perhaps justice could have prevailed.

      As it is, the media has set us up against each other, blaming Bernie for not "playing ball" with corporate and corrupt democrats. The celebration over this decision will be very short-lived and it will not matter if it gets yanked into federal court as any ruling that upholds the law will stand as there is no viable path to get a decision from SCOTUS.

      This is why the repugs are neutering the court -- but wait until November -- this will be used to steal the White House and maintain control of Congress too.

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