Scott Walker’s Record on Labor Issues

Republican Gov. Scott Walker became a conservative icon by breaking the teachers union in Wisconsin. Seven years later, he’s facing the political fight of his life against the state schools superintendent, and trying to reinvent himself. His likely Democratic opponent is head of the Wisconsin school system, Tony Evers, meaning the election likely will be won or lost on how moderate voters view Walker’s turnaround on education. Rather than run from the controversy that nearly shut down Wisconsin state government in 2011, Walker is embracing it in his reelection bid. He insists that battling the teachers unions, giving school districts more control over their staffs and balancing the state budget have made schools better. “I am proud to be the pro-education governor because our reforms are working,” Walker said in a statement to POLITICO.

Wisconsin school districts ratcheted up health care costs on teachers and other employees after the state’s Act 10 collective bargaining changes, with the average district now requiring teachers to pay about 12 percent of their health insurance premiums, newly released data show. Madison schools are near the low end of what districts now require for premium contributions, at 3 percent, according to the data, released by Gov. Scott Walker’s Department of Administration. It’s the first time the state has released a comprehensive look at teacher health care costs in all 422 of the state’s public school districts after the 2011 enactment of Act 10. And it’s one more example of the far-reaching scope of the law — in this case, how it paved the way for state and local workers to pay much more for benefits. The 2017-19 state budget required the Department of Administration to collect the data, which is from the 2017-18 school year.

Two Wisconsin labor union locals are suing to overturn Gov. Scott Walker’s signature collective bargaining law. Locals 139 and 420 of the Operating Engineers of Wisconsin say Act 10 violates their rights to free speech and free association under the First Amendment. They filed their lawsuit last week in federal court in Milwaukee…Walker spokesman Tom Evenson tells the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel the law is constitutional and will be upheld as it has been before.

Two Wisconsin chapters of a labor union have filed a federal lawsuit seeking to invalidate Act 10, the signature piece of legislation from Gov. Scott Walker. The lawsuit, filed by the Operating Engineers of Wisconsin Local 139 and Local 420, argues that Act 10 violates free speech and free association under the First Amendment. Act 10 was a budget bill proposed by Walker as a remedy to a projected multibillion- dollar deficit. The bill, passed by the Legislature in 2011, dramatically curtailed collective bargaining for most public employees, including teachers. The unions say in the filing that Act 10 “has caused and continues to cause irreparable injury to the unions.” Locals 139 and 420 together represent more than 10,000 workers in Wisconsin.

The state Senate has voted to remake Wisconsin’s civil service system, enabling a supportive Gov. Scott Walker to sign the measure – the latest far-reaching change to rules governing the state workforce. The Senate voted on party lines, 19-14, late Wednesday to pass the civil service bill. The state Assembly passed it in October. Walker, a chief proponent of the bill, is virtually certain to sign it. The bill applies to the state’s civil service, nearly all state workers except the University of Wisconsin System and the Wisconsin National Guard. It replaces state civil service exams with a resume-based hiring system. It also would determine layoffs from state agencies based on job performance instead of seniority, extend probationary time for new hires, outline specific offenses for which employees can be immediately terminated and centralize the hiring process within the Department of Administration.

Business and labor clashed Wednesday over a Republican bill that would prevent local governments in Wisconsin from enacting a variety of ordinances pertaining to employment matters, including limits on working hours, overtime, benefits, and discrimination and wage claims… The bill is the latest in a series of proposals in Wisconsin taking aim at workers, a movement championed by Gov. Scott Walker, who has built his reputation by effectively ending collective bargaining for public employees and enacting a right to work law, both of which led to steep drops in union membership.

Six years after Gov. Scott Walker and state Republicans made labor unions’ ability to retain members much more difficult, fewer than half of the state’s 422 school districts have certified unions.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has criticized efforts to raise the minimum wage, saying he wants jobs that pay above the minimum wage. “I’m not going to repeal it,” Walker told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editorial board last year. “But I don’t think it serves a purpose because we’re debating then about what the lowest levels are at. I want people to make, like I said the other night, two or three times that.” Perez said the arguments against raising the minimum wage from Walker and other Republicans were based on “tired old talking points.”… “Some of the activities of this governor have been remarkably ill-advised,” Perez said of Walker. “It’s become sport in the far right to attack labor unions.” He added that the focus should be on fighting income inequality.

“We’ve sent a very clear message and that is that Missouri is open for business,” Greitens said at a signing ceremony in an Earth City retooling plant, where he was flanked by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, the former Republican presidential candidate who made his national name challenging unions. “Gov. Greitens is doing what he said he was going to do,” Walker told reporters. He said the measure Greitens signed ensures that “everybody can compete” for public sector construction jobs “instead of that money going into the hands of union bosses.”

Gov. Eric Greitens on Tuesday signed legislation banning local governments from giving preferential treatment to union contractors on public construction projects. And sharing the stage with him when he signed it was Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. Walker, who was in St. Louis for a fundraiser as chairman of the Republican Governors Association, rose to national prominence after a series of fights with labor unions in Wisconsin and surviving a recall attempt in 2012. He was seen as a strong candidate for president in 2016, but he faded quickly in the crowded Republican field and dropped out months before states began holding primaries.

