By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 5:07 PM on 23rd February 2011
An all-night session of the Wisconsin state Assembly saw Republican senators consider and reject seven of over 200 anticipated objections by state Democrats to Governor Scott Walker’s proposed plans to curb public sector union power.
The state Assembly saw Republicans form a quorum without state Democrats, who fled Wisconsin last week in an attempt to slow down the voting process and give time for state workers and their supporters to take to the streets of the capitol in protest.
Legislation proposed by the newly elected Walker looks to close a budget deficit of $137 million for this fiscal year, and has caused Wisconsin to become a flashpoint for a national debate on curbing labour and union rights.
By 5:30 a.m. today, only seven of the Democrat’s amendments had been considered by the Assembly. All were rejected along party line votes.
Unrest: Thousands of protesters have swarmed capitols across the Midwest over the past nine days to protect their collective bargaining rights while newly elected Governors plan to curb public sector union power
During the meeting state representative Joel Kleefisch urged the missing Democrats to return for the vote.
'You don't like the bill. We get it. So you're going to try to stall it. But at the end of the day a vote is going to come, folks,' Kleefisch said.
Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald pledged that his chamber would approve the bill this week, despite the blizzard of Democratic amendments.
Public employees have said they would agree to some concessions that Walker wants that would amount to an eight per cent pay cut on average, but they want to retain their collective bargaining rights.
One Republican senator has floated an alternative that would make the elimination of those rights temporary.
Walker has rejected both offers, saying local governments and school districts can't be hamstrung by the often lengthy collective bargaining process.
He says they need to have more flexibility to deal with up to $1 billion in cuts he will propose in his budget next week and into the future.
Democrats say that Walker could put an end to the stalemate just by compromising.
Anger: Union workers in Ohio turned up in thousands yesterday as the state's Senate Insurance, Commerce and Labour Committee discussed a new piece of legislation called Senate Bill 5
With police estimating protests in Madison, Wisconsin seeing crowds swell to over 70,000, unrest has spread to several other states where legislation to curb unions collective bargaining rights is or may soon be on the table.
Governors in eight other states - many of them newly-elected Republicans who ran on a platform of getting tough on Unions - are proposing similar legislation to close budget gaps.
In Columbus, Ohio yesterday thousands of protesters flooded the capitol building to be heard while 12 members of Ohio's Senate Insurance, Commerce and Labour Committee discussed a new piece of legislation called Senate Bill 5.
Introduced by Republican state Senator Shannon Jones and supported by GOP Governor John Kasich, Senate Bill 5 looks to abolish collective bargaining rights for some 42,000 state workers, while scaling back the bargaining rights of roughly 300,000 local government employees.
Protest: Ohio's Senate Bill 5 looks to abolish collective bargaining rights for some 42,000 state workers, while scaling back those of roughly 300,000 local government employees
'This is our house, let us in!' became the rallying cry of thousands of state employees, including teachers, police officers and fire fighters and their supporters, who were barred from the Statehouse by public safety officials, who cited safety concerns.
As in Wisconsin, Republicans hold a majority in Ohio’s state Senate, controlling 23 of 33 seats.
37 of 40 Indiana Democrats have mirrored their Wisconsin colleagues and fled the state to avoid a vote on so-called right-to-work legislation, which they oppose along with state labour unions.
Right-to-work laws prohibit agreements between labour unions and employers that make membership or payment of union dues and fees a condition of employment.
Fury: Supporters against Senate Bill 5 say it will serve as a 'union buster' that will force state employees to give up their collective bargaining rights and pay more into their health care and pensions
Republicans have said that they plan to resume business today without the missing Democrats, who by fleeing to Illinois have left the senate chamber short of the two-thirds needed for a quorum.
Democrats have said they’ve fled the state and its police jurisdiction in order to temporarily block the legislation and give the people time to publicly oppose the bill.
With their eyes on their neighbouring states, union members turned up to picket in the state capitol of Lansing, Michigan to publicly oppose newly elected Republican Governor Rick Snyder's calls to tax pensions, along with his backing of emergency financial managers, who cut union contracts when a school or city is foundering
Speaking with Time magazine, Snyder said that he is more prone to negotiation than forcing his legislation through.
Dissent: Over 1000 State workers - including teachers, police officers and fire fighters - and their supporters were barred from Ohio's Statehouse by public safety officials on Tuesday
'It's not confrontational with the unions,' Snyder said. 'It's about how we do collective bargaining to achieve a mutual outcome where we all benefit.'
For now, turmoil in Michigan has been curbed by such willingness to negotiate, and what political director for the Michigan state AFL-CIO union Brent Gillette says are Michigan labour leaders’ focus on targeting specific lobbying efforts, rather than the broad protests seen in Wisconsin.
'As long as [Snyder] is willing to talk to us, negotiate and so on, we are willing to be responsible and not have to go to such extremes as what we feel Wisconsin has done because of the nature of what their governor has proposed,' Gillette said.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1359918/Wisconsin-Republicans-reject-Democrats-amendments-protests-spread.html#ixzz1EoJTLFVn
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