PolitiFact: Walker's "Pants on Fire Lie" on collective bargaining
John Manning
FILE UNDER: Bald-Faced Republican Liars
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker says his budget-repair bill
would leave collective bargaining “fully intact”
The Truth-O-Meter Says: "Pants on Fire Lie"
--PolitiFact - If Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker isn’t trying to strip most
collective bargaining rights from public employees, then why do workers
keep pouring into Madison by the thousands to demonstrate against him?
Many state, local government and public school employees -- including
those represented by the largest state workers union -- have said they
would be willing to pay more for pensions and health insurance, as
called for in a budget-repair bill introduced by Walker.
But the workers continue to protest provisions in the bill that would
restrict most public employee unions to bargaining only over wages, and
then only within caps.
It’s the central issue in the protests, which have drawn national attention.
And yet on the morning of Feb. 18, 2011 -- a day after Democratic state
senators fled to Illinois to prevent a vote on the bill -- Walker made a
startling declaration in a Milwaukee radio interview.
At the turn of the 19th century, the Republican governor told
conservative talk show host Charles Sykes, Wisconsin adopted the
"strongest civil service protections" in the world.
Walker then added:
"Those fully remain intact. Civil service does not get altered by the
modest changes we’re talking about here. Collective bargaining is fully
intact. You’ve got merit hiring, you’ve got just cause for termination
and for discipline. All those things remain."
In the middle of that statement is the eyebrow-raising remark.
Collective bargaining would remain "fully intact"? - - -
Walker himself has outlined how his budget-repair bill would limit the
collective bargaining rights of public employees.
Indeed, it’s that provision that provoked daily demonstrations at the
state Capitol and national media attention. To now say now say
collective bargaining would remain "fully intact" is not just false,
it’s ridiculously false.
And that means it is Pants on Fire