The Legislature’s finance committee chose Thursday to preserve the state commission that decides workplace disputes, rejecting Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal to eliminate it and have his administration issue labor rulings instead. The Republican-controlled committee’s co-chairs introduced a motion to save the Labor and Industry Review Commission but delete 7.8 vacant commission positions and request state Supreme Court Chief Justice Patience Roggensack to review the commission’s decisions and report back to the committee by next July. The committee approved the motion on a 12-4 vote. Sen. Alberta Darling, one of the co-chairs, said she’s heard concerns that the LIRC hasn’t based its decisions on state law. The survey will shed more light on how the LIRC reaches its conclusions, she said.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker drew a few hundred people to a Monday rally with Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert — and a few hundred union members to protest outside the event. Walker, whose moves to restrict labor unions have made him a polarizing figure nationally, said there’s a clear distinction between Stothert and challenger Heath Mello. The governor came to Omaha in part as a response to last week’s Mello rally with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. “Do you want Midwest common sense?” Walker asked about 250 attendees. “Or East Coast radical values?”

Republican state lawmakers say eliminating prevailing wage requirements for workers on public projects would save the state hundreds of millions of dollars, while Democrats and unions say it would send skilled workers out of state and further erode the middle class. The Senate Committee on Labor and Regulatory reform held a public hearing Monday on a proposal to end minimum salary requirements on state construction projects. The Legislature in 2015 ended prevailing wage on local projects, which took effect earlier this year.

Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker signed legislation that prevents local governments from requiring contractors to hire union labor for publicly funded construction projects. Walker signed the legislation, which passed along party lines in February, at a local distributor of construction materials in De Pere, Wisconsin, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The governor and Wisconsin Republicans have blasted project labor agreements as a waste of taxpayer dollars.

Gov. Scott Walker has signed a bill that prohibits local governments from requiring contractors working on public projects to use collective bargaining agreements. The governor signed the bill into law Monday at AmeriLux International, a De Pere manufacturer of building materials.

Governor Scott Walker signed Senate Bill 3 into law today at Amerilux International, LLC in De Pere. The bill promotes neutrality in the bidding process for public works projects as well as healthy competition between contractors. “Accountable government means ensuring our taxpayers receive quality service,” Governor Walker said. “By forbidding state and local governments from requiring contractors to enter into agreements with labor organizations, we’re promoting healthy competition between contractors. At the end of the day, this means the contractor ultimately chosen for the project is the one that has demonstrated excellent service and will work at good value for Wisconsin taxpayers.”

The comments come after Kim Eparvier, superintendent of the Peshtigo School District, told the Wisconsin State Journal that Walker’s proposal tie the proposed $649 million in new funding to a fixed percentage of employee health care contributions diminishes school administrators’ and school boards’ power in crafting benefit packages for their employees. Walker, who visited Eparvier’s district this week to promote his record increase in funding for public schools, has characterized that requirement as ensuring districts are compliant with Act 10, the 2011 law that curtailed collective bargaining abilities for public school teachers while letting districts shift more pension and health insurance costs to employees… Walker’s proposal requires districts to make their staff pay at least 12 percent toward health care costs, which Eparvier’s district staff does.

President Donald Trump wants to slash the federal workforce, according to the Washington Post. It reports that Trump is preparing to announce the biggest cuts in decades, believing the government employs too many people — wasting taxpayers’ money. The Republican president’s plan may shock many. Yet here in Wisconsin, it may remind people of the move Gov. Scott Walker made shortly after he took office in 2011: Act 10. He insisted it would save taxpayer money by stripping most public unions of their power. Walker said by limiting bargaining rights, state and local governments would have more control over wages and benefits. As a result, he said they’d be able to manage tough budgets.

The American Legion is warning Republicans that eliminating the prevailing wage on state projects could cost hundreds of veterans their jobs in the construction industry. The prevailing wage law sets minimum salaries for construction workers on public projects. Republican Gov. Scott Walker has proposed wiping out the prevailing wage for state projects in the state budget. The Legislature wiped out prevailing wage for local government projects in 2015.

A public hearing on the bill Monday attracted thousands to Des Moines, mostly voicing their displeasure with the legislation. While protesters filled the Capitol Rotunda, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, spoke with GOP lawmakers about the importance of enacting collective bargaining changes like Wisconsin did in 2011. “Happy to speak with my friends in the Iowa Legislature via Skype,” Walker wrote on Twitter Monday evening. “They have a chance to pass big, bold reforms!”

A state panel that handles thousands of disputes between employers and employees each year — and whose roots date back more than a century — would be abolished under a provision of Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed state budget. The two-year spending plan calls for eliminating the Labor and Industry Review Commission and its 26½ full-time-equivalent positions. The commission, whose three members are appointed to six-year terms by the governor, is an independent agency that provides a “quasi-judicial forum” to resolve disputes involving unemployment insurance, workers compensation and equal rights. In 2015, the panel issued 2,143 decisions. Only 102 of the decisions, or 4.75 percent, were appealed to circuit court.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said Wednesday that he spoke with Vice President Mike Pence about how the White House can implement on a federal level parts of the Republican governor’s contentious policy that all-but eliminated collective bargaining for public sector unions in the state… Walker severely restricted union power in Wisconsin and is now talking with the Trump administration about “how they may take bits and pieces of what we did” with the union law and civil service reform and “apply it at the national level.” “It’s something the vice president has brought up before,” Walker told reporters following a speech in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. “It’s certainly something we’re willing to offer our assistance on, particularly if it helps not just the nation, but in turn improves our ability to be better stewards of the taxpayers here in Wisconsin.”

