Gov. Scott Walker announced his controversial “budget repair” bill Friday, which has prompted criticism and anxiety from lawmakers and state workers, including University of Wisconsin employees.
The UW Board of Regents wants the authority to raise tuition without getting approval from the state Legislature, one of several areas of flexibility the University of Wisconsin System is requesting from Gov. Scott Walker. UW System President Kevin Reilly sent a letter to Walker on Tuesday asking for more freedom from state regulations to build facilities, purchase goods, hire people and set tuition. Bracing for budget cuts, university officials are hoping to trade state support for more autonomy.
Quoted: Steve Kimball of the UW-Madison Wisconsin Center for Education Research.
The next several days will determine whether Wisconsin Republicans are fit to govern. Gov. Scott Walker has created a make-or-break moment for members of his party who serve in the Legislature.
Walker seeks to return Wisconsin to the days of patronage politics — where party bosses filled state positions with their flunkies and services were delivered not on the basis of need but on the basis of who had the right political connections.
The warning shots came late last November.Weeks after being elected governor, Scott Walker sent a letter to the as yet Democrat-controlled Legislature urging them to halt work on public employee union contracts so that he may ?fully evaluate their effect on our next state budget.?
The responses to Gov. Scott Walker?s proposal to undermine the ability of working Wisconsinites to bargain for fair wages and benefits have been appropriately passionate. Wisconsinites are angry with their governor, who promised to work across lines of partisanship and ideology to create jobs, but has instead chosen to play political games.
The governor?s budget repair bill, which includes a plan to gut collective bargaining protections for state employees, does not seek to get the state?s fiscal house in order.
Gov. Scott Walker?s announcement last Friday was perhaps the greatest push yet toward the feudalistic dystopia the new administration envisions for Wisconsin. In the midst of a paranoid mobilization of the National Guard and a dramatically vamped up security detail, Walker fired his latest salvo in a full-frontal assault on public workers that, if successful, will debilitate a sector of the economy significantly represented by people of color and women.
In response to questions about possible state employee reactions to his new budget repair bill Friday, Gov. Scott Walker said he has contingency plans and is prepared to call up the state?s National Guard if necessary.
In the wake of Gov. Scott Walker?s announcement of a budget repair bill, some University of Wisconsin students and faculty are preparing to mobilize in opposition an act that would eliminate many collective bargaining rights of unionized employees.
UW-Madison students and staff plan to deliver Valentine?s Day cards to Gov. Scott Walker today that read, “We (heart) UW: Don?t Break My (heart),” as a protest to his budget repair bill that eliminates collective bargaining rights for public workers. The delivery is set to take place at 12:15 p.m. today at Walker?s office in the Capitol.
Gov. Scott Walker is pushing for sweeping changes to collective bargaining that would ensure most people who works for the government in Wisconsin can?t negotiate their benefits, pensions and working conditions – except for local police, firefighters and Wisconsin State Patrol troopers. But not all law enforcement would be exempt.
Cullen Werwie, a Walker spokesman, said Capitol Police and UW-Madison police would be subject to changes proposed in the bill, which was introduced Friday.
STEVENS POINT ? A recently completed gig called Voices of Rural Wisconsin sent me to all corners of the state and points between for conversations with rural folks. The project, sponsored by the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters, was simple in scope: We asked participants to talk about their life experiences and to envision what is needed to ensure a healthy future for rural Wisconsin.
….As state and local elected officials deal with tough budget challenges in the coming days, one can only hope they?ll recognize the value of this outreach arm of the UW System.
Citing Wisconsin?s gaping budget shortfall for this year and even larger ones expected in the years ahead, Gov. Scott Walker proposed a sweeping plan on Friday to cut benefits for public employees in the state and to take away most of their unions? ability to bargain.
The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents and chancellors agreed increasing flexibilities within the system and on individual college campuses will be important with budget cuts from the state government looming during a meeting on Friday.
Governor Scott Walker has sent out a letter via e-mail to state workers explaining to them what his new budget proposal would do and why the actions are necessary.
Wisconsin public employee unions and their supporters are currently engaged in planning their response to Governor Scott Walker?s program to curtail negotiating and organizing rights via a budget bill announced Friday. Three public protests and lobbying efforts at the state Capitol in Madison are planned for next week, and at least one longer-term plan for a sustained campaign against the governor and his Republican and associated allies are in the works.
Hundreds of Wisconsin?s public sector workers crammed into the cafeteria at Middleton High School Sunday afternoon to vehemently speak out against Gov. Walker?s latest proposals.
