Labor & Employment Law

Walker?s Budget Extends Attacks to Seniors, Children and the Poor

By James Parks

If you’re working for a living, going to public school, are a senior, need help with medical bills or are poor in Wisconsin, then Gov. Scott Walker has one word for you: Tough. But if you’re rich, his new state budget doesn’t ask you to sacrifice anything.

For the 15th straight day, working people across Wisconsin will rally to oppose Walker?s proposal to take away the right of public employees to bargain for good middle-class jobs. Seniors, students, religious and community leaders say they plan to protest the draconian and brutal attacks on children, seniors and poor people proposed in the new state budget.

Walker wants to slash state welfare and medical care programs without legislative approval and sell power plants without competitive bidding.  The budget calls for more than $1 billion in cuts to public schools, the University of Wisconsin system and to cities and counties, while limiting their ability to raise property taxes.   

Mahlon Mitchell, president of the Professional Fire Fighters of Wisconsin, who spoke to the AFL-CIO Executive Council, said Walker is ?unreasonable? and his values are not the values of most Americans.

Walker is not listening to the hundreds of thousands of people who came to Madison, Wis., Mitchell says. Instead, he?s listening to the Big Bucks CEOs who contributed generously to the campaigns of the governors and state legislators.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on March 02, 2011 (boomark / email).