Our thoughts are with Wisconsin who is fighting a similar — but different — battle right now. While their firefighters (and police officers) are exempt from the changes, I applaud their solidarity to stand with their other union brothers and sisters in their time of need.
I love how they explained why they’re standing with the other unions.
“We appreciate the fact that Governor Walker recognizes the unique work that firefighters do. However the PFFW is unable to stand by while legislation moves forward that undermines the rights of our brothers and sisters in other public employee unions,” Mahlon Mitchell, State President of the PFFW said in a statement today.
“We work with these public employees every day and cannot support a two-tier collective bargaining system that treats them so different than we are treated.
“We are all dedicated public servants. We each have unique duties and responsibilities and all are important to making our communities better places to live, work and raise our families.
“We therefore call on state legislators to reject the portions of the Budget Repair Bill that would permanently undermine the state’s collective bargaining law,” Mitchell concluded.
We stand with you, Wisconsin.
That second video made me cry last night, I admit it. As someone else said on YouTube, “Solidarity is? better when it comes with bagpipes. Go Wisconsin!”
It looks grim, but we will keep Wisconsin in our thoughts and prayers while the vote remains delayed. Our family hopes that our Senators here in Ohio listen to the masses more than they have in Wisconsin. No on SB 5!