The state on Wednesday halted insurance coverage of gender reassignment surgery for transgender state workers, noting that a federal judge blocked federal rules requiring such coverage. Covering gender reassignment surgery and related benefits would have cost $100,000 to $250,000 a year in a $1.5 billion program that provides health benefits to about 250,000 state and local government workers and their dependents, a state consultant said. The estimate assumes two to five people would have used the transgender services per year. Mark Lamkins, spokesman for the state Department of Employee Trust Funds, said the department couldn’t determine Wednesday if any workers or dependents pursued the benefits in January, when they were available. The services had to be deemed medically necessary. The Group Insurance Board, which oversees the benefits program, decided in July to add coverage of transgender services in 2017, following advice from its attorneys that federal rules from the Affordable Care Act require the coverage. In August, the state Department of Justice, at Gov. Scott Walker’s request, asked the board to reconsider. It said the board’s decision was based on “unlawful” rules that “improperly reinterpret” Title IX, which covers discrimination on the basis of sex, as applying to gender identity.

We eliminated the “job for life” guarantee tenure once provided for faculty regardless of performance. Now we are asking for accountability and flexibility to add value to our university system. As for free speech, there should be equal protections for everyone on campus, not just tenured professors, to engage in a free and open debate of ideas. The bottom line is students deserve access to high quality education that is affordable for them and the working families that help support them. We must look to deliver value and excellence to Wisconsin, not guarantee “job for life” tenure. The common sense reforms recently enacted do just that.

Late Tuesday, a state court of appeals judge granted Attorney General Brad Schimel’s request to reinstate the law while the appeals court decides whether it’s constitutional. The ruling was issued by Lisa K. Stark, the presiding judge for the District 3 Court of Appeals in Wausau. “We feel confident the law will ultimately be found constitutional, as it has been in more than half the states across the country,” said Johnny Koremenos, spokesman for Schimel. Last year, Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican-led Legislature made Wisconsin the 25th right-to-work state.

UW-Milwaukee became the fourth University of Wisconsin System campus to see professors declare they have no confidence in UW’s leaders Tuesday, in a vote that prompted Gov. Scott Walker to weigh in with sharp criticism of the faculty. The Milwaukee professors joined colleagues at UW campuses in Madison, La Crosse and River Falls by stating they don’t have faith in UW System President Ray Cross or the System’s Board of Regents to uphold the university’s outreach mission in light of budget cuts and changes to tenure and shared governance…”Some faculty bodies … appear more interested in protecting outdated ‘job for life’ tenure than about helping students get the best education possible,” Walker said. “The university should not be about protecting the interests of the faculty, but about delivering value and excellence to Wisconsin.”

Gov. Scott Walker has approved a rule implementing drug screening requirements for unemployment benefits. The rule implements provisions in the state budget. Under the rule, those who fail an employer drug test or refuse to take one can be denied unemployment benefits. Those who fail would get taxpayer-funded treatment. Walker announced the new rule Wednesday, saying it brings the state one step closer to moving residents from government dependence to independence.

The personnel agency in Gov. Scott Walker’s administration privately blasted changes to the state’s civil service days after they were proposed, telling his office the overhaul would slow hiring, turn away qualified job applicants and trigger more lawsuits against the state, public records show. Documents obtained under the state’s open records law by the Wisconsin State Journal include a memo that sharply critiques a version of the civil service bill passed by Republican legislators and signed by Walker in February.

Wisconsin’s right-to-work law, championed by Republican Gov. Scott Walker as he was mounting his run for president, was struck down Friday as violating the state constitution…“We are confident Wisconsin’s freedom-to-work law is constitutional and will ultimately be upheld,” Walker wrote on Twitter. Three unions filed the lawsuit last year shortly after Walker signed the bill into law. Right-to-work laws prohibit businesses and unions from reaching agreements that require all workers, not just union members, to pay union dues. Twenty-four other states have such laws.

Mr. Walker led a push five years ago to cut collective bargaining rights for most public sector workers, saying he needed to solve a state budget gap. Since then, union membership has dropped precipitously. Long a labor stronghold, the state has lost tens of thousands of union members, leaving Wisconsin with a smaller percentage of union members than the national average, new federal figures show. The drop is most pronounced in the public sector: More than half of Wisconsin’s public workers were in unions before Mr. Walker’s cuts took effect. A little more than a quarter of them remain. The shift has shaken the order of election-year politics. Democrats, who most often have been the beneficiaries of money and ground-level help from the unions, said they were uncertain about what the coming elections would look like, and what forces could take the place of depleted labor groups.

Gov. Scott Walker signed legislation Friday overhauling the state’s century-old system of merit hiring and firing, gaining the first legislative priority he set after calling off his presidential bid last year. Inking the legislation at the offices of ManpowerGroup, Walker said the rewrite of the state’s civil service law would help the state keep the best possible employees and ensure that the state remains “efficient, effective and ultimately accountable to the people of Wisconsin” … Critics say it could lead to taxpayers being forced to pay salaries to the unqualified cronies of powerful state officials or lead to retribution against state employees who put public service ahead of political demands. Rick Badger, executive director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 32, said the bill gave too much latitude to Walker and future governors.

Today marks the five year anniversary of the introduction of one of Gov. Scott Walker’s most notorious attacks on the working people of Wisconsin.

In the five years since Act 10 was signed by Gov. Scott Walker, union membership in Wisconsin has plummeted. In 2015, the number of union members fell well below the national average for the first time since lawmakers passed measures that all but eliminated collective bargaining for public workers. The percentage of Wisconsin public and private workers belonging to unions was 8.3 percent in 2015 — or 223,000 members — down from 13.3 percent in 2011 — or 339,000 members — according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In the five years since Act 10 became law, Wisconsin school districts have experienced a dramatic decline in the number of applicants for each teacher vacancy. In 2015, there were an average of 3.2 candidates per vacancy, down from 6.6 candidates in 2012, according to Wisconsin Education Career Access Network data provided by Means. In the Mequon-Thiensville, the district has an average of 16.9 applicants per vacancy, down from 31 applicants in 2012, the data indicate. “I think Act 10 has hurt the image of our profession,” Means said. “I think that the consternation and the conflict that people saw in our state five years ago has had an impact on morale, on people’s view on our profession.”

