rawstory.com/rs/2011/03/08/gov-walker-considering-union-concessions-emails-show/print/
Gov. Walker considering union concessions, emails show
By Eric W. Dolan
March 8, 2011 @ 8:53 pm
After three weeks of large protests, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker appears to be willing to make concessions on his budget repair bill, according to an email sent to Democratic state Senator Bob Jauch.
The email, along with others from the governor’s office, were obtained by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel [1] through an open-records request.
According to the latest email sent to Sen. Jauch, Gov. Walker’s aides offered to amend his bill so that it would no longer limit public employee union bargaining over wages, mandatory overtime, bonuses, and hazardous duty pay.
The emails show that Gov. Walker began discussing possible concessions on the bill last week, but Republicans and Democrats have yet to reach a final deal.
jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/117584003.html#
E-mails reveal possible Walker concessions on union bill
The two Democratic senators, Bob Jauch of Poplar and Tim Cullen of Janesville, have met face-to-face in recent days with both Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) and Walker aides.
Cullen characterized the talks as “discussions” rather than negotiations since he and Jauch weren’t speaking on behalf of other Democrats. Jauch also cautioned that the two sides had never reached a final deal.
Cullen said he was disappointed Walker released the e-mails.
“I’ve never seen negotiations be done successfully in public,” he said. “I thought they were bargaining in good faith.”
Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie had no immediate comment on the release of the documents, which showed that Walker had begun detailed negotiations last week on some aspects of the bill after initially saying that the state “was broke” and unable to negotiate.
In the latest offer by Walker aides emailed to Jauch on Sunday
• The bill would no longer seek to limit public employee union bargaining over wages to the rate of inflation.
• The bill would allow union bargaining over certain economic issues, including mandatory overtime, performance bonuses, hazardous duty pay, and classroom size. On this set of issues, both labor and management would have to agree to discuss them for bargaining to happen.
• The bill would allow bargaining over workplace safety but that would be limited to workers’ physical health and safety. It would not allow bargaining over hours, overtime, sick leave or family leave, work schedules or vacation.
• Union contracts for public employees would be limited to a one- or two-year period.
• Unions would have to vote every three years to remain active, with the first of those votes coming within one year of the bill becoming law. The current version of the bill would require unions to vote to recertify every year and require them to get at least 51% of workers’ votes.
• Employees of the UW Hospital and Clinics Authority would not lose all union bargaining rights.
• The Legislature’s budget committee would explicitly have to approve changes to state health programs for the poor sought by the Walker administration. The budget-repair bill gives Walker broad powers to reshape those Medicaid health programs.
Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald said that his caucus Tuesday went point by point through the negotiations between Walker and Senate Democrats. But it was unclear whether Fitzgerald supported the proposals made to Democrats by Walker aides. He said Senate Republicans remain firm in their support for Walker’s bill.
“Were rock solid, we’re fine.”
If I were the Dems. I’d just stall and go ahead with their recall petitions. Then Run Walker and the rest of the Repubs to ground. But thats just me.
