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Walker’s proposals about unions represent GOP philosophy: Analyst

Monday, 14 September 2015 6:43 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 14 September 2015 10:17 PM ]

Republican presidential candidate Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker fields questions at The Family Leadership Summit at Stephens Auditorium on July 18, 2015 in Ames, Iowa. (AFP)

US presidential candidate Scott Walker’s push to seek draconian restrictions on labor unions represents Republican philosophy for the 21st century, an American activist in Maryland says.

Myles Hoenig made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Monday while commenting on the Wisconsin governor’s proposals to eliminate unions for employees of the federal government.

“Labor has been under attack in the United States for more than a generation. Membership has declined in state legislatures, both Democratic and Republican, have been limiting its powers. What Scott Walker is doing certainly represents Republican philosophy for the 21st century,” Hoenig said.

“But interestingly President Eisenhower, the two-term Republican president in the 1950s, promoted union membership and was part of their platform. So what happened?” he added.

“Large corporations saw that more money could be made by moving their factories and businesses overseas where labor laws are either quite lax, or at times, non-existent,” he stated.

“As their profits exploded their power and influence over legislators of both parties became near absolute,” the analyst noted.

“It was even the Massachusetts legislature that is considered the most liberal in the country that has also restricted government employees’ labor unions. Union busting and privatization of government labor is bi-partisan, done even at the local level, in liberal, Democratic cities,” he pointed out.

“Although what Scott Walker is proposing is an easy sell to his constituents, he would find it extremely difficult to promote it to the general public,” he said.

“He survived a recall election over this as governor for reasons that had as much to do with who the Democrats selected as their candidate and the lack of support from the Democratic Party establishment, including President Obama, who has never shown real support for labor as president,” the activist observed.

What Scott Walker is doing is an attempt to shore up his financial support from his donors as his campaign is showing very little traction in the Republican primary, Hoenig concluded.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk

Scott Walker