This letter is written in response to Emery Maddocks’ article, “Getting Real: Something’s got to give.” What is happening in Madison, Wisconsin is certainly very intriguing. I agree with newly elected Governor Scott Walker that something should be done about the state of Wisconsin’s 3.6 billion dollar deficit. What I do not agree with is the method by which he plans on cutting the deficit. Removing state employees’ collective bargaining rights is definitely not the way to go.

Walker’s proposed budget repair bill will cause a lot of other problems if in fact collective bargaining rights are taken away.  To public employees, collective bargaining rights are extremely important and they view these rights as a form of protection. Without these rights, public employees could lose their benefits, their wages could be cut back, safety in the workplace could suffer and much more.

Unionized workers do not look at this bill as a way to reduce the states’ deficit but more as an attack against unions. They believe that Walker intends to hurt the unions because he blames public employees that take advantage of the system for why the deficit has become so high. I definitely agree with what Maddocks says in the article that public employees do take advantage of the system through ways such as pension abuse, police detail abuse and pay raises in times of economic downturn. Something needs to be done about this issue but completely removing collective bargaining rights from public employees is not the answer. In my opinion, Walker’s budget repair bill needs amending.

 Patrick West
Barker Street, Pembroke