Before Act 10, the law championed by Gov. Scott Walker to limit collective bargaining powers, public school districts in Wisconsin used step-and-lane models in which educators advanced on a salary schedule by accruing years of service and graduate school credits. Neenah, Appleton, Little Chute and a number of other school districts throughout the state have since changed their compensation models to make job performance a greater factor – or the sole factor – in determining salary increases.

Vanness said the policy reflects what he dubbed Walker’s “New Wisconsin idea,” under which the university’s mission “is only to train the workforce for the jobs of today, not to search for the truth and lay the groundwork for the industries of tomorrow.” UW’s aspirational mission of searching for truth, the Wisconsin Idea, was eliminated in an early version of the Walker budget bill.

The fact is that Gov. Scott Walker’s rabid anti-union agenda has been a disaster for the economy of Wisconsin, which remains in the bottom third of states for job growth.

Since Walker and Republican lawmakers successfully passed measures in 2011 that rolled back the power of most public sector unions, the number of members has dropped sharply…As of February 2015, a WEAC official told the State Journal the union represented about 40,000 public school employees — down more than 50 percent from the union’s 98,000-member levels before Walker signed his signature legislation in 2011.

One of the state employees that Gov. Scott Walker and some lawmakers used to argue for broad changes to the state’s civil service system was never a civil servant, a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel review has found. In arguing for a proposed overhaul of the century-old system of merit hiring and firing, Walker and some GOP legislators pointed to the example of two railroad commission employees caught having an extramarital sexual relationship on state property and on taxpayers’ time for five months. They said the pair couldn’t be fired because of civil service rules.

In making his case to Republican lawmakers this fall that the state’s civil service system needed to be overhauled, Gov. Scott Walker cited the case of two state workers who he said couldn’t be fired even though they had been caught having sex in their office. But records released Friday show no efforts were made to fire those workers — and that the only discipline sought and issued to them was letters of reprimand. Walker administration officials declined to address Wisconsin State Journal inquiries about why the workers could not have been fired for their conduct…. Two former state human resource officials said Friday that nothing prevented state officials from more harshly disciplining or firing the employees — one of whom, Doug Wood, is a Monona alderman. Walker’s comments about their case are at least the second instance in which he told anecdotes about state workers to plug the civil service changes that aren’t supported by state records… Walker cited the case of the two state workers caught having sex at the office but not being fired for it — without mentioning Wood’s or Piliouras’ names — in a speech to GOP lawmakers in September. In a statement Friday, Walker’s spokeswoman, Laurel Patrick, said the case shows “exactly why we need civil service reform.”… State records of the case, first reported on Thursday by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, confirm that the employees got scant punishment for their actions. As part of his push for civil service changes, Walker also claimed that a short-order cook scored high enough on a hiring exam to be considered for a state financial examiner job.But when pressed, Walker’s administration couldn’t produce documents to support the claim, the State Journal found.

On the civil service bill, both sides in the GOP dispute are holding firm, meaning that the proposal is unlikely to pass the Senate until early next year. The bill would overhaul a system begun in 1905 that is aimed at ensuring tax dollars go for competent state employees rather than political hacks… Republican Gov. Scott Walker has strongly backed the proposal, which he took up as a major cause just days after he dropped out of the race for president last month. He has said the civil service rules for 30,000 state workers need reworking to become more efficient and help hiring keep up with the crush of retiring baby boomers. The bill has gotten a mixed reception from others who formerly worked within the state’s system of merit hiring and firing.

One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross blasted the latest fast track Republican efforts to gut state anti-corruption laws, saying it is a prescription for more of the kind of cronyism, corruption and incompetence Wisconsin has endured from Gov. Scott Walker’s Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC).

In a dramatic reversal, and despite past assurances to the contrary, Gov. Scott Walker and his lapdog Republican led state legislature are set to gut the state civil service that helps prevent cronyism and corruption. One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross blasted the proposal as opening the door to infecting other state agencies with the rampant cronyism, corruption and incompetence of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC), where civil service protections were removed.

Upon his return to the state after the spectacular implosion of his presidential campaign, Gov. Scott Walker is endorsing a new attack on Wisconsin workers revealed today by state legislative Republicans.

Sinking in the national polls, the bumbling campaign of onetime frontrunner for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, is preparing to double down with renewed attacks on working people. Career politician Walker’s desperate bid to remain competitive on the backs of the middle class and working people will be unveiled in a Monday speech in Las Vegas Nevada, hometown of anti-union, Walker mega-donor Sheldon Adelson.

One Wisconsin Now is warning New Hampshire voters to beware this weekend when Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker visits to audition for the 2016 Republican Presidential nomination. Behind Walker’s rhetoric of economic recovery and courageous, principled action is a trail of deceit, cronyism, corruption and incompetence that includes a sagging state economy, mismanaged budgets, criminal investigations and payoffs to special interests – topped off with politically expedient flip-flops pandering to the most extreme Tea Party wing of the GOP.

The following are the statements of One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross regarding passage of a wrong for Wisconsin right to work bill by the Republican controlled legislature.

 Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce (WMC) is holding a "business day" at the state Capitol Wednesday as Republicans rush to pass a wrong for Wisconsin right to work law that their legislative leaders and Gov. Scott Walker declared was not on their 2015 agenda mere months ago. One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross questioned if the heavy spending of WMC on behalf of the GOP is playing a role in their newfound support for a law that will hurt Wisconsin's middle class.

