Massachusetts house limits Collective bargaining for Healthcare

[Dgov]

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/articles/2011/04/27/house_votes_to_limit_bargaining_on_health_care/

111-42 vote too, which means at least 80 Democrats voted yes on this measure.

the Article suggests this will pass the State Senate too, and that Patrick will sign it.  Guess Organized labor just ain't what it used to be.

[tpfkaw]

Massachusetts has the lowest amount of state workers as a % of the population of any state, thank God.

Edit: MA is now the tenth-lowest, it seems.  Used to be the lowest though.

[courts]

I guess Deval is a fascist teabagger who should be recalled too.

[Dgov]

I guess Deval is a fascist teabagger who should be recalled too.

To be fair, this doesn't go as far as the Wisconsin or Ohio measures.  Though it does undermine the Democrat's argument that those efforts were only intended to hurt Unions and had nothing to do with cost cutting or budget flexibility.

[DrScholl]

Each state's situation is different and Massachusetts definitely didn't do this because of politics. It's been pointed out many times that the Wisconsin situation wasn't about the budget.

[phk]

FF state.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Gee, from listening to some of the loudmouths in the WI strife you would think that there wasn't a connection between collective bargaining and state/city budget problems. Very informative.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

the Article suggests this will pass the State Senate too

Uh, no.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[Dan the Roman]

It, like the repeal of the pharmaceutical gift ban, is  a bargaining chip for conference. If it goes through there, what Patrick does will not matter. He is not going to veto the whole state budget.

[Dgov]

the Article suggests this will pass the State Senate too

Uh, no.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Here's my reasoning:  If she actually intended to trash the measure, she'd have said so immediately (and probably would have told the State House before the vote).  The Fact that she's waffling ("reluctant" doesn't even imply a no vote really, more like a yes-with-window-dressing vote) on an issue like this makes me think she'll eventually support it in the end (along with the rest of the State Senate).

[krazen1211]

There are some Democrats who are real progressives and not willing to do what the AFL-CIO commands.

If I recall, Doug Wilder signed Virginia's prohibition on public sector collective bargaining.

[Ban my account ffs!]

There are some Democrats who are real progressives and not willing to do what the AFL-CIO commands.

If I recall, Doug Wilder signed Virginia's prohibition on public sector collective bargaining.

Get your talking points straight, hack.  That'd be AFSCME, not the AFL-CIO.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

There are some Democrats who are real progressives and not willing to do what the AFL-CIO commands.

If I recall, Doug Wilder signed Virginia's prohibition on public sector collective bargaining.

Get your talking points straight, hack.  That'd be AFSCME, not the AFL-CIO.

These hacks don't know anything about the issue beyond "UNIONS BAD AARGH!"

[tpfkaw]

There are some Democrats who are real progressives and not willing to do what the AFL-CIO commands.

If I recall, Doug Wilder signed Virginia's prohibition on public sector collective bargaining.

Get your talking points straight, hack.  That'd be AFSCME, not the AFL-CIO.

...which is affiliated with the AFL-CIO, hack.

[King]

Massachusetts has the lowest amount of state workers as a % of the population of any state, thank God.

Edit: MA is now the tenth-lowest, it seems.  Used to be the lowest though.

So, what you're saying is a big liberal socialist state like MA is actually efficient with its workforce and has a strong private sector?

[Brittain33]

Massachusetts has the lowest amount of state workers as a % of the population of any state, thank God.

Edit: MA is now the tenth-lowest, it seems.  Used to be the lowest though.

So, what you're saying is a big liberal socialist state like MA is actually efficient with its workforce and has a strong private sector?

There are several questions I'd have about the derivation of that number. Is it "state and local" or state only? How heavily is it affected by our relatively low number of children? A state like Texas is going to have more teachers per capita, even if it has larger class sizes (and I'm not sure it does), because it has so many more children as a share of the population.

[krazen1211]

There are some Democrats who are real progressives and not willing to do what the AFL-CIO commands.

If I recall, Doug Wilder signed Virginia's prohibition on public sector collective bargaining.

Get your talking points straight, hack.  That'd be AFSCME, not the AFL-CIO.

Try reading the article before opening your mouth.



“It’s pretty stunning,’’ said Robert J. Haynes, president of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO. “These are the same Democrats that all these labor unions elected. The same Democrats who we contributed to in their campaigns. The same Democrats who tell us over and over again that they’re with us, that they believe in collective bargaining, that they believe in unions… . It’s a done deal for our relationship with the people inside that chamber.’’

“We are going to fight this thing to the bitter end,’’ he added. “Massachusetts is not the place that takes collective bargaining away from public employees.’’

[tpfkaw]

Massachusetts has the lowest amount of state workers as a % of the population of any state, thank God.

Edit: MA is now the tenth-lowest, it seems.  Used to be the lowest though.

So, what you're saying is a big liberal socialist state like MA is actually efficient with its workforce and has a strong private sector?

Relative to other states yes (albeit not nearly good enough and also quite corrupt), although the big government fanatics in the Romney administration went a long way towards ruining that (pretty sure their policies are responsible for the 1 to 10 slide).  Unlike some other states in the area (cough *tri-state* cough), MA is not as bad in it's domestic politics as in its federal (though that's not exactly saying much).

[anvi]

I feel so much ambivalence about collective bargaining.  I like the idea in principle, but I've seen, and am currently seeing, so many teachers unions abusing the hell out of it that I can't say I've experienced it working well in practice often.

Ambivalence, what David Brenner once defined as "the feeling you get when your mother-in-law drives off a cliff in your new Mercedes."