Category: Wisconsin Union Bashing

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Scott Walker Quietly Signs Bill To Repeal Equal Pay For Women in Wisconsin

The 2009 Equal Pay Enforcement Act was meant to deter employers from discriminating against certain groups by giving workers more avenues via which to press charges. Among other provisions, it allows individuals to plead their cases in the less costly, more accessible state circuit court system, rather than just in federal court.

In November, the state Senate approved SB 202, which rolled back this provision. On February, the Assembly did the same. Both were party-line votes in Republican-controlled chambers.

SB 202 was sent to Walker on March 29. He had, according to the state constitution, six days to act on the bill. The deadline was 5:00 p.m. on Thursday. The governor quietly signed the bill into law on Thursday, according to the Legislative Reference Bureau, and it is now called Act 219.

Walker’s office did not return repeated requests for comment.

Source: Huffington Post

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Wisconsin Wisconsin Union Bashing

Court Strikes Down Part of Scott Walker’s Anti Union Law

The Huffington Post reports:

Just over a year after Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) signed a measure taking away most collective bargaining rights for public workers, labor unions scored a victory as a federal court struck down portions of the law. The court ruled that the state cannot prevent public sector unions from automatically deducting dues from workers’ paychecks and cannot require them to be recertified annually.

The law, known as Act 10, requires most public sector unions to hold annual votes on whether a majority of its members want to recertify the union. It also took away the rights of some unions to automatically collect dues from members’ paychecks.

The court kept most of the law in place, but it ruled that the state did not have the power to pick and choose which unions could deduct dues. Under Act 10, only “public safety unions” — those representing firefighters and police officers — could continue to take out payments automatically.

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Wisconsin Union Bashing

One Month To Go Before Scott Walker’s Goose Starts Cooking

The water’s a-boiling, and Walker is literally feeling the heat. He has bombarded Wisconsin airwaves with television ads trying to convince the people that his failed policies are just what they need. But once the fire is lit, it’s just a matter of time before the feast begins.

MADISON — Organizers of the historic recall effort against Gov. Scott Walker have collected more than half a million signatures, a milestone that puts them more than 90 percent of the way toward the number needed to trigger an election.

Thursday’s announcement by officials with the Democratic Party of Wisconsin and the recall organization, United Wisconsin, comes with one month left before the deadline to turn in the 540,208 signatures needed to force Walker back onto the campaign trail.

“Scott Walker continues to spend millions on misleading TV ads trying to convince voters that his drastic cuts to education and other ‘reforms’ are working,” Meagan Mahaffey, United Wisconsin’s executive director, said in a press release Thursday. “But the people of Wisconsin are not buying his lies and are moving at record pace to stop Walker’s destruction and recall him from office.”

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Wisconsin Wisconsin Union Bashing

Scott Walker “Looks Forward” To Defending His Non-Existent Accomplishments

The efforts to recall Wisconsin’s Union busting Republican governor Scott Walker is in full swing, with organizers saying last week that they already collected over 300,000 signatures in the first 12 days since starting the recall process. A total of 540,200 signatures are needed by January 17th to force the recall election in the spring of 2012.

But even with this apparent success by the recall organizers so far, Scott Walker is not at all concerned. In fact, he is looking forward to the whole process. Walker told CNBC today that he will gladly use this time to showcase the achievements Wisconsin made under his leadership.

“If come next May or maybe early June, if they actually have the signatures and it forces a new election, all of those issues will be up on the ballot. But I look forward to that,” he said. “I’d love to have the chance to talk to the voters of Wisconsin again to tell that story.”

Asked whether he believes he will win reelection, the governor predicted that his accomplishments will trump the attacks made against him.

“I think if voters hear the facts, every week, every day, every week, every month that goes by, our numbers get better because our story gets out and people see the positive impact of the results,” Walker said.

He added, “The facts, I think, ultimately trump all the attacks. If you see that the schools are the same or better and that our governments are doing well and in the end our taxes are going down, people want to hear that, and I think the results will trump everything else.”

