Wisconsin Governor-elect Scott Walker Proposes Ending Service Unions in Wisconsin

Scott Walker is making proposals that will save Wisconsin taxpayers from large amounts of debt. Let's hope he gets support and carries them out.

One of his most impressive proposals is ending public service unions in Illinois. These unions have created large amounts of debt for every state through mismanaged pension plans, and it's time for them to go.

Governor-elect Scott Walker raised the possibility of essentially abolishing state employee unions on Tuesday as one option to control rising employee benefits costs and eliminate the state's budget deficit.

Walker, a Republican, said he's looking at a range of options that would weaken unions, including eliminating their ability to negotiate with the state.

"Anything from the decertify all the way through modifications of the current laws in place," Walker said at a luncheon sponsored by the Milwaukee Press Club at the Newsroom Pub.

"The bottom line is that we are going to look at every legal means we have to try to put that balance more on the side of taxpayers and the people who care about services."

Walker's comments were an escalation of an aggressive posture he's taken with state unions as he prepares to take office on Jan. 3.

Walker said the state's red ink and his pledge to focus on economic recovery require cuts in workers' health and pension benefits.

"You are not going to hear me degrade state and local employees in the public sector," Walker said. "But we can no longer live in a society where the public employees are the haves and taxpayers who foot the bills are the have-nots."

As a short-term measure, Walker wants to require workers to make a 5% contribution to their pensions. State union workers have traditionally not contributed to their plans. He also wants to increase employees' share of health costs to 12% - up from 4% to 6%, depending on the bargaining unit. Those changes would save $154 million from January to June 30 alone.