The success or failure of NY's Governor Cuomo and Wisconsin's Governor
Walker can set the national tone!!! They are taking diverging paths to
eliminate their state's budget deficits.
Walker is seeking to break the backs of Wisconsin's public sector unions and
Cuomo is seeking to negotiate cost savings with New York's unions. The
extent to which either succeeds will serve as a model for the rest of the
country.
Each approach has an antecedent - Walker's is clearly the Newt Gingrich
model (forcing as much change as can be made to shrink government, even
if it risks shutting it down.) Cuomo has adopted the Hugh Carey model from
NYC's fiscal crisis of the 1970s (engaging in constructive, tense negotiations
resulting in labor conscessions that reduce costs.)
Walker prefers to reject labor givebacks. His real demand is a fundamental
shift that would end collective bargaining for public sector unions.
Cuomo hopes that past alliances with labor can lead to a constructive
dialogue. He wants labor to become a respected partner in recalibrating
long-term budgetary equilibrum through savings on salaries, pensions,
and benefits. This approach internalizes our nation's long social compact
whereby collective bargaining brought labor relation albeit with bilateral
concessions!!!
Sheila McKinney
