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I hope this is just a ploy to get the democrats back in the State where Gov. Walker can lock them up. He has stood his ground this long, it would be a shame for him to cave now.
The democrats have refused to do their job. The people of the State of Wisconsin elected the Republican majority and Governor to clean up a broken budget. To show weakness now will doom him to compromise for the rest of his term...
From FoxNews
Appearing to blink first in a nearly three-week standoff with absent Senate Democrats, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker offered to keep certain collective bargaining rights in place for state workers in a proposed compromise, according to e-mails released Tuesday by his office.
But the e-mails weren't enough to end a stalemate that has drawn national attention and ignited a storm of protest from union workers and their supporters.
Sen. Bob Jauch, one of the 14 Democrats on the run in Illinois to block a vote on Walker's original proposal, said he hoped the compromise would serve as a blueprint for future negotiations. But he and Sen. Tim Cullen, who were both working with Walker's administration, said the latest offer was inadequate.
The e-mails, some dated as recently as Sunday, show a softened stance in Walker's talks with the 14 Democrats who object to his original proposal that would strip nearly all collective bargaining rights for public workers and force concessions amounting to an average 8 percent pay cut. Republicans, who control the Senate, can't vote on the budget measure unless at least one Democrat is present.
Under the compromise floated by Walker and detailed in the e-mails, workers would be able to continue bargaining over their salaries with no limit, a change from his original plan that banned negotiated salary increases beyond inflation. He also proposed compromises allowing collective bargaining to stay in place on mandatory overtime, performance bonuses, hazardous duty pay and classroom size for teachers.
The increased contributions for health insurance and pension, which would save the state $330 million by mid-2013, would remain. The unions and Democrats have agreed to those concessions to help balance a projected $3.6 billion budget shortfall.