Even though I think unions often get their way illegitimately through political force, I wanted to give the union supporters who rallied in Denver February 22 an opportunity to share their views.
As noted, not all of the union supporters were particularly eloquent in their presentations (see also reports by Bob Glass and Kelly Maher).However, I interviewed a number of union supporters who were articulate and well-informed.
I would note that nobody else has done more to record and publish the views of union supporters at the Denver rally. Advocacy journalists are still journalists, and they can give a fair hearing to people with whom they largely disagree. (Moreover, often journalists who claim to be straight news reporters egregiously bias their stories and misrepresent the views of those they dislike.) The first video offers several interviews:
I added several editorial notes to the first video. Here they are:
The Independence Institute claims Colorado ranks between 29th and 36th in the nation in per-pupil spending, depending on assumptions, based on figures from the NEA, Census Bureau, and US Dept. of Education. Source.
Cap Times claims Gov. Walker’s tax cuts cost $140 million. The Weekly Standard claims Wisconsin faces a projected deficit of $3.6 billion. Sources: One and Two
Rick Ungar writes for Forbes that a Wisconsin bill indeed included language about potentially selling or leasing utilities, though Koch Industries denied any interest in purchasing them. Source.
The Denver Post reports that Xcel claims its “authorized” return “has averaged 10.63 percent, but the company’s actual average return has been about 8.6 percent.” However, nothing about this shows that subsidies for solar energy creates net jobs when the costs are considered.
Source.
The next video features a conversation with teacher and union organizer Cathy Royce of Canyon City:
The final video of union supporters features several more interviews:
***
Paige commented February 25, 2011 at 4:44 PM
Thanks for posting this Ari, I Appreciate it!
Paige commented February 26, 2011 at 9:29 AM
Ari- on the editors note that Gov. Walkers tax cuts cost 140 million, and Wisconsins projected deficit is 3.6 billion…
My research shows your facts to be correct, however Wisconsins current deficit is only approx. 138 million which tells me their state would be in the positive if it weren’t for Gov. Walker.
Why does he expect public workers to pay for his mistakes? Why is this s union issue? Seems to me the politicians are in the corporations corner not the other way around. At least in this case…