In the piece, VSEA Steward John Brabant articulates the fears of thousands of state employees who have heard this "program cut" rhetoric before. On the plus side, Governor reafiirms his belief that there aren’t enough employees now to adequately staff programs and services.
“We were grateful for all the support that came to Wisconsin from around the world and we wanted to help our brothers and sisters in New York City,” said Tim Birkley, an AFSCME Local 60 member who works for the city of Madison.
Governor’s call comes just after TSEA finds that startling number of TN state employees eligible for food assistance, but that’s not why he ordered it. He actually wants to be able to pay people enough to stay working in state gov’t.
“I don’t know what the administration’s motivations are these days for doing anything that they’re doing,” [VSEA’s Conor Casey] said. “I will say that I disagree with their methodology and their budget instructions. Clearly, what they’re doing is underfunding our contracts by not including the restoration of the 3 percent. I believe that’s part of this contract, not the next contract. They’re starting off on a bad foot with bargaining.”
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"But a report issued this week by the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, led by Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), gives lie to [trickle-down] logic with its stark findings that a notable recent effort to create jobs through corporate tax cuts created a multibillion-dollar corporate windfall that did not trickle down to America’s workers, and did not create new jobs."