Two Sides of the Budget-Bill Coin

Newly-elected state Sen. Chris Larson has little frame of reference for what has happened the last few days at the state Capitol, as thousands have rallied to protest Gov. Scott Walker's proposed budget-repair bill.

But it doesn't take a lot of experience to realize this has been an extraordinary week in Madison and across the state.

"People who have been here 50 years have said they haven’t seen anything like it," he said Wednesday afternoon. 

The part of Walker's proposal that has drawn the most attention - and ire - is stripping public workers of most of their union rights. Under the governor's plan, workers could only bargain for wages. Raises would be in line with inflation, unless a bigger increase was approved through referendum, and union dues could not be deducted from workers' paychecks.

In separate phone interviews Wednesday, Oak Creek's representatives to the state Legislature weighed in on the proposal.

State Rep. Mark Honadel, a Republican, said he supports Walker's proposal. In the big picture, the cost of government has continued to grow because of collective bargaining, he said, so widespread changes like this must be made. 

Honadel questioned how useful unions really are in this day and age.

"This debate goes down to your fundamental beliefs," he said. "If you truly feel you can’t get ahead in America with skill and work ethic and you need a union, that’s your belief.

"Eighty percent of people just want to forge ahead without the help of union dues. Unions had their place back in the day when people were dying on the production lines and treated subhuman. That doesn’t happen in this country anymore."

Larson, a Democrat, is opposing Walker's bill. 

Larson accused Walker of "manufacturing a crisis" to "settle political scores." (He was referring to unions which did not support Walker in the 2010 gubernatorial election)

Changes to the rights of public unions would not solve the financial problems facing Wisconsin, he said.

"He’s trying to insert language in here that would reverse 50 years of history of workers’ rights in our state," Larson said. 

"He’s really overreaching, so we’d like to see a lot of things changed."