In order to help balance Wisconsin’s budget, the state’s Republican governor has proposed eliminating collective bargaining rights for most public employees, but Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, a Democrat, told CNBC he does not agree with the approach.
“We’re having to ask everybody to sacrifice, but we’re not doing it by vilifying public employees," O'Malley said. "We’re doing it by bringing people together around the truth and the math and the imperative of moving forward out of these difficult times."
O’Malley said Wisconsin’s governor, Scott Walker, and others who are targeting unions are using the economic crisis as an excuse to “sharpen their ideological ax and go after collective bargaining rights.”
O’Malley’s budget plan for Maryland, which has a deficit of $1.3 billion, includes making $6.6 billion in budget cuts; creating pension reform that would require current and future members to contribute more; maintaining funding for education; increasing funding for the Maryland Economic Development Assistance Fund by 25 percent.
His plan also creates an “Invest Maryland” program to grow the state’s knowledge-based industries and stimulate up to $100 million in venture capital investments.