http://www.chron.com/news/article/Union-buster-Walker-calls-for-return-of-union-refs-3892425.php Union-buster Walker calls for return of union refs Tuesday, September 25, 2012 By Stephen Brashear MADISON, Wis. (AP) — If there's one thing that can unite political foes in Wisconsin, it just may be the Green Bay Packers. Republican Gov. Scott Walker, who made a national name for himself by going after public employee unions last year, posted a message on Twitter calling for the return of the NFL's locked-out unionized officials after a disputed call led to a Seattle Seahawks 14-12 victory over the Packers on Monday night. "After catching a few hours of sleep, the (hash)Packers game is still just as painful. (hash)Returntherealrefs," Walker tweeted early Tuesday. Democratic state Sen. Jon Erpenbach, who was one of 14 Democrats who fled to Illinois for three weeks last year in opposition to Walker's union proposal, said he saw the irony in Walker's post but in Wisconsin "we're all fans, first and foremost." "If you were born and raised in Wisconsin, you were raised on the Packers," Erpenbach said. "Every Sunday it's Packers and pancakes, not necessarily in that order." The NFL locked out the officials in June after their contract expired. The league has been using replacement officials, and through three weeks of the regular season there has been much criticism over the way some games are being handled. Walker's spokesman Cullen Werwie tried to spin the governor's post on Tuesday, saying it wasn't meant as a pro-union political statement. Walker's tweet was being widely mocked on Twitter in light of his push last year that effectively ended collective bargaining for teachers, nurses and most other public workers. "I don't think this anything to do with unions, but has everything to do with refs making bad calls," Werwie said. Erpenbach was so incensed over the game that around midnight Monday night he tweeted two different public phone numbers for NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and urged people to call and voice their displeasure. "I could never ref an NFL football game, ever," Erpenbach said. "The replacement refs are doing the best they can do out there, but the commissioner doesn't want this to sink to a World Wrestling Federation-type event on Sunday. They have to do something. It calls into question the integrity of the game." While Erpenbach himself plans to leave a message for Goodell urging an end to the referee labor dispute, he won't be advising the Packers to employ the same tactics he and the other Democratic senators did last year. "I would not recommend the Packers get on a bus and leave the state," he said.
Opie gets in on the act Ryan: Refs Who Made Controversial NFL Call Must Work For Obama Budget Office "The replacement referees filling in for the NFL refs on strike must work for the Obama budget office," Ryan said. "If you can't get it right get out," Ryan said.
Saw that too, but its really nothing we didn't already know about Scott Walker. Koch Brothers might have to put a leash on this puppet.
Enough with the hypocrisy police. Just like the league's anti-trust exemption, some double-standards are necessary to maximize the collective good.
I don't get it. Did Scott Walker say union employees shouldn't be allowed to work in his state and unions should be banned?
Uh....he made his name busting unions and now he wants the unionized NFL refs back on the job. Hypocrite deluxe.
I did not realize that NFL officials worked for the state of Wisconsin. #thingsIlearnedonclutchfans.net
So now you are going to deliniate between state employee unions and other unions? I had no idea your ilk liked any kind of union: federal, state, local or NFL referee.....
Hypocrite deluxe part 2. He supported most of the legislation that got us in this mess. http://votesmart.org/candidate/key-votes/26344/#.UGH_EJVGbOg
First off, did not know I was an ilk. Secondly, yeah, there is a huge difference. Public sector unions are a very different animal from private sector unions.
The refs work for the NFL owners and the Packers fans are the owners of the team, so in a way, the refs do work for the state Wisconsin.
Uh, no. The Packers have individual shareholders. And what about when the refs are working games that don't involve the Packers?
Please explain the difference and your stance on unions. Do you support private sector unions when they strike for better wages and benefits?
I'm like Obama on Russia in regards to this in so far as I think there should be some flexibility. On the other hand, public service workers who strike should be fired immediately.
The desire of Government employees for fair and adequate pay, reasonable hours of work, safe and suitable working conditions, development of opportunities for advancement, facilities for fair and impartial consideration and review of grievances, and other objectives of a proper employee relations policy, is basically no different from that of employees in private industry. Organization on their part to present their views on such matters is both natural and logical, but meticulous attention should be paid to the special relationships and obligations of public servants to the public itself and to the Government. All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service. It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations when applied to public personnel management. The very nature and purposes of Government make it impossible for administrative officials to represent fully or to bind the employer in mutual discussions with Government employee organizations. The employer is the whole people, who speak by means of laws enacted by their representatives in Congress. Accordingly, administrative officials and employees alike are governed and guided, and in many instances restricted, by laws which establish policies, procedures, or rules in personnel matters. Particularly, I want to emphasize my conviction that militant tactics have no place in the functions of any organization of Government employees. Upon employees in the Federal service rests the obligation to serve the whole people, whose interests and welfare require orderliness and continuity in the conduct of Government activities. This obligation is paramount. Since their own services have to do with the functioning of the Government, a strike of public employees manifests nothing less than an intent on their part to prevent or obstruct the operations of Government until their demands are satisfied. Such action, looking toward the paralysis of Government by those who have sworn to support it, is unthinkable and intolerable. It is, therefore, with a feeling of gratification that I have noted in the constitution of the National Federation of Federal Employees the provision that "under no circumstances shall this Federation engage in or support strikes against the United States Government." I congratulate the National Federation of Federal Employees the twentieth anniversary of its founding and trust that the convention will, in every way, be successful.
It was a brilliant tactic by the wealthiest people in this country to get the common people to morally object to the one organization that allows them to stand up to the abuse of power in the workplace. Wealthy men have been trying to destroy unions since the day unions started.