As questions continue over the impetus for Gov. Scott Walker's sudden public support for a "right-to-work" law, an open records request by One Wisconsin Now has uncovered that the only two non-government employees who accompanied Gov. Walker on his ostensible trade mission to London, England were advocates for the wrong for Wisconsin right to work law.

Seven groups that received funding from the Bradley Foundation, run by Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign co-chair, were at the head of the line to have their say at yesterday’s public hearing on a wrong for Wisconsin right to work law. Meanwhile a large numbers of Wisconsin citizens who would be hurt by the law and waited all day to have their say were denied their right to speak when the committee chair abruptly ended the hearing.

 The following are the statements of One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross upon passage of Senate Bill 44:

Late last week, while traveling out of state, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker dropped his pre-November 2014 election charade of opposition to a right to work law that could cut the average Wisconsin family’s wages by over $5,000 per year. One Wisconsin Now’s research of the Milwaukee-based Bradley Foundation, headed by Gov. Walker’s campaign co-chair, reveals the stage has been set for Walker’s latest assault on Wisconsin’s middle class for his personal political benefit with a well-financed propaganda campaign utilizing a nationwide web of front groups.

With the announcement that a “Wrong for Wisconsin” right to work bill is about to be rammed through the state legislature, the nation is starting to learn what Wisconsin already knows: Gov. Scott Walker will say and do anything to get elected. One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross noted that before the November 2014 election Walker said he was not interested in a right to work law that lowers workers' wages by an average of up to $6,000. But, post-election, presidential candidate Walker quickly announced he would sign just such a measure if it reaches his desk.

A Republican state legislator who says he will introduce a controversial, so-called “right-to-work” bill is basing his case in part on statistics produced by a right-wing group that receives significant support from the Milwaukee-based Bradley Foundation. The Mackinac Center for Public Policy, the source for statistics being cited by the presumptive bill author, has raked in nearly $500,000 over the last decade from the Bradley Foundation.

Leading up to the November 4 election, Gov. Scott Walker stated if re-elected he was not interested in pursuing legislation to further restrict the rights of Wisconsin workers. Yet less than one month after he survived a heated re-election bid, a new group with ties to a right-wing, big money cabal that underwrites conservative causes and has supported Gov. Walker, announced it will work to pass legislation to further restrict workplace rights in Wisconsin.

Fast food workers across the country, including in Milwaukee, Madison and Wausau, today engaged in direct actions and rallies for higher wages and the right to bargain for better working conditions. One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross applauded the workers effort and noted that Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s opposition to a higher minimum wage and actions like stripping workers of their rights have left the state lagging the Midwest on jobs and wage growth.

 Gov. Scott Walker has received over $1.5 million in salary, generous health care benefits for himself and his family, courtesy of state taxpayers. Yesterday, in an appearance before a political special interest group to promote a new trickle down economic tax scheme, he termed proposals to increase the state minimum wage a “political stunt.”

Gov. Scott Walker lashed out Thursday against Democratic proposals to raise the minimum wage, calling them a “political grandstanding stunt” that will kill jobs. Walker was addressing a friendly crowd at a meeting of the Wisconsin Grocers Association, a group that opposes increasing the minimum wage. Democrats both nationally and in Wisconsin and other states are pushing for increasing it. The proposal is going nowhere in Wisconsin, where Republicans who control the Senate and Assembly have it bottled up in committee. But that didn’t stop Walker from speaking out against the idea. “I think it is nothing more than a misguided political stunt,” he said of Democrats’ efforts to raise the wage. Doing that will only lead to the elimination of entry-level jobs and cut pay for other workers, Walker said. “If you want to put a buzz saw on the economic recovery we’ve seen in this state, you just start piling on regulations like increasing the minimum wage,” Walker said. Later, he called it “little more than a political grandstanding stunt” advanced by people who want to claim they’re helping workers when they’re really not.

“Gov. Scott Walker opposes increasing the federal minimum wage, fearing it would prompt employers to do less hiring. In making his case, Walker paints a picture of low-wage workers as people working the counter at fast-food restaurants”.

Recently, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch led a closed-door roundtable discussion about taxes with some business leaders in Beloit. After viewing footage of the meeting obtained by One Wisconsin Now, we can see why Kleefisch and the Walker administration didn’t want the public to hear what they discussed.

“Scott Walker’s legislative confederate, who wants to eliminate the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday and voted to water down child labor laws, now has ending the weekend in his legislative crosshairs,” Ross said. “To do the bidding of their corporate donors, is restoration of indentured servitude coming next from the Walker Republicans?”

• Made it harder for workers to access unemployment compensation benefits by reducing the number of allowable reasons to quit a job from 18 to 9.
• Expanded the junk mail sales tax exemption created an income tax break for private school tuition (up to $10,000 per pupil), which is estimated to cost the state $30 million per year
• Created an income tax break for private school tuition (up to $10,000 per pupil), which is estimated to cost the state $30 million per year

Wisconsin's 'Money Badger', Michael Grebe, appears to have his paws in the attack on worker rights in Michigan according to One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross. Grebe, who runs the Milwaukee-based Bradley Foundation, has doled out nearly $2 million to three organizations taking leading roles in promoting the attack on worker rights launched by Michigan Republicans in a lame duck session of their state legislature.

In response, an activist group known as One Wisconsin Now has started its own petition initiative to match Walker’s fundraising efforts. The organization asks signers to “Stand with the Constitution,” referring to the ruling made by Dane County Circuit Court Judge Juan Colas, who believed Walker’s law violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.

