Tag: Service Employees International Union

Unions in Wisconsin sue to reverse collective bargaining restrictions on teachers, others

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Seven unions representing teachers and other public workers in Wisconsin filed a lawsuit Thursday attempting to end the state’s near-total ban on collective bargaining for most public employees.

Unions in Wisconsin sue to reverse collective bargaining restrictions on teachers, others

Related:

Wisconsin’s Act 10 Is in Jeopardy (WSJ)

The law, signed by former Gov. Scott Walker, has saved the Badger State from turning into Illinois or New York, where public unions essentially run the state government for their own benefit. According to the MacIver Institute, Act 10 has saved Wisconsin taxpayers $16.8 billion since it was passed in 2011, making public finances more manageable at every level of government.

Progressive mayors who publicly rail against the law know that repealing it would wreak havoc on municipal budgets. According to Wisconsin Right Now, Milwaukee’s budget says it has saved about $345.4 million in health insurance since 2012 because of Act 10’s requirement that public employees contribute to their health plans.

The lawsuit by teachers and other public unions focuses on a narrow part of the law that exempts public-safety employees. The unions say this creates a “favored” class of workers and imposes “severe burdens on employees in the disfavored group.” Act 10’s “anti-democratic regime,” the unions continue, subjects “general” employees “to a panoply of burdens and deprives them of important rights,” while exempting police officers and firefighters from “all its injurious provisions.”

Attacks on Public-Sector Unions Harm States: How Act 10 Has Affected Education in Wisconsin

A Decade After Act 10, It’s A Different World For Wisconsin Unions

WSJ quotes MacIver Institute, from the Atlas Network via State Policy Network, Bradley Foundation, and Americans for Prosperity (Kochtopus). Former WI Governor Scott Walker, another Atlas/Koch tool, does not rule out intervening.

Wisconsin supreme court appears poised to strike down legislative maps and end Republican dominance

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

Wisconsin supreme court appears poised to strike down legislative maps and end Republican dominance

Taylor Meehan, an attorney for legislative Republicans, argued that districts had long been considered to be contiguous as long as they kept towns, counties and wards whole. In Wisconsin, localities have annexed disconnected parts of land that have resulted in strange shapes. “You can define contiguity as strictly or as loosely as you want,” she said.

They look like Swiss cheese!

Related:

Advocates rally to protest Wisconsin’s ‘etch-a-sketch gerrymandered maps’

Restaurant Corporations Try to Overturn California Labor Rights Law AB 257

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

An exploration of the methods and tactics being employed by Fast Food Restaurant Corporations in their attempt to overturn California Law AB 257 known as the Fast Recovery Act which would protect workers and potentially raise their minimum wage.

Restaurant Corporations Try to Overturn California Labor Rights Law AB 257 via Anarchistara

Related:

Restaurant groups push to repeal California’s fast food council law

Restaurants move to stop new California fast food worker law

‘There Needs to Be a Reckoning’: Republicans Introduce a Bill to Make Feds At-Will Employees

Tina Marie (Ms. Cat)

‘There Needs to Be a Reckoning’: Republicans Introduce a Bill to Make Feds At-Will Employees

Roy said in a statement that his bill preserves protections against discrimination and whistleblower retaliation. But in the case of discrimination, EEOC would be required to toss all of its policies regarding complaints that originate from federal agencies and apply the same standards it uses in private sector cases.*

…

However, the bill’s purported whistleblower protections suggest just the opposite, Kettl said. OSC only has a 14-day window in which to make nonbinding recommendations on whether an adverse personnel action constitutes retaliation. Another provision requires the deduction of 25% of a federal employee’s retirement annuity if a court finds their appeal to be “in bad faith or frivolous.”

What’s wrong with that?! Why should bureaucrats have special protections that everyday working people don’t?! If they don’t like it, then change it for all workers!

Related:

Following Trump’s Lead, GOP Pushes Bill to Make Federal Workers Fireable ‘At Will’