NOW I GET IT...

On January 2, 2011, George Will made this remark on ABC's This Week:

WILL: There is one national resonance from this, however. In New York City, the issue is tangled up with the question, and it's an open question, whether the public employees union to make a job action point sabotaged street collection. I believe -- and this is entirely tangled up with the state bankruptcy -- that the issue of public employees and their dominance of blue states is going to be the biggest issue in this country for the next several years.

At the time, I thought Will was wrong but I now see that the conservative movement has in fact declared war on public sector unions. Yesterday I noticed that Limbaugh and Hannity railed against the public employee unions in Wisconsin, especially the teachers union, but NEVER mentioned that the employees are upset, not at the reduction in pay and benefits, but at the proposed reduction in the right to collective bargaining.

These reductions are listed at Yahoo News' The Lookout:

Walker's legislation would end collective bargaining rights--the process by which employees band together to negotiate with employers--for almost all of Wisconsin's state, county and local workers (police, firefighters and the state patrol would be excepted). This would mean, among other things, that unions wouldn't be able to seek pay increases above inflation, unless voters approve those hikes in a special referendum. Unions also would not be able to require members to pay dues, and would have to hold yearly votes to stay organized.

UPDATE: Tennesee State Republicans vote to abolish collective bargaining between teachers and school boards. (h/t TPM) David Cay Johnston points out that reducing the wages of public union members will likely also drive down wages in the private sector. (h/t Atrios)