The Wisconsin State AFL-CIO has launched an advertising campaign against Republican Gov. Scott Walker?s proposed bill that will take away almost all collective bargaining rights for most public workers.
Public employees, students, and teachers rallied Sunday against Governor Walker?s plan to fix the state?s budget shortfall.
Gov. Scott Walker is putting his controversial budget repair bill on the fast track, urging lawmakers to pass it this coming week.
Everyone who works for the state or local governments would lose their right to negotiate everything from vacations to sick leave under Gov. Scott Walker?s budget repair bill — except for local police, firefighters and state troopers.
As union leaders prepare to fight a budget repair bill that will strip away much of their bargaining power, Governor Scott Walker says he?s prepared for unrest.
The head of a union representing local government workers decries a ?radical plan? from the governor. Rick Badger is executive director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 40, which represents about 33,000 local workers.
Governor Scott Walker unveils a budget repair bill that would strip most state workers of their collective bargaining rights. The measure is designed to close a $137 million gap in the current state budget. (Video.)
Gov. Scott Walker?s plan to erase almost all collective bargaining rights for most public workers is now squarely in the domain of the Legislature, which could act on it within days.
In a move that could be a preview of what?s to come in cash-strapped states, Wisconsin?s newly elected Republican governor announced a sweeping plan on Friday that would cut benefits for state employees, including those in the University of Wisconsin system, and eradicate the collective-bargaining rights that academic employees won just two years ago.
UW system leaders hope that the deep cuts to state employee benefits Gov. Walker proposed today will create more support for a plan to give the university more autonomy from the state, including allowing UW to set higher tuition rates and pay professors more. In a letter to UW employees, UW System President Kevin Reilly made clear that pursuing a new course for the university is a higher priority than fighting Walker over state aid.
In the wake of Gov. Scott Walker?s announcement of a budget repair bill, some University of Wisconsin students and faculty are preparing to mobilize in opposition an act that would eliminate many collective bargaining rights of unionized employees.
Governor Scott Walker on Friday proposed a “budget repair” bill that may fix the state budget but could do some real damage to the personal budgets of faculty members and others who work at the University of Wisconsin System.
Will the Capitol Square be Madison?s Tahrir Square in reverse?It certainly sent “Mubarek quitting Egypt” to the second rank in Saturday morning?s Wisconsin State Journal.
Gov. Scott Walker told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview Thursday that he will propose removing nearly all public employee collective bargaining rights to help plug a $3.6 billion budget hole.
Gov. Scott Walker says the Wisconsin National Guard is prepared to respond if there is any unrest among state employees in the wake of his announcement that he wants to take away nearly all collective bargaining rights.
One day after Gov. Scott Walker proposed stripping public employees of most of their bargaining rights, he is reaching out to state employees in a letter. In an e-mail to be sent out to state workers later Friday morning, Walker thanked public workers for their service and sought their understanding for broad and controversial changes he is seeking to the state?s collective bargaining law.
The Republican governor says those changes are necessary to balance a $137 million budget shortfall in the fiscal year ending June 30 and a $3.6 billion shortfall for the 2011-?13 budget. But Walker said he would not seek additional furloughs for state workers, who are already taking eight of the unpaid days off this fiscal year because of the budget problems.
MADISON, Wis. — Gov. Scott Walker said he won?t negotiate with unionized state workers because Wisconsin is broke and he has nothing to offer them.
Public employees are reeling trying to figure out what to do after Gov. Scott Walker asked the Legislature to remove nearly all collective bargaining rights for teachers, prison guards and other government workers across Wisconsin. They don?t have much time to mobilize.
Of the 150 or so people in the room attending the annual Quality Milk Conference in Madison this week, most were employees of dairy processing plants across the state. They were members of the Wisconsin Association of Dairy Plant Field Representatives. These are people who are milk quality experts who work closely with dairy producers to ensure that milk meets the highest standards for consumption in the form of milk, cheese, ice cream and a wide array of dairy products.
Gov. Scott Walker told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview Thursday that he will propose removing nearly all public employee collective bargaining rights to help plug a $3.6 billion budget hole.
?A reasonable attorney would have objected to a set of [jury] instructions that obscured one of the main defenses in this case,? Leilani Neumann?s attorney Byron Lichstein writes in a 15-page motion. Lichstein is the director of the University of Wisconsin Law School?s Criminal Appeals Project.
