What will the unions do now?

Probing into the unions' strategy here in Wisconsin, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel only comes up with 2 things:

1. The recall elections. The article mentions the "so-called in-kind work" which "gives union members the ability to go door-to-door lobbying to defeat Republican senators facing recall." Gives union members the ability...? You mean allows unions to pay people to do door-to-door work. [ADDED: That sentence should end in a question mark. I really don't understand whether the members are paid to perform this "in-kind work" for candidates. Are they volunteers?] If you're in a recall district, steel yourself for paid [?] union activists coming to your door. Or maybe you already have the homeowner policy that I have: I don't answer the door unless I know who's there and want to see them. By the way, how many of the protesters in February and March were paid by the unions?

2. The federal court lawsuit challenging the collective bargaining legislation on equal protection grounds, the absurdly weak theory being that the state can't treat different categories of its own employees differently.

Walker's bill exempted firefighters and police officers, as well as some transit workers, from the legislation. The unions say, at least in the cases of the police and firefighters, that was political payback for their support of Walker in the gubernatorial election.

Imagine courts striking down legislation on the ground that the political majority drew lines that seemed to favor its supporters! The unions also contend that free speech rights require the state to submit to collective bargaining with its employees. Here's a clue: The First Amendment protects us from compelled speech. It doesn't require it!

So that's it for the unions' strategy. How many people reading the linked article are fooled by all the bluster? The strategy is pitifully weak!

The unions suffered a crushing defeat, and the only way back — not mentioned in the article — is to regain the legislature and the governorship in future regular elections. That's a long time line, and it will give the people of the state a chance to see if the Republicans' budget fix worked.

At this point in the protracted budget battle of 2011, the people of Wisconsin deserve that information before we plunge into another big change. If the unions look too desperate grasping at strategic moves like #1 and #2, above, then Wisconsinites ought to suspect that they are afraid to let us see how good the new policy really is.