Wisconsin’s embattled Republican governor Scott Walker sat down with David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network this week where he defended his union-busting record ahead of the June 5 recall election. Last year Walker pushed through a bill stripping the collective bargaining rights of public worker unions (except for the ones that endorsed him) while passing pricey corporate tax giveaways, which even his fellow Republicans in the state legislature admitted was a ploy to hurt Democrats by crippling unions.
But Walker denied that his move was “anti-union” and said he was committed to creating jobs by “building infrastructure, roads and bridges and rail and things of that nature,” which is ironic since Walker rejected funding for a high speed rail line connecting Milwaukee and Madison. “I put the power back in the hands of the taxpayers,” Walker told Brody. “What I did is also very pro-worker.”
Brody: What is your response to folks that say you are anti-union? When you hear that, what do you think?
Walker: Well, you know on two counts, it’s just completely wrong. In the private sector, I’ve got great partners in unions. You look at unions like the operating engineers; they endorsed me, they are still very supportive of our efforts. Why? Because their guys are back to work, they’re working again. Unlike my predecessor who made it very difficult for people building infrastructure, roads and bridges and rail and things of that nature we put the money back in that had been raided there. You look at other big issues that we’ve done in terms of infrastructure in the state, we’ve had the support of other private sector unions, because they want work. They want their guys to go back to work, and those unions in the private sector have largely been my partners in economic development. The other part though, even on the public employee standpoint, it is kind of interesting, I may be anti-big government union bosses, because I think in the past, one of our problems has been they’ve been the ones calling the shots, instead of the hard working taxpayers in the state of Wisconsin. I put the power back in the hands of the taxpayers. What I did is also very pro-worker.
