The president of the State Engineering Association, one of the smaller collective bargaining units for State of Wisconsin employees posts his thoughts over at WisOpinion.com and provides the doomsday scenario for how Walker's attack on public employee unions and all state and local government workers will play out if Republicans in the legislature genuflect toward the East Wing. Excerpt;
The state employs more than 70,000 full-time equivalent workers and local governments double that. Some of the proposed changes would affect local government workers directly. Others will affect all residents and taxpayers in many communities. Residents who are state employees would react to losing hundreds of dollars a month in compensation by tightening family spending. Some state employees could even see their income fall perilously close to the official government poverty line... . ,,, After awhile, mid-experienced public employees remaining on the job will begin realizing their commitment to working harder is under-appreciated, as they receive fewer resources and workplace protections while getting paid less. When the economy more fully recovers, they will be enticed by new private-sector opportunities This second wave of departures will be large, long-lasting and severe. These employees are among those with the greatest institutional knowledge. They are the glue that keeps state agencies together, and their loss will make some operations come apart at the seams.
More at: http://wisopinion.com/index.iml?mdl=article.mdl&article=32861