Common Sense Is Starting To Show

Common sense is starting to show from a couple of progressives:

Unions had better get used to concessions, say …
POSTED AT 12:30 PM ON FEBRUARY 19, 2011 BY ED MORRISSEY

A couple of union-busting pundits put pen to paper to tell the public-sector unions in Wisconsin — and everywhere — that the days of wine and roses ended long ago. In a time of fiscal crisis at the federal, state, and local level, the public cannot be expected to float Cadillac pensions and benefit plans, nor to have public policy and governance to be held hostage to union bosses. Unions have become the antithesis of democracy in Wisconsin, says … Time Magazine’s Joe Klein?

Klein calls the demonstrations in Madison “the hemlock revolution,” and says that the unions want to continue an ‘egregious” imbalance in public policy:

However, at CNN, reliable liberal commentator Roland Martin backs the union play 100%. Right? Er …

Just a few weeks ago, unions called those requests “slavery.” Now they want to concede those points in order to avoid a bigger issue:

That’s inaccurate. What Walker and the GOP have proposed in the bill is to require all public-sector unions (except police and firefighters) to conduct annual recertification votes, to limit collective bargaining to wages only — not policy and work environment issues — and to end the “closed shop” in the government sector. Union dues would become voluntary, and the unions will have to collect them rather than have the state do it for them. Government employees would still have the right to collectively bargain salaries, and could still choose a union to represent them. Walker’s proposal would set those terms statewide so that each local jurisdiction would operate from the same rules, allowing them more flexibility to trim costs and bring more efficiency to the public sector.

Martin says this comes down to “basic economics” and that unions face a rather stark choice:

These budgets will get cut one way or the other. Either unions can get on board and protect their membership as much as possible in the transition, or they can lose big chunks of their membership — and still lose the overall battle. When Roland Martin and Joe Klein admit the obvious, the unions are in a very lonely place indeed.