Gov. Scott Walker will seek to eliminate almost all collective bargaining rights of state and local public workers as part of his plan for fixing Wisconsin’s budget deficit, a move one Democratic leader called an “assault on workers in the state.” The bill also would remove the right, granted under former Gov. Jim Doyle, for University of Wisconsin faculty and staff to form unions.
Several campus groups hosted a state budget roundtable Thursday to discuss Gov. Scott Walker?s upcoming budget and the impact it will have on the UW system.
Gov. Scott Walker may propose refinancing the state?s debt and tapping Wisconsin?s SeniorCare prescription drug program as a way to repair the current state budget.
The other day I was accosted at Memorial Union and asked to sign a Valentine?s day card
State worker unions in Wisconsin could soon go the way of the dodo.
This Valentine?s Day, Gov. Scott Walker should show some love for the University of Wisconsin System. When Walker releases his 2011-?13 biennial budget proposal later this month, he must preserve funding for the UW System?s 26 campuses.
The state of Wisconsin faces a $3.6 billion budget deficit in the coming 2011-13 biennium. Gov. Scott Walker will undoubtedly approve deep cuts across the board, including slashing education dollars for institutions like UW-Madison. To offset dwindling state funding, Chancellor Biddy Martin is taking steps to ensure the university remains nationally competitive while accommodating for tough economic circumstances.
Marty Beil, time to update your resume. John Matthews, get a hold of the Help Wanted section of your local newspaper. Soon you will be out of work.Friday is when Gov. Scott Walker lowers the boom on government employees unions. As he has promised.
President Obama has appealed to the goodwill of the business community, asking the Chamber of Commerce to do its patriotic duty and hire more workers. Gov. Walker has proclaimed Wisconsin “Open for Business” and is offering up tax breaks for companies that add more employees. He has also vowed to reduce regulation.
But ask local businesses what matters most and they will tell you: it?s the revenue, stupid.
Several UW-Madison facilities projects are on the agenda for approval at the UW Board of Regents meeting on Thursday and Friday.
As we continue to assemble the pieces of our editorial agenda for the year, including a desire to support reasonable and responsible efforts by our elected leaders to move our state forward and not lose their focus on economic recovery and development, we must include the University of Wisconsin as a major force.
Recent findings from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and University of Wisconsin researchers suggests the effects of climate change have been accelerating over the past 60 years and could drastically transform the state?s idyllic landscape in the future.
When University of Wisconsin junior Erica Winters voted in the midterm election, she did not have a Wisconsin driver?s license or state identification to show poll workers. She did not have to show them any form of photo ID at all.
Gov. Scott Walker announced the budget shortfall for the current fiscal year and the budget deficit for the next biennium has increased compared to past estimates, prompting the administration to begin planning a budget repair bill.
As the University of Wisconsin invokes the Wisconsin Idea to justify its growing scientific collaboration with corporate America, and the once famously publicly oriented government of Wisconsin declares itself ?open for business,? it may help to revisit the true spirit of Wisconsin?s progressive idea.
In 1912 Charles McCarthy, head of the state?s Legislative Reference Bureau, wrote a short book explaining ?The Wisconsin Idea,? the state?s innovative effort to counteract a growing corporate tyranny.
Quoted: John Witte, UW-Madison professor of public affairs and political science.
A Wisconsin panel has issued a more detailed report that looks at how climate change may affect specific parts of the state. It?s the first report from the Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts, a collaboration between the UW-Madison and Wisconsin DNR.
Gov. Scott Walker teamed up with 20 other Republican governors Monday to send a letter to the federal health department expressing their concern with health care reform and submitted a list of changes to be made before they would want to implement reform in their respective states.
UW-Madison is moving forward with plans to hire an outside consulting firm to determine if the university is operating as efficiently and effectively as possible, Chancellor Biddy Martin said at Monday night?s faculty senate meeting at Bascom Hall.
“I think we need to be able to assure the public that we?re doing what we can to be organized in the most effective way,” says Martin, who stresses the study will focus on “administrative functions” and not academic programs.
Quoted: Charles Franklin, a University of Wisconsin-Madison political scientist.
Gov. Scott Walker said Wisconsin faces a $3.6 billion two-year budget shortfall.
Raymond Cross officially took over as chancellor of UW-Extension and UW Colleges on Monday. Cross comes to Wisconsin after serving as president of Morrisville State College, which is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system. Cross was confirmed by the UW System Board of Regents in December and succeeds David Wilson.
