.jpg)
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. (AP Photo)
(CNSNews.com) – AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said that his union coalition would participate in a planned recall campaign targeting Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) – a man Trumka referred to as “Lucifer.”
“Would I support going after Lucifer?” Trumka said, after being asked if he would support a recall of Walker. “Let me think about that. That's a tough one. Of course we’re gonna' be there.”
Trumka, taking questions after delivering a speech on jobs at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. said that Walker had “overreached” by using a “contrived deficit” to try to strip public-sector unions of their collective bargaining rights.
“I mean, the guy has overreached, he’s been a bad governor,” said Trumka. “He tried to use a contrived deficit to take people out.”
Trumka was referring to the months-long budget battle in Wisconsin that saw Gov. Walker try to close a budget deficit in part by asking public sector unions to contribute some of their salaries to their own pension and health care benefits. When the unions balked, Walker and Republicans in the state legislature moved to strip the unions of their collective bargaining ability.
Democrats in the state Senate fled Wisconsin in an effort to prevent the Republican majority from passing Walker’s budget bill containing the removal of the unions’ collective bargaining powers. Unions from across the country descended on the Wisconsin State House, camping out inside for weeks in protest. Walker’s budget ultimately passed.
In retaliation, unions and their Democratic allies launched recall petitions against six Republican state senators, defeating two of them.
Now, Wisconsin Democrats are preparing for a possible recall of Walker himself, an effort Trumka said he would support.