One Wisconsin Now today called on Gov. Scott Walker to halt the taxpayer-funded gravy train for the politically connected law firm, Michael, Best & Friedrich, and stop using public funds to pay for the continuing legal battle to overturn a court decision declaring Act 10, his controversial law stripping workplace rights from over 175,000 taxpaying state citizens, unconstitutional.

 One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross released the following statements upon news late Friday a judge has declared Act 10, Gov. Scott Walker's attack on the rights of workers, unconstitutional.

A comprehensive report from One Wisconsin Now and United Wisconsin shows how Gov. Scott Walker raised over $7 million by exploiting the unlimited campaign finance recall loophole and provides a detailed perspective on the out-of-state and in-state donors who bankrolled Walker’s win in June.

One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross released the following statements regarding the 100th birthday of the late corporate propagandist Milton Friedman. Many of the failures of Gov. Scott Walker can be traced to the policies espoused by Friedman, most notably massive tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy, while attacking public investments and public employees.

Citing the age-old adage that actions speak louder than words, One Wisconsin Now is calling on Gov. Scott Walker to take concrete actions to heal the rift in Wisconsin brought on by his “divide and conquer” agenda.

A comprehensive analysis entitled “D is for Dismantle,” authored by the non-partisan One Wisconsin Institute shows that despite claims from Gov. Scott Walker, Wisconsin schools are not failing, instead his budget cuts and disastrous education policies endanger our proud tradition of excellent schools. The report from One Wisconsin Institute, the education and research partner of One Wisconsin Now, includes research that contradicts Gov. Walker's assertions about public schools and students not performing at the highest levels.

In the midst of the holiday season, another historic battle is being waged in Wisconsin over workers’ rights. Nearly 200 workers of Machinists Local 516 at Manitowoc Crane have been on strike since November 15 over last-minute provisions management is trying to force on the union.

On December 17, 2011, Walker signed a bill into law that rolled back a major provision of the popular class size reduction program, Student Achievement Guarantee in Education Program, which established class sizes of 18 or under in grades K-3. This bill allows school districts to opt out of class size reductions in grades 2 and 3. Prior law required participation in K-3 to receive SAGE funding. Additionally, Act 105 allows school districts to use value-added analysis of standardized test scores to evaluate teachers. Though it cannot be the sole reason used to fire, suspend or discipline a teacher, the bill allows school districts to place greater weight on the test scores in evaluating a teacher’s job performance. Prior law prohibited the use of standardized test results to fire, suspend or discipline a teacher. (2011 SB 95, introduced 5/13/2011; Senate Roll Call; Assembly Roll Call)

But Scot Ross, executive director of the liberal group One Wisconsin Now, noted Walker did not talk about cutting collective bargaining during the campaign and said Walker was precisely the one who caused the recall effort. “Gov. Walker is responsible for tearing Wisconsin apart and the division which has led to this unprecedented recall effort against him,” Ross said. “He alone is responsible. “If Gov. Walker had been honest with the people of Wisconsin about what his intentions were, the recall would not be happening. But then again, Gov. Walker would not have been elected.”

Walker signed into a law a bill that allows any municipal employer to enter into a memorandum of understanding to reduce the cost of compensation or fringe benefits, without modifying an existing collective bargaining agreement for purposes of 2011 WI Act 10. The memorandum has to be entered into within 90 days after the effective date of this bill. (2011 AB 319, introduced 10/12/2011; Assembly Roll Call)

Gov. Scott Walker voiced support for legislation that would end a long-standing practice that allows public workers to simultaneously collect their pension and a state paycheck. The statement concludes by adding Gov. Walker "supports applying the same policy for administration appointees."

In the past five and a half years, at least 6,829 state and local government employees covered by the Wisconsin Retirement System left then returned to work, simultaneously earning a pension and a salary. Those include two of Gov. Scott Walker's cabinet secretaries: Corrections Secretary Gary Hamblin and Children and Families Secretary Eloise Anderson, both earning six-figure salaries along with their public pensions. Stephen Fitzgerald, superintendent of the Wisconsin State Patrol, whose sons, Scott and Jeff, run the Senate and Assembly, respectively, also is back on the payroll while continuing to collect a state pension. On Friday, Walker said he supports a bill that would end double dipping. But the Republican governor has no plans to ask his appointees to stop taking their pensions, spokesman Cullen Werwie said.

One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross released the following statements in celebration of Labor Day and the continuing fight by Wisconsin workers and the middle class against the corporate takeover of state government happening as a result of the capitulation and policy changes of Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican-controlled legislature.

The Capitol battles over union bargaining and political redistricting proposals have paid off for one group: politically connected GOP lawyers. So far this year, two firms with strong Republican connections have racked up more than $700,000 in invoices and payments authorized by Gov. Scott Walker and GOP lawmakers to help represent the state in cases such as legal challenges over Walker's legislation ending most collective bargaining for public employees. More payments on the ongoing cases and another likely case are still to come, as Walker considers a request by the Department of Justice to appoint one of the firms to represent the state in a federal lawsuit over redistricting legislation.

