Madison,
Wis.– As four game wardens awkwardly stood guard,
protesters, scores deep, crushed into a corridor leading to
the governor’s office here on Wednesday, their screams
echoing through the Capitol: “Come out, come out, wherever
you are!”
Behind
closed doors, Scott Walker, the Republican who has been
governor for about six weeks, calmly described his intent to
forge ahead with the plans that had set off the uprising: He
wants to require public workers to pay more for their health
insurance and pensions, effectively cutting the take–home
pay of many by around 7 percent.
He
also wants to weaken most public–sector unions by sharply
curtailing their collective bargaining rights, limiting
talks to the subject of basic wages.
Mr.
Walker said he had no other options, since he is facing a
deficit of $137 million in the current state budget and the
prospect of a $3.6 billion hole in the coming two–year
budget.
“For
us, it’s simple,” said Mr. Walker, whose family home was
surrounded by angry workers this week, prompting the police
to close the street. “We’re broke.”
For
months, state and local officials around the country have
tackled their budget problems by finding trims here and
there, apologetically resorting to layoffs, and searching
for accounting moves to limp through one more year.
Events
in Wisconsin this week, though, are a sign of something new:
No more apologies, no half–measures. Given the dire
straits of budgets around the country, other state leaders
may take similarly drastic steps with state workers,
pensions and unions.
“I’m
sure we’re going to hear more from other states where
Republican governors are trying to heap the entire burden of
the financial crisis on public employees and public
employees’ unions,” said William B. Gould IV, a labor
law professor at Stanford University and a former chairman
of the National Labor Relations Board.
“I
think it’s quite possible that if they’re successful in
doing this, a lot of other Republican governors will emulate
this,” Mr. Gould added.
Here,
in a state with a long history of powerful unions, Mr.
Walker’s plan was upending life in the capital city.
Madison
schools were closed on Wednesday after many employees called
in sick to help lobby. Thousands of teachers, state workers
and students filled a square around the Capitol, chanting
“kill the bill” and waving signs (some likening Mr.
Walker to a dictator and demanding his recall).
And
a hearing on the issue that had started at 10 a.m. Tuesday
ran through the night and into Wednesday afternoon, as
protesters with sleeping bags camped out near the
Capitol’s rotunda and bleary–eyed lawmakers gulped
coffee from paper cups.
Protesters
shared stories of their families’ deep history in unions,
people struggling to pay their mortgages, workers
considering moving away, switching careers, retiring.
Kim
Hoffman, a middle school music teacher, said she and her
husband, also a teacher, would lose $1,200 a month under the
plan – too deep a cut to manage. “I love teaching, but
I’d have to start looking for another job, period,” she
said.
While
union leaders here set up makeshift offices in the Capitol,
distributing fliers and planning vigils and
“teach–outs,” national officials from more than a
dozen unions pledged millions of dollars, as well as phone
banks and volunteers, to block such efforts in Wisconsin and
elsewhere.
“We
view the events in Wisconsin as one of the worst attacks on
workers’ rights and their voices in the workplace that
we’ve ever seen,” said Kim Anderson, director of
government relations for the National Education Association
in Washington, where 150 people were calling teachers and
union supporters in Wisconsin, urging them to demonstrate or
call lawmakers.
Kevin
Gibbons, a leader of a union here representing teaching
assistants at the University of Wisconsin, said, “I think
Governor Walker is using this financial crisis as an excuse
to attack unions, and if Wisconsin goes, what will be
next?”
Already,
tensions were rising in other states, particularly in places
where Republican victories in November have altered the
political landscape.
Earlier
this week, in Ohio, workers protested outside the Statehouse
in Columbus to protest a bill that would limit collective
bargaining for state employees there. In Indianapolis,
teachers rallied against a bill that would limit contract
bargaining for teachers’ unions. In Tennessee, a
legislative committee was considering a similar bill.
For
his part, Mr. Walker said he did not believe that most
Wisconsin residents had a problem with his proposals. In a
tour on Tuesday around the state – to private companies
– Mr. Walker said he spoke with plenty of private
employees who told of paying far more for their retirement
plans and health care than state workers.
Mr.
Walker would require state employees to contribute 5.8
percent of their pay to their pensions, where most now pay
far less, and require state employees to pay at least 12.6
percent of health care premiums (most pay about 6 percent
now). The average salary for a Wisconsin state worker is
$48,348, according to a recent report by the
liberal–leaning Economic Policy Institute in Washington.
Some
national polls, too, have suggested that many people would
back cuts to pensions and benefits of government workers.
“To
the average citizen – to middle class, working class
families – they’re paying a whole lot more right now,”
Mr. Walker said. As recently as Wednesday morning, Mr.
Walker spoke with Gov. John Kasich of Ohio – to
“commiserate” a bit, he said.
“Obviously
there is a lot of protest out there, but in the end, it’s
the right thing to do,” Mr. Walker said, adding, “We
didn’t get elected to worry about the politics.”
Lawmakers
here were expected to vote on the issue by week’s end.
Into the evening on Wednesday, there was talk that lawmakers
might amend the plan, perhaps to restore some union
bargaining rights.
But
many predicted that the outlines of Mr. Walker’s proposal
might survive votes in the Assembly and Senate, both of
which are controlled by Republicans.
Still,
some lawmakers here appeared rattled by the crowds cramming
the building.
Scott
Fitzgerald, the Republican leader in the State Senate,
slipped out of the Capitol Wednesday morning with his
sunglasses on, head down. Protesters had gone to his home
earlier in the week, forcing his family (including his wife,
a school guidance counselor) to go elsewhere for a bit.
(*)
Monica Davey reported from Madison, and Steven Greenhouse
from New York.