So with Scott Walker surviving the recall his controversial anti-union laws will stand for now. I was reminded after the vote that certain jobs were exempt from the restrictions put on other public employees: police, fireman & teachers. I would assume these are the most valued jobs or else the law would apply to them only. But since it excludes them then the new law must not create a desirable result for those it does apply too, hence the exclusion.
So why are they exempt? Will the new law make government jobs less attractive? Certainly. Will it reduce household income for those it applies? Of course. Will it demotivate them? We can't have demotivated policemen and firefighters.
One last good reason and probably the most likely reason for the exemption: Because even his own party would have known the consequences and never voted for the legislation in the first place. How nice is that? They knew not exempting them was a non-starter but now all of Wisconsin agrees. We're okay with having the lowest common denominator working public jobs that aren't police, fire or education. Those three just happen to be a big segment of public employment. Yet if it was so important to cut costs why exclude anybody? Because its all politics and has little to do with actually closing the budget gap.