Wisconsin State AFL-CIO Blog

Wisconsin United for $10.10

Wisconsin workers called on elected officials like Sen. Ron Johnson, Rep. Paul Ryan and Gov. Walker to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 outside the Coggs Human Service Center in downtown Milwaukee today.  

As the Americans United for Change Raise the Wage Bus Tour rolled into town, low-wage workers spoke out about life on poverty wages that force too many to rely on public assistance to make ends meet while their employers reap record profits.  

“I’m tired of relying on the system to make ends meet,” explained Mary Coleman, a Popeye’s worker and mother of three.  “I know I speak for a lot of people when I say I will happily give you this Quest card for a living wage.”

“I’m here to ask Sen. Ron Johnson to vote to raise the minimum wage,” said Amina Webb, a Sear’s worker.  “I am raising a 2 year old son and trying to finish my college degree but cannot afford basic life essentials for my family on the minimum wage.  I don’t want the next generation to grow up in poverty.”  

The face of low-wage workers is changing from part-time teenage work to full-time adult workers who support a family. Ninety percent of minimum wage earners are over 20 years old and 60% of minimum wage earners are women.  

It is estimated that raising Wisconsin’s minimum wage would pump $517 million into the local economy.

Stephanie Bloomingdale, Secretary-Treasurer of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO, explained that it is high-time for workers’ wages to rise.  “We’re here today because no one who works full-time in America, who gets up and packs their lunch and heads to the shop floor, who works in a restaurant, in a coffee shop or in a hospital should have to live in poverty.  Corporate profits are up, Wall Street bonuses are up, productivity is up and it is time for our wages to rise up!”  

Gov. Walker Approves Bill to Suppress the Vote

Gov. Walker is again trying to confuse the public by making a partial veto of one piece of voting suppression while at the same time gutting Wisconsin’s proud and long-standing tradition of citizen access to the ballot.  Taking a page out of the special interest ALEC playbook, Gov. Walker has eliminated weekend voting and limited early voting hours to Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., making it harder for people who work for a living to vote early.

Gov. Walker can’t run on a record of attacking worker rights, failing to create jobs, denying justice to veterans who have fallen victim to asbestos disease and lowering wages and living standards for all workers, so he is resorting to gerrymandering and voter suppression tactics in an blatant attempt to rig elections.  

AFL-CIO Report “NAFTA at 20” Sums Up Trade Deals’ Impact

The AFL-CIO today issued a report, NAFTA at 20, which summarizes the unfortunate experiences of workers in Mexico, Canada and the United States in the twenty years following passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). With the NAFTA model proving to be the template for additional trade deals in the past two decades and the Obama administration negotiating two massive trade deals, this report is particularly timely.

 The AFL-CIO’s NAFTA at 20 can be found here: www.aflcio.org/NAFTAat20

 This report demonstrates that the high hopes of NAFTA proponents have not been realized. Instead, the report argues that, “On the whole, NAFTA-style agreements have proved to be primarily a vehicle to increase corporate profits at the expense of workers, consumers, farmers, communities, the environment and even democracy itself.”

 “There is no success story for workers to be found in North America 20 years after NAFTA,” said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. “The NAFTA model focuses on lifting corporations out of reach of democratic governance, rather than solely reducing tariffs.  This report should serve as a cautionary tale to the Obama Administration and Congress as they consider negotiating and implementing new trade deals.”

 The report concludes that “the TPP and other forthcoming trade agreements do not have to repeat the mistakes of the past 20 years.”  The choice isn’t between the outdated NAFTA model and no new trade.  It’s between the corporate-rights model and trade that drives shared prosperity and inclusive growth for people and the planet. 

 The AFL-CIO has available a wide array of experts to elaborate on NAFTA at 20 as well as to discuss negotiations over the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) , Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), and Trade Promotion Authority (TPA).

Tell Assembly Leader Vos to support cancer patients, not insurance companies

Lots of you took action earlier this week, emailing Sen. Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) urging him to bring the oral chemotherapy bill to the Senate floor for a vote.  On Tuesday, it made all the difference!  Due to mounting pressure, the Senate unexpectedly reversed course and passed the chemotherapy pill bill in a 30-2 vote.

Sen. Leah Vukmir (R-Wauwatosa) and Sen. Paul Farrow (R-Pewaukee) were the only senators to vote against ensuring cancer patients have affordable access to chemotherapy treatment regardless of how it is administered.  

On Tuesday, Assembly Democrats attempted to force a vote on the bill, currently stalled in committee, through a pulling motion which failed along party lines with all Republicans voting to deny the motion.

The chemotherapy bill will now head to the Wisconsin Assembly on Thursday, March 20, as Assembly Bill 392.  Speaker of the Assembly Robin Vos (R-Rochester) has made it clear that he does not support the bill and is working behind the scenes to kill it.  He may even try to amend the bill to please deep-pocketed insurance companies who are lobbying against it. 

Click here to send an email to Rep. Robin Vos urging them to stand up to insurance companies and bring a clean AB 392 to a vote. 

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that sixty-one lawmakers in the 99-member Assembly support the bill, including all 39 Democrats and 22 Republicans. Thirty-one Republicans won't say whether they support or oppose the bill, and two say they're undecided.

Tell Rep. Vos to stop worrying about the next campaign donation check and start worrying about the health and well-being of cancer patients!

Thursday will be the Assembly’s last day in session.  Also, expected to come to the floor for a vote are horrendous voter disenfranchisement bills.  Click here for a round-up and description of the anti-voter bills that would keep thousands of hard-working Wisconsinites from the polls. 

Assembly Democrats are actively working to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 in Wisconsin, but Assembly Republicans are unlikely to stand with low-wage workers struggling to survive on $7.25. 

