CSEA SHOWS SOLIDARITY; TRAVELS TO WISCONSIN



CSEA Executive Vice President Mary Sullivan and Statewide
Treasurer Joe McMullen (red shirt) are in Wisconsin supporting
public workers.  In this photo, Sullivan is addressing activists at a rally that
was held in Albany on February 18.
photo:  property of CSEA

Rochester, N.Y.-- Representatives of public employee unions in New York are supporting their fellow union members in Wisconsin.  But this isn't just about Wisconsin. In state capitals across the country, and in Washington, D.C., Republicans are using the wrecked economy as an excuse to slash vital programs and hurt workers. The American Dream itself is under attack. 

That's because Republican elected leaders in Wisconsin are pushing a bill that would end collective bargaining rights for government employees. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker defends his proposal, saying it's needed to bring down the high cost of government. That is a ginned-up notion that doesn't support the facts. His actions are nothing more than union busting plain and simple.

Executive Vice President Mary Sullivan and Statewide Treasurer Joe McMullen are in Wisconsin right now.  They are rallying alongside public workers to keep their collective bargaining rights intact.  CSEA held a solidarity rally on the steps of CSEA's Albany headquarters on February 18.  To see a video of the rally, you can go here. 

CSEA spokesman Steve Madarasz says what's happening in Wisconsin is an assault on American values.  "CSEA actually has a contingent in Wisconsin to express solidarity with the folks there," Madarasz said. "This is really a serious situation that does not bode well for our democracy."

A Pew Research Center Poll released last week found the public sympathetic to public employee unions -- 44 percent said their initial instinct is to side with workers in a disagreement versus 38 percent who would side with state and local governments. Madarasz says he's not surprised by that finding.

"We find the public becomes much more sympathetic to our point of view once they have the facts," Madarasz said. "There has been all kinds of mythology out there about what public sector workers earn."

What does this mean for New York?

Here in New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo is proposing thousands of layoffs of state workers. But union leaders here say they don't see any evidence that Cuomo is engaging in the union-busting activities they're seeing in Wisconsin.  However, don't think that the assault on workers won't continue in New Jersey, Ohio and also here in New York.

A rally in Rochester to support the rights of workers is in the preliminary stages, according to Voice Reporter sources.

"Wisconsin's newly elected governor is waging one of the most vicious attacks on working people our nation has seen in generations," said CSEA President Danny Donohue.The rally [Feb. 18] was intended to show solidarity with tens of thousands of middle class working people who have taken to the streets and statehouse in Madison, Wisconsin to protest legislation that would eliminate collective bargaining rights for state and local public employees there."

The contracts of the Public Employees Federation and CSEA expire March 31, the last day of the state's fiscal year. Mr. Cuomo has not included salary increases for workers in his budget plan and has warned of possible layoffs.  Contract negotiations between the unions and their employer have not yet begun.

Cuomo has spent the last two weeks traveling the state to build support for his budget, which he released Feb. 1. While the poll numbers suggest he is being favorably received—and that 72 percent like his budget versus only 25 percent who don't—the public's view of key components of his budget is mixed. Nearly two-thirds of voters polled said they want the three-year personal income tax surcharge to be extended into 2012, though Mr. Cuomo wants to let it expire in December.

Unlike the governor, voters apparently don't consider an extension of the tax to be an increase: 79 percent of them support the fact that Mr. Cuomo's budget has no new taxes or tax increases. The surcharge raises the usual 6.85 percent state income tax rate to 7.85 percent for individuals with adjusted gross incomes above $200,000 and households making $300,000, and to 8.97 percent for incomes of $500,000 or more. It is expected to raise $5 billion this year, about 3.7 percent of what the state will spend.

Although the governor and state Senate majority oppose extending the surcharge, lawmakers could increase Mr. Cuomo's $133 billion proposed budget by agreeing on a more optimistic revenue forecast, with the stock market rally and other positive economic indicators as justification. 

Let's remember, Wall Street private equity firms and hedge fund managers were doling out a record 44 billion in bonuses at the end of 2010.  Some estimates take that number as high as 90 billion as the biggest firms set aside more than the GDP of 13 entire countries. 

Does that sound reasonable to you? It's as if 2008 never even happened.  And public employees and collective bargaining are the problem? And let's not forget the lame duck tax deal at the end of the 111th Congress-- all those top end private sector executives will get a nifty federal tax bonus on top of all that earned income.

So we say: On Wisconsin!  Fight for future fame.