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Subscribe to RSSThe Boston Globe’s top story: “House lawmakers voted overwhelmingly last night to strip police officers, teachers, and other municipal employees of most of their rights to bargain over health care, saying the change would save millions of dollars for financially strapped cities and towns. The 111-to-42 vote followed tougher measures to broadly eliminate collective bargaining rights for public employees in Ohio, Wisconsin, and other states. But unlike those efforts, the push in Massachusetts was led by Democrats who have traditionally stood with labor to oppose any reduction in workers’ rights.”
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Total idiots !
You have got to be kidding!
The House in Massachusetts is controlled by Democrats. They hold a 128-32 supermajority over Republicans.
Hopefully the usual suspects will offer long posts pointing out the injustice here.
But somehow, I doubt it.
lol
The ususal suspects.
"The biggest triumph the devil ever had was to convince the world he was a myth." Kaiser Soza. The usual suspects was a great movie.
As I don't live in Mass. will not be able to leave a long post. However, I find it perplexing. It doesn't fit the narrative that the Democrats would stand with the people. I guess this is the result of a scared democratic party falling over themselves trying to please the right and falling all over themselves as they trample their public sector constituents. It is a sad day when even these democratic legislators but into the scapegoating of public employees.
I will wait for an explanation from someone who is knowledgeable about all of the localized facts.
Sorry, Mark-
You're not one of the "usual suspects" I was referring to.
You have distinct political views, but I'm afraid you're no ideologue.
This news doesn't fit into the narrative that the usual suspects engage in.
As first glance, it would appear that it certainly should.
I mean, c'mon...the bargaining rights of public service employees?
However...
The villains here are all wrong.
So...the usual suspects will have little to say and be eager to move on to something important.
Like President Obama's birth certificate, for example.
When dems oppose unions it won't be long before pigs begin to fly! The only conclusion to be made is our country is in such dire straits and having overcommitted our resources to pay the outlandish benefits granted to public employees, there is no other course of action. The recession has produced a silver lining and that is exposure of the inequities between what Joe taxpayer's wage and benefits are and what public employees have. Democrats must sense they will be in for an ass whipping in coming MA elections because we know they did not do it on principles as they were the primary partners of labor in creating this disaster. The only caveat for MA taxpayers is to be alert to how any reforms are structured. I am sure there have been converstions between MA dems and the public employee labor basically agreeing "it is better dems force these changes on labor rather than repubs because we will include contingencies that allow labor to recover their golden goose at a later date". Labor understands that a repub legislature is likely to make the changes permanent. As in the Wisconsin confrontation what labor fears most is once the law is in place for a few years the recently aroused taxpayers will come to like their new found control over the public unions (which is the way it used to be and the right way at that)
kick those dems out, now! they don't deserve a role in my party.
Democratic lawmakers best be careful, and start representing the people that brought them to the dance. If organized labor and others concerned with workers rights start a movement to hold them accountable, it will make the Tea Party look lame. It might be time to start challenging Democrats in the primaries, sometimes it is this simple you are part of the problem or you are part of the solution.
Why didn't those Republican lawmakers run and hide in Maine:)?
It's simply amazing that this went through and there was not one protest on the MA capital grounds!
The fact is, these kinds of steps ARE needed because benifits packages are drowning the cities and states in oceans of debt. When repulicans are in charge the left is up in arms because they see a chance to demonize the opposition... when democrats pass it there is nothing but silence.
As with so many issues today, a story is only as important as it's potential to support liberalism or vilify conservatives.