Walker administration proposes 17% pay hikes for troopers

[lutefisk]

Big and bold divide and conquer move by the Walker administration. While UW system employees are worried about losing their jobs because of Walker's manufactured budget crisis and almost all state employees have taken pay cuts since Walker took office, he does this. After he stripped the right to union protections and representation in negotiations from other state employees, he rubs their faces in it. Vos and Fitzgerald say they'll renegotiate the contract made by the Walker administration, so maybe Walker is going too far even for them.

Glen Jones, president of the Wisconsin Troopers Association, said the raise was justified because troopers haven't seen a pay increase since June 2009. He said the wage hike is aimed at raising the pay of newer troopers and that veterans like him would wind up making less than Capitol Police officers with similar experience.

The raise is aimed at covering the past 51/2 years and would expire this June, said Jones. A new round of negotiations would begin then....

...The State Patrol is overseen by Superintendent Stephen Fitzgerald, the father of Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau). Scott Fitzgerald sits on the Employment Relations Committee that will soon review the contracts.

LINK

[Scuba]

1. Sure. So he can count on the troopers to apply batons to protesters. Fuck you Walker.

[postulater]

2. Sadly most people dont make the connections.

How obvious does it have to be?

It is all about him and his cronies.

[riversedge]

4. my bet is most folks will not know the connections--beyond folks who

might read a few of the major newspapers across the state.

[riversedge]

3. Plus Walker froze Merit pay for other state employees--teachers, Correction officers. etc

............Walker and other Republican lawmakers greatly scaled back collective bargaining for most public workers in 2011. But they spared most law enforcement officers from most of the changes, leaving them with the ability to negotiate broadly over wages and other issues.

Unions that represent other types of workers are limited to negotiating wage increases that are no greater than inflation.

Most state workers saw pay increases of 1% in 2013 and 1% in 2014. The administration has budgeted no money for raises in 2015 and 2016.

[Wellstone ruled]

5. You just knew this would go down this way.

Pay back for backing Walkers bullshit at the Capital Rotunda.

[Half-Century Man]

6. Treats for the war dogs.

Foreplay with the MIC's baby brother, the police industrial complex.

Sooo, what do you think happens if he gets to play in the big sandbox? We move directly to a "Brave New World". We become the oft foretold Forth Reich.

[Ed Suspicious]

7. Gifts for old man Fitzgerald.