We’re not sure what story Walker is so glad to tell, because under his leadership, Wisconsin’s economy is in a steep decline. Reports have shown that although Walker campaigned on creating over 250,000 jobs for Wisconsin residents, “Walker has consistently proved himself incapable of understanding the economic challenges facing Wisconsinites,” and his policies have caused unemployment in the state to balloon to 7.9%

Maybe Walker is a little confused. According to the Associated Press, Walker has listed about 6000 jobs on the state’s website, claiming credit for these jobs. Only problem is, these jobs were created outside of Wisconsin.

Hearing Scott Walker brag about non-existent economic successes in Wisconsin? – a dime a dozen. Watching him pack up and leave the office of the Governor after the recall election is held? – Priceless!

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Democratic Republican United States Wisconsin Wisconsin Union Bashing

Wisconsin’s Governor Scott Walker Admits He Made A Mistake

Scott Walker and his Republican goons instituted some of the most radical right winged policies Wisconsin has ever seen, but what caused the Republican governor to admit he made a mistake was not the policies themselves – policies that caused hundreds of thousands to protests on a daily basis and to takeover the assembly house for weeks – Walker admitted to being sorry about the method in which he implemented his agenda.

“Aside from criticism by those who thought Walker was unfairly undercutting state worker rights, he and his fellow Republicans came under fire for tactics seen by some as bullying and not allowing for sufficient debate or possible compromise.

“The mistake I made early on is, I looked at it almost like the head of a small business: identify a problem, identify a solution and go out and do it,” Walker told Reuters at the National Governor’s Association meeting in Salt Lake City.

“I don’t think we built enough of a political case, so we let … the national organizations come in and define the debate while we were busy just getting the job done,” he said.

It’s not how you forced your policies on the people of Wisconsin that have you polling among the lowest governors in America Mr. Walker, its your policies themselves.

Six Republicans who helped Walker push his union busting policy on Wisconsin’s middle class are facing recalls in August. Walker himself must serve one year before he is eligible for recall, that happens in January of 2012.

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Republican Wisconsin Wisconsin Union Bashing

Wisconsin Supreme Court Rules In Favor Of Scott Walker

The victory in the lower court was short-lived. Today, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that Scott Walker’s union busting bill did not break any laws, in essence, voiding a previous ruling by a lower court. The ruling claims;

The court ruled that Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi’s ruling, which had held up implementation of the collective bargaining law, was void ab initio, or invalid from the outset.

In its decision, the state’s high court concluded that “choices about what laws represent wise public policy for the state of Wisconsin are not within the constitutional purview of the courts.”

The court concluded that Sumi exceeded her jurisdiction, “invaded” the Legislature’s constitutional powers and erred in halting the publication and implementation of the collective bargaining law.

The court added that its role is limited to determining whether the Legislature employed a “constitutionally violative process in the enactment of the act. We conclude that the Legislature did not violate the Wisconsin Constitution by the process it used.”

And with that, Scott Walker’s wish to bust the unions of Wisconsin and take away the collective bargaining of public workers is back in effect. The newly controversially re-elected Justice – Republican David Prosser – also found in favor of Scott Walker and his Republican allys.

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Weiner Pulls Out… of Scheduled Wisconsin Event

Democratic congressman from New York, Anthony Weiner has had enough, so instead of going to a scheduled event in Wisconsin this weekend and being faced with more questions about the picture of a man’s bulging private parts, sent from his twitter account to a 21-year-old, Weiner has decided that spending time “with his family” is the best thing to do.

The report from the Milwaukee Journal states,

Graeme Zielinski, party spokesman, confirmed the cancellation and said the decision was Weiner’s, and that the party’s invitation to him was still good.

“It’s understandable, considering what’s going on,” Zielinski added.

Weiner, an outspoken liberal voice in Congress, has been in the midst of a controversy over a photo of a male crotch in underpants sent to a female Twitter follower of his.

