Anyone remember the days before unions, when Big City pols 'sold' jobs? Wanna be a fireman? Vote for me, and kick back ten bucks a week!

(Fireman's school? Police Academy? Ya gots to be kiddin'!)

Sadly, here in Wisconsin Packer football IS more important than teachers or police officers.

Hypocrisy, thy name is STILL Scott Walker.

Scott; open mouth but don't talk. Just add feet.

That is simply not the case, in any way. This has been brewing for years, the owners are happy as clams that the refs are not professionals, that they are part time guys who work weekends for "fun". Now, rightly, these folks are tired of getting used, and want to make this the real job it should be. Football is too important to Americans to have high school teachers ref the games. We need pros, guys and gals in good physical condition that can follow the fast game. This union is trying to save our game, and the movement conservatives are too dense or rigid to understand or admit thier shortcomings.

This may be too simplistic of a summary of the whole situation but what the Refs are asking for amounts to $6,000 per team per game. Six THOUSAND!

And I'm glad that Gov Walker chimed in because he now shines light on the fact that this is nothing more than another Union breaking effort. The NFL owners do not care about anything the refs are asking for, they just want to create precedent for the larger contract negotiations to come.

Republicans make the case all the time that uncertainty is what is holding back the economy, well, all the Refs are asking for is some certainty (a pension) and the league wants to offer 401k (stock market uncertainty).

That's like, what? Ten cents per seat at most games? Perhaps we can collect it at the gate, with little boxes like the March of Dimes.

@Derek: They were locked out when the contract expired. They are not on strike--they would probably come back this weekend if the owners would allow them to continue to work while negotiations continue.

The typical player makes at least $100,000 per game. So, @dfabs4, your point is...?

Derek ... Without a union, some of the referees would be on the job, but others wouldn't be. They're advocating not only for themselves and their economic welfare, but also for the quality of the game itself. That should be obvious after last night. The NFL is a multi-billion dollar enterprise, and the referees play a significant role in its success. They're entitled to their fair share of the league's revenues.

I will say that the call at the end of the game wasn't as easy as the ESPN blowhards and their kin in the media make it out to be. Yes, it's easy to call something 12 hours later, after a thousand replays in slow motion. But the refs didn't have that luxury. They had to call it on the spot, in the middle of a melee.

And if you don't think that there was another possible interpretation, go back and listen to Mike Tirico's call of the play in real time. He uses the phrase "simultaneous possession" as he's describing the play. When you add to that the fact that Golden Tate was the one holding the ball when everyone unpiled, it's not hard to see how that play was called the way it was.

Actually they do have that luxury. Referees have monitors on the field if there is a confusing play or a request for an official review, the refs, and/or judges will look at the play from multiple angles to see what the correct call is. (I was on the field working for a TV crew for an NCAA game. Very exciting. Also, I'm not sure if its this way for the NFL, but NCAA requires media outlets who cover the game via Television broadcast to provide playback information on the field to Refs upon request. If that's the case, then refs had the exact replay information ESPN had.)

They did review the play after one refs ruled an interception and the other a touchdown. But even though the replays clearly showed what the NFL says is an interception, they ruled it as a touchdown anyway. Thus, the replacement refs did not know the rules of the game before going out on the field.

I think he was just blaming the unions for the lock out.

I think the point alludes you. No one is saying unions are inherently more skilled or professional. No one claims that these are intrinsic traits of a union. However, in this specific case (I know, evaluating things on a contextual basis rather than making broad generalizations may not be your forte), it is clear that the members of the union are more highly skilled at what they do than their replacements. They have unionized so that they may contend with the power of the corporation that they work for. Saying people shouldn't be allowed to fight for what they are worth is anti-capitalist (bet you never considered that perspective...)

No Sir the point eludes you. Your grammer and spelling alludes to you having a fifth grade government education. All that aside, The unions are anti capitalist by nature. There is no reason to attain higher knowledge of your trade if the worst person at the job makes as much as the best person at the job. NFL included.

Grammer? D'oh!

@inspector..in what parallel universe is unionization anti-capitalist? ford got it right, pay your workers enough to buy your products...If weekends, 8 hour workdays, sick leave and so on are anti capitalist, then I am an anti-capitalist.

Inspector, you can sign up right after you officiate several hundred lesser games for money and prove that you know what you are talking about after memorizing the rule book, when the rules are applicable, and can say instantly who did what when while watching a film, and whether or not a rule was violated during the action, who did the offense, what the penalty is, and how to mark the penalty from which point on the field. In short, you can sign up after you demonstrate your professional knowledge of the sport. Until then, just keep bloviating, like Rush Limbaugh. You are good at it.

So, basically, you have to be skilled and professional before you can join the union. Thanks for making my point

Inspector12 . . . No, you don't have to be a skilled professional. That's what industrial unions were--and are--all about. Workers who wouldn't have any bargaining power banding together, using collective power to advocate for their share of the benefits of their productivity.

Go look at a chart that's been on this blog several times, showing the relationship between the decline in industrial union membership and the decline in middle class wages (in real dollar terms) over the past three decades. It's pretty clear that a stable middle class depends upon the ability of workers to unionize.

You might also want to read up on some labor history. Yes, unions have been guilty of thuggery and other excesses in the past. People sometimes go overboard when the welfare of their family is on the line. But that pales next to the abuses of management, especially in the five or six decades leading up to the passage of the National Labor Relations Act in 1935.

Given how badly the playing field is now tilted, it wouldn't be surprising to see some violence recur someday soon as workers (especially those in industrial and retail settings) fight to recapture some of their lost economic power.

You take high school and small college refs and throw them into NFL games and think that because they know the rule book they'll be fine? The biggest reason these refs are failing is because of the speed of the game. They know just as much as the unionized refs, they are just as good of refs, but they are jumping 3+ levels with no experience in the speed of the game. That stuff doesnt come overnight.

Nope, but it's really cute that you chimed in like that.

Jerilyn, What the heck are you talking about?! It doesn't matter who was playing last night, the replacement refs blew call after call. Is that how you want games to be decided?!

@Michael Browne: I support the most professional officiating available, union or not. The truth is that unionized officials have proved themselves to be more competent than their replacements. We have proof every game the NFL has played this season. I would love to see a poll of all viewers of NFL games who support the return of the unionized officials and their political affiliation. I bet that the majority have an (R) after their name and are voting Romney/Ryan. They are hypocrites. It is probably the 47% that Romney refers to as leeches and victims.

It's a lockout from the owners, not a strike.