Like many states in the union, Wisconsin is facing budget issues as a result of the economic recession. To mitigate the budget crisis within his state, Gov. Scott Walker is attempting to pass a budget bill that would effectively remove the collective-bargaining rights of public employees. It should be noted that before the bill’s proposal, Wisconsin teachers agreed to take pay cuts in light of the state’s poor economy as long as they were able to negotiate the cuts as a group.
Public school teachers play a crucial role in American society. Performing noble work for mediocre compensation, they help shape the future. Despite curriculum requirements and a lack of public resources, they still manage to empower and enrich the minds of students. They educate those who cannot afford a private education, and they pave the road for students toward new opportunities to better themselves and their communities. Some of teachers work in dangerous inner-city neighborhoods, and others deal with special needs students who require a large amount of time and effort. They preserve democracy and prevent our country from becoming a plutocracy. To deny their importance would be unpatriotic in every sense of the word.
Apparently Walker does not agree.
Walker has a stark agenda influenced by private donor David Koch, whose advertising campaign centers around the current highest salary of a Wisconsin school teacher — more than $80,000 — and the economic impacts on the state. The campaign puts a connotation of “sinful” on teachers’ nine-month work year, and it depicts their lifestyle as one of luxury on the tax-payer’s dime. In addition to the campaign, Wisconsin’s capital has been accused of blocking a pro-union website. What’s more,  members of union movement American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations continue to be labeled as “cop-haters” by conservative pundits.
Though the bill would cut teachers’ salaries and their right to negotiate, it would simultaneously allot new funds for transportation services that are outsourced to private companies. Since the bill’s proposal, 14 Democratic senators have left the state in an effort to protest and keep the bill from being passed in the state legislature.
Walker said he would not talk to anyone from the press, but the editor of the online Buffalo Beast made a prank this week that led to new developments in the story.
Pretending to be David Koch and making up a phony story about losing his phone, the editor was granted access to Walker. During the conversation, Walker said he was threatening the 14 senators with direct deposit halts, arrest warrants and worker layoffs. He referred to the one approachable democrat as “not one of us,” and openly responded to one of the editor’s statements with, “You’re not talking to any of these democrat bastards, are you?”
Since the online fiasco, more and more protests have emerged throughout the state of Wisconsin. The Wisconsin police are standing in solidarity with the workers, refusing to obey Walker’s order to guard the Capitol building. As a state, they are demonstrating the importance of unions and collective bargaining rights.
If the protestors’ demands are ignored and the 14 missing senators are blackmailed into returning to the state, the bill will likely pass within the Wisconsin Senate, given the Republican majority. This could cause a domino effect of similar legislation throughout the country.
Public schools have faced continuous budget cuts since the turn of the millennium — from elementary schools to universities. If Walker’s bill is passed, it will not only hurt Wisconsin teachers, but it will also discourage working for public schools nationwide. While places like India are investing in education, Wisconsin is demonstrating that America has other priorities. For the well-being of the public sector, all measures should be taken to prevent Walker’s bill from being passed.
 
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