Pushed By Democrats The Massachusetts State House Passes Bill Against Collective Bargaining Rights For Unions

By a 111-to-42 vote taken at 11:30pm at night to avoid the type of media circus and Union protests that Wisconsin had to deal with when Governor Scott Walker's budget repair bill was being debated and eventually passed, the Democratically controlled Massachusetts State House passed a measure which would "strip police officers, teachers, and other municipal employees of most of their rights to bargain over health care, saying the change would save millions of dollars for financially strapped cities and towns."

President of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, Robert J. Haynes, is not amused.

“It’s pretty stunning,’’ said Robert J. Haynes, president of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO. “These are the same Democrats that all these labor unions elected. The same Democrats who we contributed to in their campaigns. The same Democrats who tell us over and over again that they’re with us, that they believe in collective bargaining, that they believe in unions. . . . It’s a done deal for our relationship with the people inside that chamber.’’

“We are going to fight this thing to the bitter end,’’ he added. “Massachusetts is not the place that takes collective bargaining away from public employees.’’

It still has to get passed the Senate and the Senate President Therese Murray has expressed reluctance to follow the House's example.

Massachusetts? Really?

Republicans only hold 32 out the 160 seats in Mass. In Wisconsin every Democratic Senate members actually ran away from home and hid in another state to avoid a vote like this by the Republican controlled Senate.

Some days I feel like I woke up in the Twilight Zone.

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