CT Unions turn out in support of Wisconsin – Not exactly a Tea Party moment

Hey, come on. It’s Connecticut. 300 union members isn’t that bad. At least the kids could still go to school.

Members of state employee and private sector unions showed up at the steps of the Connecticut state capitol in solidarity with their union brothers in Wisconsin. Pretty underwhelming when compared to the state Tea Party protests (3000 at the April 15th rally in 2009). But it is Connecticut, and it was a school day, and nothing was shut down. Puts em miles ahead of their Wisconsin “brothers”. Interesting though that the Governor showed. I wonder if he would attend aTea Party protest?

Governor Malloy came as well and made it clear he wants no part of what’s described as union bashing.

“I think this idea that we should break unions is not one that I have every ascribed to, nor will I ever ascribe to,” he said.

Even though Malloy is requesting a billion dollars a year for the next two years from state labor unions in savings and concessions, he got high praise from union members today for his stand in support of the union right to bargain.

“He stood up for unions, he’s fair, I’m just ecstatic about him,” said Joanne Gay of Glastonbury.

Well, we’ll see how they feel when talks start. One more thing. Why do we keep hearing that supporting the unions is equal to supporting the middle class. What about the middle class tax payer who will bear the brunt of the Governor’s tax increases? Where’s their support, my little mobsters?

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Jim Vicevich

Jim is a veteran broadcaster and conservative/libertarian blogger with more than 25 years experience in TV and radio. Jim's was the long-term host of The Jim Vicevich Show on WTIC 1080 in Hartford from 2004 through 2019. Prior to radio, Jim worked as a business and financial reporter for NBC30 - the NBC owned TV station in Hartford - and as business editor at WFSB-TV in Hartford for 14 years while earning six Emmy nominations and three Telly Awards.

6 Comments

  1. Wayne SW on February 24, 2011 at 4:19 am

    I was one of the Tea Party members there to listen and watch.  At one point, when one of the public employee speakers said "unlike the Tea Party, we are not funded by Corporations."  The urge to emulate Joe Wilson and boldly say, "You Lie!" and then ask, "Are you considered an ESSENTIAL or a NON-ESSENTIAL employee?"  This though was tempered by survival instincts.

    The public employee does not exist without the private sector surviving….and the private sector is a dying breed…..and they wonder why all the manufacturing jobs are leaving the U.S.  It is the outrageous and non sustainable spending that is rsising the costs (taxes, govt. intervention, mandates, etc.) to do business here.

    When you kill us, you will kill yourself and your ability to survive is not as strong as ours.



  2. andy@american on February 24, 2011 at 5:02 am

    What we might see is the "right to work" states being more attractive to business. 



  3. crystal4 on February 24, 2011 at 6:58 am

    ".and they wonder why all the manufacturing jobs are leaving the U.S."

    How anyone could justify giving tax breaks that encourage companies to ship jobs oversea is beyond me.

    The repubs keep voting against eliminating these tax breaks. The middle class is quickly being destroyed while the republicans worry only about keeping their corporate donors happy.

    Sadly, many of same people who's jobs have gone overseas will vote for the repubs.



  4. Dimsdale on February 24, 2011 at 4:54 pm

    Why would a tax break encourage companies to go overseas?  It is the high taxes that do that.



  5. rjan on February 25, 2011 at 6:45 am

    The # of union members that showed up was actually pretty good considering we have a pro union state government in place. This country was # 1 when the private sector unions prevailed.

     Look at what happened when they lost their membership. The first thing that went was defined pensions, next the pay scale was lowered, health insurance became very expensive or not available to employees. Workers lost the ability to complain about working conditions if they do they are targeted and fired. These benefits could of been saved if the greedy corporations and states put money aside to fund them. Instead they took the money and spent it on what they liked because their was no one left to oppose them. Companies don't want employees to have any power over them,they want to keep you down. I am suprised at all the so called pro middle class republicans that want to bring everyones living standards down. Why would any smart person want  to lose more benefits and a good way of life? They don't but because they have no one left to represent them in the work place they are left out to dry and pick up the crumbs that are left. Instead of saying public unions have this or that we should all strive to make America #1 and help get the private sector back up to where it should be. People should realize it was a big mistake when they lost the private sector unions.  In the USA everyone should be respected and moving forward. This country is better than saying he has less, and so should she. We SHOULDN'T be racing to the bottom on benefits and pay. This shows you the better represented you are the better off you will be.         



  6. Dimsdale on March 1, 2011 at 5:55 am

    This country was #1 when unions were worker's representatives, not fund raisers for Democrats.

     

    Let's talk double standards: take this sentence "These benefits could of been saved if the greedy corporations and states put money aside to fund them." and apply it to the failure of CT to fulfill the retirement accounts of CT state workers.  Your next sentence "Instead they took the money and spent it on what they liked because their was no one left to oppose them." applies directly to the predominance of Democrats in the CT legislature (and MA, and the last Congress with the complicity of Øbama).

     

    The private sector will never get "back up to where it should be" when the government parasitizes their productivity with more and more taxes.  Union representation has replaced hard work and merit pay.  Our vaunted Democrat politicians are better at representing the unions than the voters.

     

    We didn't lose the private sector unions; they lost us.



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