Walker signed a bill that stripped all public workers, except police and firefighters, of their collective bargaining rights. The bill no longer allows teachers, nurses, snow plow drivers and other public employees to bargain on their work place conditions, benefits or for pay raises above the cost of inflation. In addition, unions have lost the right to file workplace grievances and most no longer have protections from being fired without just cause. Critics of the bill believe that for all practical purposes, it is a union-busting bill, because it prevents collection of union dues, forces unions to hold annual certification elections to enable the unions to continue year-to-year, and many other measures aimed at hobbling the union. Special Session Assembly Bill 11 passed the Senate on March 9, 2011 by a 18-1 margin with all of the Republicans except Sen. Dale Schultz voting for the bill. The Democrats were out of the state to prevent the bill's passage based on lacking the quorum necessary of 20 members. The Republicans, however, claim that they took out all non-fiscal elements of bill and that they did not require a quorum of 20 for passage. (2011 January Special Session AB 11, introduced 2/15/11; Senate Roll Call; Assembly Roll Call)

Walker signed into law a bill that prevented local government's from passing paid sick leave or family medical leave laws that are more inclusive and powerful than the statewide law. The governor signed the bill into law on May 5, 2011. (2011 SB 23, introduced 2/23/11; Senate Roll Call; Assembly Roll Call)

“There will need to be electoral changes in order to get the rights back that Republicans took from working people,” said Scot Ross, executive director of One Wisconsin Now, a progressive advocacy group.

Gov. Scott Walker will be able to name political appointees to fill three dozen civil-service jobs that handle open records requests from the public under the budget-repair law he signed last week. Walker's separate 2011-'13 budget proposal would also make a political appointment out of another key civil service job - the top lawyer spot at the agency overseeing state labor law. The law would make existing civil-service positions into 37 new political appointments, including 14 general counsels, 14 communications positions in state agencies and other positions, including legislative liaisons doing lobbying for agencies. That would allow Walker and agency secretaries to hire and fire employees in those positions at will. Under the law, the civil service jobs would be classed as division administrator jobs, a kind of political appointment, and would increase that class of political appointments in the affected agencies by about 50%, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau.

But the principal hasn’t been paid back yet. Unions and liberal groups like One Wisconsin Now are also upset that M & I executives gave more money to Scott Walker during last year’s governor’s race, than the officials did to Democrat Tom Barrett.

Over two weeks after One Wisconsin Now filed an open records request for all email and written communications between Koch Industries’ lead Wisconsin lobbyist and the office of Gov. Scott Walker and the Department of Administration, the Walker administration has yet to fulfill the request. One Wisconsin Now said it is considering legal action and notes the unusual speed at which Gov. Walker’s office released staff email communications this week it claimed were proof of the administration’s willingness to negotiate with Senate Democrats in the budget repair bill dispute.

The enforcement of Executive Order #108 was suspended by Governor Walker as of March 2011. This Order was signed by Governor Doyle in 2005 to encourage the employment of apprentices on construction projects for the State of Wisconsin. In this way the state would help create opportunities for younger workers to learn the skills needed for employment in the building and construction trades.

One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross issued the following statements regarding Gov. Scott Walker’s efforts to close the State Capitol off to the people of Wisconsin and the continued mobilization against his efforts to use the government to take away the rights of working men and women and dismantle the quality of Wisconsin’s way of life.

Scot Ross, executive director of One Wisconsin Now, speaks at a rally outside of the Wisconsin State Capital on Day 11 of protests in Madison, Wisconsin, over Governor Scott Walker’s budget repair bill.

One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross released the following statements regarding the failure of Gov. Scott Walker’s plan to close the State Capitol to hundreds of protesters who had intended to sleep in the Capitol for a 13th night in solidarity against the governor’s disastrous budget repair plan.

It took a sneak attack in the early morning hours on Friday for Republicans in the Wisconsin Assembly to pass Gov. Scott Walker's controversial budget bill, the one that would eliminate collective bargaining rights for most public-sector unions. Assembly Democrats savaged their counterparts for ramming the bill through at just past 1 a.m., screaming "shame!" and branding them "cowards." But if anyone asks Walker about the GOP's late-night tactic, he'll find himself in a tough spot: he's blatantly flip-flopped on the issue throughout his career. On the campaign trail in 2010, Walker, then a gubernatorial candidate, disavowed late-night votes by Wisconsin lawmakers. At the time, the Assembly was pulling all-nighters in order to finish its two-year legislative session, a common occurrence that's angered government watchdogs who don't approve of state business conducted when most people are asleep. In April 2010, Walker pledged to outlaw any votes in the legislature after 10 p.m. and before 9 a.m. "I have two teenagers and I tell them that nothing good happens after midnight. That’s even more true in politics," he said in a statement. "The people of Wisconsin deserve to know what their elected leaders are voting on."

Scot Ross (far right corner), executive director of One Wisconsin Now speaks at a rally outside of the State Capital on day 11 of protests over Gov. Scott Walker’s budget-repair bill.

In an attempt to push through his unpopular Budget Repair Bill, Gov. Scott Walker has tried to set a Friday deadline for passage by falsely claiming that lack of action will cost taxpayers money:

“Gov. Walker and the Republican Legislature are trying to ram this (bill) through in less than a week,” said Scot Ross, the executive director of One Wisconsin Now. “The senators have rightfully taken matters into their own hands.”

Members of the Wisconsin State Assembly and Senate will be flooded with over 16,000 petitions signed by Wisconsinites united against Gov. Scott Walker’s efforts to use the government to take away the rights of workers across Wisconsin.

Gov. Scott Walker’s scheme to allow the government to take away the rights of Wisconsin workers is part of an unbalanced and potentially unconstitutional proposal that would add at least $30 million to the state’s credit card and allow the Governor’s health agency director to slash health care access and raise costs without the approval of the legislature.

MADISON, Wis. — Gov. Scott Walker’s efforts to use the government to take away the rights of workers across Wisconsin has generated more than 5,000 petition signers in less than one day from all corners of Wisconsin to demand state legislators reject Walker’s undemocratic plan.

