TRENTON � Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-Gloucester/Cumberland/Salem) issued the following statement today regarding the actions taken last night by Wisconsin Republican State Senators in their attempt to eliminate nearly all collective bargaining rights of public employees in that state:
�What happened last night is just unconscionable. Voting to strip workers of their collective bargaining rights, especially through some sort of arcane procedural rule, is so infuriatingly wrong it defies belief. Rules are meant to ensure order, not allow chaos.
�Wisconsin public employee unions made clear that they were willing to make concessions in order to help solve the state�s fiscal dilemmas. The public made clear, once the unions were willing to make concessions, that they fully supported the unions. And last night, the Republican legislators of Wisconsin�s state Senate made clear that they don�t care about any of that.
�Public employees have a fundamental right to sit at the negotiating table and collectively bargain. If Governor Christie truly believes in that right, he will denounce what occurred last night in Wisconsin.