Walker insisted state and local workers will become more comfortable with the proposals once they find out more.-- Wis Politics report to subscribers on Monday.


Whatever else you think about Scott Walker, you have to give him credit for chutzpah.


Public employee union members will like it better when they find out more about exactly how he intends to rape and dismember them? Not likely.


As someone who said long ago that Walker could not decertify state workers' unions, I have to say now that I was wrong.


If this bill passes as he has proposed it, it will mark the end of public employee unions in this state, where they first started. It is only a question of how long the unions can delay the inevitable death knell.


This isn't just about taking away bargaining rights on benefits and working conditions. The bill is cleverly constructed to destroy the unions, period.


A quick rundown:


--Unions can only bargain wages and nothing else. The employer decides benefits and working conditions -- not only how much a worker pays for health insurance, for example, but whether he/she gets any coverage at all.


-- Raises are limited to the cost of living; anything above that requires a referendum by the voters. So there will be virtually no bargaining on wages, either.


-- Union members will not be allowed to have their union dues deducted from their paychecks, but will have to pay them directly. Those who refuse to join the union won't have to pay the equivalent of dues, but will get the same wages as union members, so there is no incentive to join or pay.


-- Union members will have to vote every year to recertify the union -- to say they still want union representation. If the union gets less than 50% of the vote, it is out of business. And when you have a union that is powerless to do anything for you, why in hell would you vote to keep it?


Make no mistake. This is no budget repair bill designed to save some money. It is nothing less than an attempt to destroy public employee unions in Wisconsin.


He may get away with it, but that's not a sure thing. More on that later.


Mike Plaisted has more.