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.
…there?s no longer a question about the motives behind the bill. The sponsors of this throwback to the days of the Southern poll tax can try to spin their motives all they want. It?s all very simple. The GOP wants to make it tougher for college students, in particular, and anyone else who tends to vote for Democrats, to exercise their right to vote.
Steve Nass has never made a secret of his dislike for the UW-Madison Havens Center and School for Workers. Back in 2007, the Republican state rep proposed completely eliminating state funding for both. Now, as chair of the Assembly?s Colleges and Universities Committee in an era of total GOP control, he?s in a position to make that happen.
State employee benefits could take a hit under a budget repair bill Gov. Scott Walker plans to announce soon.
Gov. Scott Walker promised that his upcoming two-year budget and a budget repair bill would be responsible, based on reality and free of trickery. As he noted, this is where “rhetoric meets reality.”And, we hope, where justice and moderation meet frugality, temperance and virtue.
UW system leaders undoubtedly watched Gov. Scott Walker?s State of the State address with keen interest Tuesday as Walker spoke about possible cuts to the state budget.
Despite blizzard conditions that caused state emergencies in 29 counties, Gov. Scott Walker delivered his State of the State address Tuesday, calling for bipartisan unity to solve Wisconsin?s sluggish economy and budget problems.
While a blizzard pounded outside the Assembly chambers at the Capitol Tuesday night, Gov. Scott Walker announced his plans to shovel Wisconsin out of a looming $3.3 billion deficit.
After the National Weather Service issued a Civil Danger Warning and Governor Scott Walker declared a snow emergency in anticipation of the blizzard, few city and campus residents were untouched by the effects of the winter storm.
The success of the Green Bay Packers has been a green and gold mine for local retailer Sconnie Nation, which has made fans of the very players they feature. The Madison-based outfitter has sold 3,000 Packers shirts since the team beat the Bears in the NFC Championship game on Jan. 23.
?We?re getting a much bigger boost from the Super Bowl than we did for the Rose Bowl,? company co-founder Troy Vosseller said. Sconnie Nation was founded in 2004 by Vosseller and Ben Feitchner while they were students at UW-Madison. The apparel and products all have Wisconsin themes.
Things were getting back to normal Thursday morning after the Blizzard of 2011, with most schools, offices, government buildings and buses up and running. UW-Madison is open, Metro Transit has buses on the road, schools are open in Madison and close suburbs (although they are closed or delayed in many area communities), and workers who had no chance of getting to their jobs on Wednesday face relatively clear driving.
Perhaps he?s hung around too long with those high-rolling supporters of his who have a habit of living only for the next quarter?s financial results while demonstrating little concern for the long term. Because, if Scott Walker hasn?t already demonstrated he?s shortsighted, he hasn?t done anything at all.
….During his first month in office, Walker has proposed strict rules that could hamper the wind power industry, nixed the Charter Street Biomass Project on the UW-Madison campus and returned more than $800 million in federal money for upgrading Wisconsin?s passenger and freight rail infrastructure. There?s also talk about limiting embryonic stem cell research, an issue that?s more symbolic than substantive.
Put together, it?s not exactly what economic development advocates were hoping to see from a governor who?s vowed to create 250,000 new private sector jobs.
Due to the blizzard that created massive snow drifts and hazardous conditions across Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker declared a state of emergency Wednesday in 29 counties and ordered all state offices in those counties closed to the public. Emergency officials also urged all people to stay home and off the road if possible. Walker, nevertheless, told all state workers ? even those in non-emergency posts ? to report to work or take the day as vacation.
That did not sit well for a lot of folks who used a weather story on madison.com to voice their displeasure.
But Cullen Werwie, Walker’s press secretary, says the governor’s executive order directed state workers to report to work only if was safe to do so. Those who couldn’t make it would be required to take vacation or other leave, though they couldn’t use sick leave.
It was no surprise when Governor Scott Walker issued an executive order Tuesday shutting down state government buildings to the public due to the snow storm.
With the exception of a few sledders, the UW campus was quiet this morning, blanketed with a fresh, thick layer of snow – a layer that workers struggled to remove.
Governor Scott Walker used his first State of the State address last night to signal there are tough choices ahead in his state budget.
It was no surprise when Governor Scott Walker issued an executive order Tuesday shutting down state government buildings to the public due to the snow storm.
Governor Scott Walker closed state offices to the public Wednesday in Wisconsin counties affected by the blizzard ? but state workers were expected to take a vacation day if they didn?t show up.
Gov. Scott Walker promised Tuesday the state would not take the easy way out of its fiscal problems, casting the budget problems as “our moment in time” to fundamentally reform government in Wisconsin.
Gov. Scott Walker on Tuesday delivered a sobering State of the State that, while light on details, warned residents of the hard sacrifices coming as lawmakers deal with Wisconsin’s budget troubles.
