Wisconsin AFL-CIO Budget Summary available here
Joint Finance Committee should listen to public testimony and fix Walker’s bad budget
(MILWAUKEE, WI ) — Gov. Walker’s proposed budget contains abundant cuts, restructures State departments, programs and agencies, puts in place an undemocratic scheme to eliminate license requirements for professions and occupations, eliminates prevailing wage standards, destroys checks and balances for workers by eliminating the Labor and Industry Review Commission, fails to establish a sustainable revenue source to fund our roads and infrastructure, and consolidates even more power into the Governor’s office.
The Wisconsin AFL-CIO has put together a budget breakdown, highlighting the budget’s most egregious attacks on working families and communities across the state. View the full budget breakdown here.
“Gov. Walker thinks this budget will fix his dismal approval ratings before the 2018 elections, but when people learn the details of the budget, they will see how truly harmful it is for working families,” said Stephanie Bloomingdale, Secretary-Treasurer of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO who will testify at the Milwaukee JFC hearing on Wednesday. “Eliminating the Labor and Industry Review Commission, lowering wages in the construction industry, removing the required number of hours of instruction for K-12 students, and eliminating licensing requirements for various professions and occupations are big red flags for working people in Wisconsin and should be fixed before the budget is passed.”
“Gov. Walker’s deceptive budget meagerly attempts to back-fill massive holes left by his last three budgets in the hopes that Wisconsinites have forgotten just how much devastation the large the cuts to public schools, roads, healthcare and UW System have been over the past six years,” said Phil Neuenfeldt, President of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO. “By putting policy items relating to education, workers’ compensation, employment rights like workplace discrimination and FMLA, and occupational licenses in the Budget, Gov. Walker is weakening the rights of workers while dodging the public and our traditional democratic process.”
The Joint Finance Committee, which has the first opportunity to make changes to Gov. Walker’s budget before it goes to the full legislature for debate and voting, should make serious changes to Gov. Walker’s deceptive budget.
