GOP legislator compares unions to Hitler and Putin
Please note: This article is published as an archive copy from Philadelphia City Paper. My City Paper is not affiliated with Philadelphia City Paper. Philadelphia City Paper was an alternative weekly newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The last edition was published on October 8, 2015.
"There was a gentleman by the name of Hitler..."
State Sen. Scott Wagner (R-York) compared labor unio
ns to Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Putin yesterday, in a floor speech backing legislation that would block public-sector unions from automatically collecting dues from their members' paychecks.
"The unions are about power and control. And there are two things that I continue to remember about power and control," Wagner said, according to an Associated Press account. "There was a gentleman by the name of Hitler, he was about power and control. There's a gentleman by the name of Putin, who's across the ocean, that's about power and control."
"I'm not comparing the unions to Hitler and I'm not comparing them to Putin," Wagner later told the AP. "I'm talking about the concept of power and control. ... I didn't say the unions are out killing people."
Pennsylvania State Education Association president Mike Crossey called the speech "shocking" and "offensive," and progressive group Keystone Progress is circulating an online petition calling on Gov. Tom Corbett and Republican leadership to denounce Wagner.
Wagner later spoke at a rally organized by Americans for Prosperity, the Tea Party-aligned political organization backed by billionaire libertarians Charles and David Koch.
In January, PSEA spokesperson Wythe Keever had told City Paper that there are "some billionaire corporate interests that are pouring money into the state. Republican lawmakers are being threatened that if they don't vote for paycheck-deduction legislation they will face a Tea Party primary opponent."
Proposed legislation would undermine union power and limit workers' ability to bargain over wages, benefits and working conditions. It would also weaken a key ally for Democrats in Pennsylvania, a critical swing state.
