Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s bill to restrict public employee unions exempted law enforcement personnel. But evidently not all police officers go along with this bid to split them from their fellow workers.
Here’s a press release from the Wisconsin Professional Police Association, the police union, from last Friday.
MADISON – Following action by lawmakers to approve a rule change that clears the way for closing down the State Capitol and ejecting the people protesting Governor Walker’s bill to curtail union activity, the head of the Wisconsin Professional Police Association called on the governor today to keep the capitol building open and allow the peaceful protesters to remain.
The law enforcement officers from across the state that have been working at the Capitol and have been very impressed with how peaceful everyone has been, said WPPA Executive Director Jim Palmer. As has been reported in the media, the protesters are cleaning up after themselves and have not caused any problems. The fact of that matter is that Wisconsin’s law enforcement community opposes Governor Walker’s effort to eliminate most union activity in this state, and we implore him to not do anything to increase the risk to officers and the public. The costs of providing security can never outweigh those associated with a conflict.
Palmer also announced that, beginning tonight, the WPPA is formally requesting its members from across the state to come to the Capitol to sleep amongst the throngs of other union supporters.
Law enforcement officers know the difference between right and wrong, and Governor Walker’s attempt to eliminate the collective voice of Wisconsin’s devoted public employees is wrong, continued Palmer. That is why we have stood with our fellow employees each day and why we will be sleeping among them tonight.
via American Everyman.
Then there’s this, a post from last Thursday on the web log of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union representing Los Angeles police officers.
Madison, Wisconsin is 2,000 miles away from Los Angeles, but the political attacks against unions there to eliminate basic protections for workers warrant our full attention and strong opposition.
As widely covered by the media in recent weeks, Wisconsin’s Republican governor, Scott Walker, is moving to strip the majority of non-safety public employees of most of their collective bargaining rights. The shocking plan has prompted massive protests and a walkout by Democratic lawmakers there, and has led to increasingly large rallies across the nation.
An attack on the collective bargaining process in any of the 50 states is an attack on every unionized worker in America. California, long a pro-labor state, is no exception. Following the Wisconsin governor’s lead, a Republican state assemblyman from Costa Mesa has announced legislation to eliminate collective bargaining for pension benefits by California’s public employees. While Assemblyman Allan Mansoor’s bill – aimed at addressing the increasing costs of retired public employees – stands little chance of passage in the Democrat-controlled Legislature, it serves as a reminder that we must remain vigilant and prepared to take action whenever our basic union rights are threatened.
The thinking behind these attacks is fuzzy at best. For starters, it’s bad politics. A new USA Today/Gallup Poll shows that Americans strongly oppose laws taking away the collective bargaining rights of public employee unions. It found that 61 percent would oppose a law in their state similar to the plan in Wisconsin, and only 33 percent would favor it.
Union leaders and workers throughout the U.S. aren’t taking anything for granted. They are organizing and participating in rallies to show support for Wisconsin working families. More than 2,000 state and local government workers gathered at the State Capitol in Sacramento Tuesday night at a hastily organized rally to support their counterparts in Wisconsin.
A way you can help is by backing candidates who can be counted on to uphold the rights of unions and preserve the collective bargaining process. This is why we perform our due-diligence before every election to endorse only the candidates worthy of the support of the League and its members.
Our brothers and sisters in Wisconsin are under attack. They need and deserve our support. The time to pull together is NOW.
via LAPPL Blog.
The LAPPL board of directors backtracked a little on this after getting an adverse reaction from some of their members. What you can say is that members of the police are not monolithic in their opinions, no more than any other group.
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