Weiner has denied sending the photo and says his Twitter account was hacked, but he has not denied  the photo might be of him. The story has occupied much of the political world for the past few days.

Weiner was to be one of the main speakers at the convention, which starts today at the Frontier Airlines Center. Another main speaker: Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), chair of the Democratic National Committee.

Zielinski said Weiner “opted to stay in New York . .. with his family,” and added, “We’re looking forward to a visit in the future” from Weiner.

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Collective bargaining Republican Party (United States) Wisconsin Wisconsin Union Bashing

Wisconsin Republicans Now Going After Police And Firefighter Unions

And so, the inevitable happened. Scott Walker and his Republican goons in Wisconsin have now turned their union busting efforts against Wisconsin’s police and firefighters.

Local firefighters and police officers are vowing to fight legislation proposed last week that would limit their ability to collectively bargain and negotiate contracts.

Rep. Bob Ziegelbauer, I-Manitowoc, introduced the bill that would eliminate collective bargaining for public safety employees on health care and pension contributions. Ziegelbauer’s bill does not require an employee to contribute to health care and pension funds, but would allow municipalities to mandate contributions.

Walker’s bill curtails collective bargaining for most public employees, including municipal workers and teachers, but exempts police and firefighters. A Dane County judge has blocked the law from taking effect after opponents allege that a meeting where the bill was approved violated the state’s open meetings law.

Jeremy Kopp, a Wausau firefighter and the department’s union president, said he will urge firefighters to email and call legislators to express their opposition to Ziegelbauer’s bill

In his original union busting bill, Scott Walker stated that there were no reasons to include the police and firefighter unions. The politics of this decision was obvious. These unions supported the governor in his run for office.

But that was then and this is now.

The Republican governor watched, as the very same union members he excluded from his bill, turned against him and joined the hundreds of thousands of other union members who were under attack. Consider this new bill as his chance to get even.

Anyone who didn’t see this coming needs glasses.

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Democratic Wisconsin Wisconsin Union Bashing

Fraud Detected In Republicans Paperwork To Recall Wisconsin Democrats

We are not surprised. Democrats in the state of Wisconsin saw a need for this, and they are beginning the process of challenging the recall petitions Republicans have started against three Democratic senators, and today in Madison, formal papers were filed.

“The overwhelming evidence clearly shows a pervasive pattern of election fraud committed by the shady out-of-state organization hired by Republicans to collect recall petitions,” said Senate Democratic Leader Mark Miller.  “Thousands of Wisconsin citizens fell victim to lies and misinformation spread by the circulators, and the papers submitted by this operation contain a river of omissions and wrong information.”

Miller continued:  “We believe that when the facts are reviewed, the GAB will throw out thousands of flawed signatures because they were fraudulent or defective. The vast depth of this misconduct calls into question the legitimacy of every signature collected by these circulators, and shows that the GOP effort failed to gather the valid signatures needed for recall elections.”

According to the paperwork filed by Wisconsin Democrats, some of the reasons given for this challenge are;

