Wauwatosa Mayor Vetoes Labor Contracts

The union minions were celebrating last night when the Wauwatosa Common Council reversed its decision and approved labor contracts.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

The Wauwatosa Common Council reversed itself late Tuesday and approved three public employee labor contracts aldermen had rejected a month before.

The decision came in the context of a supercharged political environment in the hometown of Gov. Scott Walker, with some of the dozens of speakers from the city urging officials to reject the contracts until Walker's budget-repair bill goes into effect, and others echoing union demonstrators' support of bargaining rights.

Aldermen were still speaking about the decision as of 11 p.m., but when the vote was taken at 11:10, the result was 8-7 in favor of the contracts.

Ald. Dennis McBride, one of five who sought the special meeting to discuss the contracts, referred to Wauwatosa as a "deeply divided city."

Ald. Cheryl Berdan, who works in Walker's Milwaukee office, urged that the contracts be rejected, pointing out that the city voted in favor of Justice David Prosser in the recent Supreme Court election - one that many viewed as a referendum on Walker's budget plans.

City Administrator James Archambo, responding to questions from aldermen, said the contracts constituted "a vastly subtler issue and a vastly closer call" than the partisan debates over it suggested.

Aldermen who favored the three contracts - which would cover city public works employees, clerical staff and dispatchers - argued they'd save the city money.

Their speeches came after spirited testimony from members of the public on both sides of the issue.

The parking lot was jammed and the crowd spilled out into the hallways at City Hall and a separate room with closed-circuit TVs.

And though people opposed to the contracts attended in force - some holding signs complaining about union "bullying" - so did supporters of the contracts wearing pink stickers proclaiming "I support fair contracts."

Both supporters and opponents lined up to speak at the special meeting held to reopen the discussion of the labor contracts.

The union supporters' celebration was short-lived.

From WauwatosaNOW:

Mayor Jill Didier has vetoed the ratification of three union contracts approved by a slim majority of the Wauwatosa Common Council last night.

She has put a stop to collective bargaining agreements with the public works, clerks and dispatchers unions, which represent about a quarter of the city's employees.

Didier has been vocal in explaining that it was a petition of five aldermen that forced the special meeting and a new vote on the issue. She reiterated that sentiment in a letter to the city clerk exercising her veto power as mayor.

"I believe it is wrong for council members to take this approach to policy-making," she said.

The process was "fully vetted" and normal procedures were followed when the council voted to deny the contracts March 15, she added.

"As the leader of this organization, I must strike the balance of well-being of our workers, our responsibilities and the expectations of the Wauwatosa community," she said.

Will some Wauwatosa Common Council members flee to Illinois?

I don't know why they would but that's been the reaction of elected officials when the unions don't get their way.