“Unpaid furloughs ordered to help balance Milwaukee County's 2010 budget could compromise public safety, according to law enforcement and court officials. The impact of furloughs -- or other substitute budget cuts - -could range from slower prosecutions to delayed trials and criminal arrest warrants, the officials said. Restraining orders in domestic violence cases also might be slowed, they said. The furloughs may force him to make ‘triage decisions’ in which charges for lesser crimes are delayed or skipped so prosecutors can focus on serious felony cases, said District Attorney John Chisholm.”

“...Walker said privatizing airport operations could enable the county to "actually turn a profit and use the revenue to pay down debt." He also said the money from an airport privatization could be used to help pay for the county's bus system without increasing the property tax. ...He sought but failed to win County Board support for a study on airport privatization for 2009, and he didn't address the issue in his 2010 budget. ...Three county supervisors attending Walker's speech said they remained opposed. Supervisors Johnny Thomas, Christopher Larson and Theo Lipscomb said it would be unwise for the county to entrust one of its prime assets to private firms. They warned that fees for a variety of services at the airport would likely be increased.”

“Nonunion Milwaukee County workers will get reduced pensions, higher health insurance costs and no seniority raises in 2010, under action approved Thursday by the County Board. ...County Executive Scott Walker favors the measure. Supervisors, Walker and other elected officials were excluded from the pension trims...The employee benefits concessions apply to just 717 unrepresented employees, but also are aimed at leveraging similar concessions from the roughly 4,700 county employees who are union members. The combined savings, if applied to all county employees, was estimated at $7.5 million.”

“Over the last eight years, we’ve worked together to maintain funding for essential government programs without increasing the property tax levy from the previous year, cut debt by over 10%, and cut the county work force by over 20%.”

“Milwaukee County employees would bear a heavy burden of budget-balancing pain in County Executive Scott Walker's proposed 2010 budget, with nearly $41 million in pay and benefits cuts and the elimination of nearly 400 jobs. The proposal includes a 3% across-the-board wage cut for all county workers, a new employee pension contribution of 5% of a worker's salary, a boost in health care contributions and more furloughs...Walker was immediately criticized by supervisors and unions for unrealistic budgeting and the potential for plunging the county into a costly labor dispute. The County Board has a tentative contract with the county's largest union that calls for a two-year pay freeze in exchange for no layoffs and no privatized jobs - a deal that would go out the window under Walker's proposed budget. That raises the likelihood the county could be accused of bad-faith bargaining, warned Supervisor Lynne De Bruin. "We are creating a war with our largest union," she said. Walker has threatened to veto the tentative contract, and on Thursday the board delayed action on it.’”

“Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker exceeded his authority in attempting to unilaterally cut union employees' hours as a budget-cutting move, according to an arbitrator's ruling issued Wednesday.”

“Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker on Friday added an employee wage freeze to his growing arsenal of tools aimed at avoiding large budget shortfalls. But as with other ideas he's broached -- most notably a 35-hour work week and accompanying pay cuts -- the county executive ran into immediate resistance and accusations he's playing politics with people's lives. Walker said he's not bluffing about the need for the cutbacks or the likely alternative -- layoffs. All county department heads have been asked to draft layoff plans in case the freeze and his other efforts are rebuffed, Walker said...The county is projected to face shortfalls of nearly $15 million this year and $90 million next year. Walker had no estimate of savings linked to a wage freeze.”

“Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker on Thursday ordered five-hour weekly unpaid furloughs for most county employees through the rest of 2009 as a way of offsetting a projected $15 million deficit this year…Walker's shorter workweek order affects at least half the county workforce, including managers. The cut also could be extended to 60% or more of the nearly 5,000 county employees. …For affected county workers, losing five hours of reduced pay a week would amount to about a 12.5% cut.”

“Milwaukee County's 2008 overtime spending is on pace to match or beat last year's record $15.8 million tab, despite extra recruitment and hiring of mental health and corrections workers, an analysis of county spending records shows. The overtime bill for the first 10 months of this year was $14.4 million. Overtime costs for November and December are expected to drive the bill to more than $16 million. ...Amid the economic downturn, Walker imposed a partial hiring and travel freeze in September to help ward off a year-end deficit. He credited such moves with keeping the county in the black. But critics on the County Board say Walker has courted overtime growth by too thinly staffing county departments.”

“Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker’s 2009 budget would potentially lay off 339 employees, mostly through privatizing food service, housekeeping, skilled trade and vehicle maintenance workers, supervisors were told Monday. ...County Board Chairman Lee Holloway called Walker's budget ‘the worst budget that I've experienced in 16 years on the board in terms of the cuts and the complications.’”

Walker announced the unusual midyear layoffs and workweek changes in a ‘Dear County Employee’ e-mail message after what he described as several rushed meetings with stunned department heads scrambling to patch a $7.8 million deficit in the county’s 2003 budget...Walker’s email to employees blamed the current-year deficit on ‘a number of unanticipated occurrences including significant revenue shortfalls in a number of departments, loss of state revenue and loss of investment earnings.’”

The Milwaukee County Labor Council voted Wednesday night to endorse Milwaukee Ald. Thomas Nardelli in the Milwaukee County executive's race. The council, affiliated with the AFL-CIO, includes about 150 unions with about 60,000 members living in Milwaukee County. The union met with a series of candidates last week but put off an endorsement until Wednesday, after it met with Nardelli. The Milwaukee County Labor Council, and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Workers both endorsed Walker’s opponent, Alderman Thomas Nardelli for Milwaukee County Executive. The Council had about 150 unions with about 60,000 members in Milwaukee County.

The commission appears to be incapable of using common sense in most of these cases. Time and time again their rulings defy logic to the public.”