It's about damned time.

Public sector workers shouldn't be union, period.

If he can get that law passed (even with Republican majorities it could be quite a fight), I will be the first to get on the Scott Walker for President bandwagon.

That's not all he's proposing. He's also proposing steep increases in pension fund contributions, health insurance contributions, making WI a right-to-work state, and even changing the rules to disallow multiple different types of state workers from collectively bargaining at all.

I love it.

Yes! This is conservative eroticism! Outlaw the unions and you'll begin to see how easy it is to cut the budget. I hope Congress does it too. If Congress outlaws public sector unions at the federal level the states will have more gusto to eliminate them at the state level.

The Ohio Senate has a similar bill.

@seanB: It's even worse than that. They write job descriptions that justify higher pay. Then, they demand free training benefits to meet their new, inflated, job descriptions. And, after they meet the new certification requirements, they demand a merit pay increase.

Federal Employees do this all the time. I had staff with bachelors degrees or community college degrees who could run circles around their highly educated, highly certified government counterparts.

As a former California state employee, I am disturbed by the tendency of most conservatives to demonize public employees.

Of course there are examples of outrageous salaries and pensions for a handful of public employees. Public employees hate these cases, since we are taxpayers as well.

But conservatives should acquaint themselves with the facts before they irreparably harm civil service.

A study by University of Wisconsin researchers shows that, adjusted for education and age, state and local employees are paid less than their private sector counterparts, even when benefits are taken into account.

In California, the average pension paid to a public employee covered by Calpers is only $25,000 per year.

About 83% of Calpers pension costs are covered by employee contributions and investment earnings.

A recent law increases state employee contributions into their retirement system from 5 percent to 8-10% percent of pay. This means an immediate cut in state contributions of $200 million.

Finally, draconian cuts means that fewer top-notch people will be attracted to public service. The state already has a very difficult time hiring doctors and dentists for the state's prisons and mental hospitals.

Well, why is 8-10% wrong? That's in line with private sector 401k's. Less, in fact. And how many "holidays" do govt employees get? Plus paid vacation and sick time? Compared to the average small business owner? Here in Colorado Springs the traffic on MLK Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, etc is nonexistent...just the people who pay the taxes. (and giving back extra tax dollars paid to you is NOT the same as earning customers, making a profit, and then paying taxes)

My experience is with Fed employees, but this is not insignificant. What about pay for performance like the rest of us? Outside of government and heavily unionized industries the whole idea of a pension doesn't really exist anymore.

And for 3 years during a bad recession, there was NO recession in government. I got calls and emails all the time from friends in .gov trying to fill positions. Especially now that Obamacare is law. I wonder if that Peoples Republic of Madison study adjusted for the opportunity costs associated with public vs. private sector jobs. And finally, the ability to recruit and retain staff ought to be an incentive for the government to not do something...or at least to outsource it.

If the Feds and the States stuck to essential work (like your law enforcement example), they would have the money they need. Increasingly, people understand that outrageous public sector employment is not a spotty exception, but the rule in states like CA, IL, NY, NJ and elsewhere.

If we wish to compare the private sector to the public sector, let's do it the right way. Since wages, pensions, health care and other benefits are all part of a compensation package, let's take the total package of a school teacher with a college degree and stack it up against private sector workers with the same training. And when was the last time a public worker got profit sharing, or a bonus or even a turkey for thanksgiving? We are, once again trying to solve our fiscal woes on the backs of our essential teachers and other public employees.