Thread: Protesting in Wisconsin....Just the beginning?

The tumult being seen across the globe stems from economic hardship.

I'm finding the protests in Wisconsin very interesting to watch. I think protests such as these are the tip of the iceberg in this country for the simple fact that IMO, what is happening in Wisconsin is quite simply reaction and protest by government and government related workers vs. the plight and hardship the rest of the citizenry has been experiencing for some time now.

I worked in a municipal job from 1997-2001 in Minnesota and to be honest, I was actually a bit ashamed at the level of generous benefits we received, high wages and laissez fair management. At that time, we received free health care (no copays, no premium payments), generous vacation, paid holidays, sick leave paid days, the list when on and on.

I can understand that the workers benefiting directly from jobs in Wisconsin that would be affected by changes in Wisconsin law are upset. I just wonder if such jobs were compared to similar private sector jobs if the public jobs are at this time many many levels "above" the private sector in bennies, etc.

In my home state of Minnesota fairly recently Northwest Airlines insisted that if the unions did not make significant concessions in negotiations, Northwest could not survive....Unless I'm mistaken, the unions did not agree and Northwest did not survive.

In the city I grew up in, Duluth, MN, city workers were known to have one of the best and most generous retirement packages anywhere. Free healthcare for life, etc. The city of Duluth has been fighting for years saying that the city will soon be bankrupt if concessions or modifications are not made to the retirement plan. The retirees, many of whom I understand are no longer residents of the state have very fiercely resounded a collective "we don't care" attitude.

I sure don't have the answers. My point is I think we're going to see a lot of government workers across the country become very vocal in protest against cuts to their benefits, wages, bargaining, etc. I do wonder if such protests will have a backlash, however, with the majority of the citizenry that works for and tries to find employment in the private sector; I wonder if the protests in that regard will fall on deaf or at the least, unsympathetic ears.

Chris L