  • Senate District 12:  Of the 534 people contacted who had signed the petition, 9.2% indicated they were misled into signing the petition or asserted they had never signed.
  • Senate District 22:  Of the 225 people contacted who had signed the petition, 6.6% indicated they were misled into signing the petition or asserted they had never signed.
  • Senate District 30:  Of the 372 people contacted who had signed the petition, 8.6% indicated they were misled into signing the petition or asserted they had never signed.
  • Affidavit of a World War II veteran from Green Bay who was misled into signing a recall petition.  Upon learning he had been duped, veteran called the sheriff to get his name removed.  When confronted, the circulator claims he will remove the name, but a later review of the petitions reveals the veteran’s name was never crossed off.
  • Many affidavits attesting that Circulator Sherri Ferrell – who gathered nearly 3,000 signatures in two districts — gathered signatures on Indian reservations claiming petitions were to support “schools,” “Democrats,” and “tribal rights.”
  • Affidavit of voter in Senate District 22 attesting that circulator John Prijic claimed the petitions were for work to be done on a local park.
  • Affidavit of voter in Senate District 30 attesting that circulator Annette Lord claimed the petitions were to recall Republican Senator Cowles.
  • Affidavit of voter in Senate District 30 attesting that circulator Richard Madrill claimed the petitions were to recall Republican Gov. Scott Walker.
  • William Pocan’s forged name appears on line 10, page 362 of circulator Kevin Pursell’s petition.  As his widow Corinne Pocan’s affidavit attests, William Pocan has been deceased 20 years, although his name remains in the phone book.   Pursell circulated numerous pages.
  • Claims by many Wisconsin citizens who were misled by out-of-state circulators who claimed they could sign on behalf of other people.
  • Numerous examples of fake addresses and signatures appearing on GOP recall petitions, as well as sloppily gathered signatures also missing critical information.
  • Summary of out-of-state circulators hired by GOP with largest percentages of fraud or deception on GOP recall petitions:

Again, no surprise here. We’re talking about the GOP. Fraud is what they do.

 

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Democratic Wisconsin Wisconsin Union Bashing

Total Recall – Another Wisconsin Republican To Be Recalled

Earlier in the week, we reported that petitions were already filed to repeal four Republican senators in Wisconsin. Tomorrow, Democrats will file another petition, gathering thousands of signatures more than what is required to file.

Dems will file a massive amount of signatures tomorrow to trigger a recall election against a fifth Wisconsin GOP state senator, I’m told.

Graeme Zielinski, the spokesman for the Wisconsin Democratic Party, confirms to me that Democrats will submit approximately 30,000 signatures for the recall of Alberta Darling — nearly 150 percent of the 20,343 required.

This is the fifth time Dems have collected far more signatures than necessary for a recall — all but ensuring that all five recall elections will actually happen.

I’m only guessing that the last three petitions for recalls will be as successful.

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Wisconsin Wisconsin Union Bashing

More Wisconsin Republicans Added to Recall List

The count is now up to four. That’s how many petitions have been filed to recall the Republican senators who supported Governor Walker’s decision to strip Wisconsin workers of their union rights. Democrats got the required 15,000 signatures needed to add the latest senators Luther Olsen and Sheila Harsdorf to the recall list.

Meanwhile, progressives still plan to file recall petitions against four other GOP state senators, and have until May 2 to do so. They plan to do the same against Walker once he is eligible for recall. And as FDL’s Dave Dyden notes, “While conservative activists have hinted that they have achieved enough signatures to recall Democratic members of the Senate, they have yet to file any petitions with the GAB.”

Governor Walker will be eligible for recall in January 2012.

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Wisconsin Union Bashing

Despite Judge’s Hold, Scott Walker Publishes Union Busting Bill

 

Scott Walker

Despite a hold that a judge placed on Scott Walker’s union busting bill, Walker couldn’t wait for the legal process to unfold. On Friday, he published the bill on the state’s legislature website. According to the posting, the state’s law requires all bills to be published within 10 working days of its becoming law.

Also customary, according to Journal Sentinel;

The measure sparked protests at the Capitol and lawsuits by opponents because it would eliminate the ability of most public workers to bargain over anything but wages.

The restraining order was issued against Democratic Secretary of State Doug La Follette. But the bill was published by the reference bureau, which was not named in the restraining order.

Laws normally take effect a day after they are published, and a top GOP lawmaker said that meant it will become law Saturday. But nonpartisan legislative officials from two agencies, including the one who published the bill, disagreed.

“I think this is a ministerial act that forwards it to the secretary of state,” said Stephen Miller, director of the Legislative Reference Bureau. “I don’t think this act makes it become effective. My understanding is that the secretary of state has to publish it in the (official state) newspaper for it to become effective.”

Walker signed the bill March 11. Under state law, it should be published within 10 working days, which was Friday.

Read the report here.

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