In Emails, Scott Walker Offers Deal on Union Rights

Wisconsin governor softens stance in emails to Dems
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 9, 2011 1:39 AM CST
Wisc. Gov Offers Compromise on Union Rights
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker addresses the media.   (AP-Photo/Wisconsin State Journal, John Hart)

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has told his state's missing Democrats that he's willing to make some changes to his plan to sharply restrict collective bargaining rights for public workers, according to emails released by his office. Walker has suggested a compromise that would allow bargaining over wages with no limit (his original plan banned negotiated salary increases beyond inflation), and bargaining over mandatory overtime, bonuses, hazardous duty pay, and classroom size for teachers, AP reports.

Some of the Senate Democrats who fled the state to prevent a quorum on Walker's "budget repair" bill say the proposed concessions are a good start, but they don't go far enough. "They were sort of bringing collective bargaining back from the grave," one senator tells the New York Times. The Democrats, who complain that Walker has released details of what were supposed to be private negotiations, say they're still not returning to Wisconsin. (More Wisconsin stories.)

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