Posted on Tuesday, 12th October 2010 by Roland_Melnick
Remember the stories surrounding the Mercury Marine and Harley-Davidson union contract negotiations? Both companies faced with slumping economic realities, demanded wage cuts and/or freezes and other concessions from its workforce…both union and non-union.
The Mercury Marine story took a bit longer to play out, but Harley got its share of attention given their greater notoriety. Both are solid American manufacturing concerns building quality products.
With jobs being the top issue of the past year and half, these stories were followed closely. I can recall that in talk radio, blogosphere and face-to-face discussions I either witnessed or were a part of, many people asked the question…”Is management/ownership sharing the pain and taking a pay cut as well?” A fair question, I think. You may not always get a fair answer. Even though I don’t live in the same zip code as any “corporate fat cats” that I’m aware of, I understand that’s life.
Often, however, the discussion went beyond that fair question into talk of what government should do to level that playing field. The old knee-jerk response of “there should be a law….” Perhaps it was more a matter of poorly expressed viewpoints, but it came off as whining. As I said, it did start from a valid question.
Now take the case of Scott Walker’s voluntary pay cut. A fact that was the subject of industrial strength spin and outright dishonesty, from folks like Progressive talking point generator, Cory Liebmann. You may remember Cory was the fellow who proclaimed to the world that, in these tough economic times, Scott Walker gave himself a pay raise. A claim so dishonest, you have to wonder if Cory suffered severe brain trauma at one time in his life. I wasn’t the only one to back Walker, the JSOnline Politi-Fact team substantiated the claim that Walker did give back about $375,000 of his salary over the course of about 6 years. Walker pledged his self-imposed paycut 8 years ago. There are no guarantees in life. If he loses this election, he’ll still be out that money.
So here you have Walker. A true fiscal conservative taking a bigger pay cut than he demanded from any subordinate. Does he get credit from the crowd typically whining about “sharing the pain?” Of course not. The closest I’ve seen (“close” being a relative term, remember) is that they won’t deny the pay cut. Instead, it is dismissed as a political stunt. A local Milwaukee defense attorney, Mike Plaisted demonstrates the Liberal/Progressive hypocrisy with this bit of derisive blather:
We should care that the most politically opportunistic empty-suit in Wisconsin history, who has been running for governor since he was a radical-right lieutenant in Scooter Jensen’s political machine, would play games with his own income for the sake of making a meaningless claim about fiscal austerity during just this campaign.
Ok Mike…if a union worker is ever asked to forfeit half his/her salary, I will remind them Mike Plaisted says that management doesn’t have to share the pain because to do so is just a meaningless stunt. Hey, at least one Milwaukee County Supervisor, John Weishan Jr. agrees with you. He didn’t want to “share the pain” of furlough days.
They whine when corporate execs don’t impose upon themselves similar cuts/concessions as those demanded from labor. They whine when Scott Walker does impose stricter cuts upon himself than those demanded from County employees. Perhaps whining is the only way they can communicate. No matter how they try to slice this issue…Walker has them beat.
Posted in John Weishan Jr., Liberal Hypocrisy, Loony Lefties, Scott Walker | Comments (5) |
5 Responses to “A Bullet-Proof Issue for Scott Walker”
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October 12th, 2010 at 6:57 am
Liberalism is a mental illness.
October 12th, 2010 at 8:47 am
I just don’t see the traction here.
That is, the fact that executive compensation may be excessive does not in itself say much of anything about what production workers should be paid.
In general, production labor is viewed as a commodity. As with commodities, some production workers are of higher or lower quality. Nonetheless, replacing a production worker is a matter of finding someone with the required skills, and does not require a search for unique talent.
In contrast, CEOs are (or should be) unique. And, just as one cannot replace one unique artist with another, one cannot replace a CEO with a vision and the ability to realize it with another.
Which is not to say that many CEOs and other executive talent are not overpaid- there are all too many that get paid an awful lot of money for poor performance.
Nonetheless, when one looks at once-great companies which have gone into decline, or small companies which have grown and prospered, the difference is often in the leadership.
And, ultimately, anything- including union labor- is worth just what it can fetch in the marketplace. And if what you’re selling is overpriced, you’ll find declining demand for it.
October 12th, 2010 at 1:37 pm
Barrett, Walker Campaign in Eau Claire, Madison
http://www.todaystmj4.com/news/local/104770804.html
October 12th, 2010 at 6:52 pm
No, Glenn. Respectfully, to say liberalism is a ‘mental illness’ is letting them off too easy. It’s an insanity plea.
Liberalism is orchestrated intellectual dishonesty, for a collectively-agreed-upon common goal. Mike Plaisted and Jeffrey Jensen owe their careers to systemic dysfunction. So do most of the lockstep, mouth-breathing troglodytes from AFSCME-48 and the SEIU. These people couldn’t survive 10 minutes in the real world without their unions, some memo posted on a bulletin board, or perhaps a teleprompter, telling them what to do.
In their minds, the institutional failure of government must be preserved, to keep public employees in accountability-free jobs, and public defenders milking their receivables.
Our founding fathers clearly never envisioned a system of government where “The State,” as employer, would arrogantly strong-arm those beholden to it into voting for candidates whose sole mission in life was the perpetuation of the institution to whom they were beholden.
The private sector, as wealth creator, still enjoys the freedom of choice in whom we vote for. The ‘union newsletter’ doesn’t define our choices. The protection of this very freedom is precisely what this upcoming election is about.
Nice post, Roland. Insomnia does have its occasional advantages.
October 12th, 2010 at 7:26 pm
Speaking of the “progressives”, especially those who work for the County but also those others who write about abuse of power from time to time, I wonder how they’ll do under this dictator after Scott becomes Governor: http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/104785759.html