Dear Editors,

As I’m sure you know, our governor has proposed a budget repair bill that would reduce the collective bargaining power of public employee unions to salaries. To evaluate this, think about what unions do. Unions gather employees to negotiate against the employer. The employer of public employees, however, is the people of the state. So, a public employee union negotiates against the people. Unlike private workers, public employees have the right to affect their employment at the ballot box if they need better working conditions. Public employee unions strangle the democratic will of the people, and our governor’s budget fix will restore state government to the people.

This is not at all about “rights.” What is really happening is that a politically connected elite, which has dominated the state for decades, is finally going to lose its privilege over public services. Like slave owners in 1860 fought to keep their oppressive privilege while claiming to support “rights,” the union bosses simply seek to keep their unfair privilege. This is why they are willing to risk layoffs for their own workers and deny kids a day of school. The right to vote out the state government will not disappear.

Indeed, this bill gives workers more rights. Why should the union bosses have the right to force every state employee to join them? The workers can’t go work somewhere else; there’s only one state government. Like Lincoln, our governor will restore rights. Our state workers will now be able to choose whether they want to join a union, allowing them to keep the money they must now obligatorily spend on dues, and we as voters will no longer be denied control of our own government.

The people have spoken to take the state government back. Every two years, everyone, not just the public unions, has a chance to give their voice to the state government in an election, and Wisconsin’s people spoke loud and clear. Scott Walker won 59 of Wisconsin’s 72 counties, 20 of them by more than 20 points. In my home county of Washington, voters went three to one for Walker. Walker speaks for the people; it is the unions who are
dictating. It can be hard to see from the Madison bubble, but this is our Wisconsin.

Finally, I ask my fellow students what are the student issues. We did not come here to be students forever. The point was to increase our chances of being hired. Though our chances of getting a job with a pension contribution of only 5 percent are not great, we’re not likely
to find a job in a state where politically privileged unions can hijack the government at any time. Students are best served when our families and future employers are unburdened from paying the unions. We must join with our governor to take back Wisconsin for the people.

Sean Rao ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in international studies