all politics blog from milwaukee, madison and beyond, a daily dose of political news and glimpses behind the scenes share  by of the  madison -- the milwaukee journal sentinel is taking a closer look at the positions being taken by republican gov. scott walker and democrat mary burke, a former trek bicycle executive and state commerce secretary.  each week, the newspaper will be putting questions on key issues to burke and walker and then publishing their answers on the all politics blog, in regular stories and in larger packages that will run closer to the november election.  here’s the next question and set of answers:  unions: would you favor lowering benefit payments or bringing back any bargaining power for public employee unions? would you favor cutting bargaining for police and firefighters or private-sector workers? would you favor changing current civil service protections?  walker: early in 2010, a teacher in milwaukee was named the outstanding new english teacher for the entire state. not long after, she was told she was being laid off. how could this happen? prior to our act 10 reforms, most schools had to hire and fire based on seniority and tenure because of union contracts.  now schools can hire and fire based on merit and pay based on performance. on top of that, schools saved tens of millions of dollars by bidding out health insurance while state and local governments were able to clamp down on overtime abuses to save real money.  in contrast, as a member of the madison school board, mary burke voted to keep the pre-act 10 contracts and her first budget vote included a sizable property tax increase. so far, she refuses to answer a simple question: would she sign a bill to repeal act 10? i support our act 10 reforms because they saved the taxpayers some $3 billion.  burke: i support the right of public employees to collectively bargain and will work to restore that right. this does not stand in the way of having accountable, effective and efficient government. concessions on health care and pension contributions could have been achieved through collective bargaining. i know from my business experience that ensuring workers feel respected and have a voice is a big part of attracting and retaining a qualified work force.  the following elements of act 10 were politically-motivated attempts to punish unions and i would work to repeal them – 1 annual recertification elections requiring approval of 51% of membership, 2 prohibiting “fair share” arrangements, 3 prohibiting automatic dues deductions.  i see no reason to curtail bargaining for police, firefighters or private-sector workers. an aging public work force presents challenges for efficient, accountable government. i am open to updating our civil service protections and policies to address these challenges.
gov. scott walker and mary burke on public unions