Thursday, June 25, 2015

Divide-and-Conquer Walker Thinks Equal Pay Is Divisive

Divide-and-Conquer Walker Thinks Equal Pay Is Divisive

"Just days after Walker was first sworn-in as governor in 2011, he spoke privately about his plans to "divide and conquer" Wisconsin unions in a videotaped conversation with billionaire GOP financier Diane Hendricks, his single largest donor. “Any chance we'll ever get to be a completely red state and work on these unions....And become a right-to-work [state]?,” Hendricks asks in the January 2011 video. Walker replies: “Well, we're going to start in a couple weeks with our budget adjustment bill. The first step is we're going to deal with collective bargaining for all public employee unions, because you use divide and conquer.… That opens the door once we do that.” Although in the years to follow Walker would insist that right to work would not get to his desk, in 2015 Wisconsin became the 25th right to work state after he signed the ALEC-inspired bill into law."