As the Wisconsin Legislature wraps up for the regular legislative year, it is important that working people continue to raise our voice and speak up for justice for all Wisconsinites.  As a movement of working people we are working to make our communities and our democracy stronger and better for the next generation.  That means supporting voting rights, ensuring asbestos victims have access to justice, fighting for overtime protections for workers, standing in solidarity with cancer patients, fighting for a living wage and ensuring safe and humane working conditions for all.

Life-saving cancer drug blocked by GOP

Disgusting.  Republicans in Madison are using arcane legislative rules to block cancer patients from getting affordable treatment, all because of partisan pay-to-play politics. All but a few powerfully positioned state senators support a bill that would require health plans to cover chemotherapy treatment equally, regardless of whether it is administered in pill or IV form (SB 300).

However, Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) is using manipulative rules to block a vote on this life-saving bill.  He is being heavily lobbied by insurance companies to oppose and stop the bill.  Sen. Scott Fitzgerald’s brother, Jeff Fitzgerald, is a lobbyist working for the insurance companies.  

The Senate is back in session tomorrow and has one last chance to pass this bill.  Click here to send an email to Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald asking him to bring SB 300 to the floor for a vote.  

Every Senate Democrat and thirteen Republicans support the bill which would ensure cancer patients have access to a more humane form of chemotherapy.  Three Republican senators oppose the bill -- Sen. Leah Vukmir (R-Wauwatosa), Sen. Paul Farrow (R-Pewaukee) and Sen. Scott Fitzgerald.  Two Republican senators have yet to state their position.  Why, when an overwhelming bipartisan majority of our elected state senators support getting cancer patients better access to humane treatment, is it being blocked?  That’s right, 28 senators want to put the bill on the floor and three are standing in the way, playing political money games while cancer patients suffer.  

Using technical rules to keep a popular and bipartisan bill from going to the floor for a vote is a misuse of parliamentary rules.  In this case, the use of procedural rules to block SB 300 defies common sense and basic human morality.

Twenty-nine states including Iowa, Illinois and Minnesota have passed similar legislation to require insurance companies to treat oral chemotherapy drugs the same as other forms of chemotherapy.  

Sen. Fitzgerald has the power to put the bill to the floor tomorrow for a full and fair vote. Click here to send an urgent email to Sen. Fitzgerald.

New Poll Shows Walker, Burke in Dead Tie

A new poll released by the Republican-leaning Rasmussen Reports polling firm shows that Gov. Scott Walker and Democratic challenger Mary Burke are dead even among voters.  

The statewide poll of 500 likely voters conducted March 9 and 10, finds that each candidate has 45% support, with 5% of respondents favoring another candidate and 5% undecided.   

The poll comes after a $1 million pro-Walker ad-buy from the Republican Governors Association.  It is also the first poll conducted after the 28,000 John-Doe email dump which showed Gov. Walker’s inner-circle blurred the line between county business and campaigning and often took-part in a culture of offsensive jokes.  

Support for Minimum Wage Increase Growing

Momentum is building for giving workers a raise!  Poll after poll finds strong support among voters for raising the minimum wage.

A poll released March 13, 2014 by UW-Milwaukee shows deep support among Wisconsinites for increasing the minimum wage, with 77% of those polled in favor of a wage increase.  The majority of poll respondents supported raising the wage to $10.10 an hour. 

Gov. Walker has made it clear he does not support raising wages for workers and senate Republicans voted down an opportunity to raise the minimum wage (SB 505) on March 12.  The GOP continues to ignore the needs of Wisconsin workers, but it is clear that public opinion and voters are mandating a minimum wage increase.

A Gallup poll released in November of 2013 showed that more than three quarters (76%) of Americans support an increase in the minimum wage. 

Corporate profits are up, Wall Street bonuses are up and it is time for workers’ wages to rise as well!

This just happened

Republicans realize their ideas won’t win votes, so they’ve decided to rig the game, change the rules and disenfranchise tens of thousands of Wisconsin voters ahead of the next election.  On March 12, Republicans used their Senate majority to ram through attacks on our fundamental rights to vote as citizens.  By restricting ballot access and implementing new hurdles for citizens to register to vote, Republicans are blatantly trying to limit the electorate and rig elections in a politically-motivated, power-grabbing move.  

Anti-voter legislation passed with a 17-16 with Rep. Dale Schultz (R-Richland Center) joining Senate Democrats in the State Senate in opposition include:

• SB 267:  Adds new obstacles to voter registration.

• SB 324:  Shortens the hours and days of in-person absentee voting.  This bill ends weekend early voting and limits weekday early voting to between 8:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m.

• SB 655:  Expands the power of lobbyists to funnel campaign contributions to candidates by moving up the date lobbyists may begin making contributions from June 1 to April 15.  This amounts to legalized bribery. 

• AB 396:   Places complicated barriers for individuals in residential facilities such as nursing homes and adult-care facilities to vote absentee. 

These votes come on the heels of a new announcement that Gov. Walker is plotting a special session to pass the voter-suppressing Voter ID law if the Wisconsin Supreme Court rules the current provision unconstitutional. 

Gov. Walker hopes to have Voter ID in place for his re-election in November 2014.  Voter ID severely impacts young people, people of color, the elderly and the disabled by placing what amounts to a poll tax on voters.  People have marched and died for the right to vote.  It is a tragedy that power-hungry Republicans are systematically dismantling the voting rights of Wisconsin citizens in order to reduce the number of people who could vote against them in the next election.  They’re rigging the game and hoping you don’t notice.

Republicans also voted down an opportunity to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour for all Wisconsin workers (SB 505).  This was done in a minimum wage pulling motion, which was defeated 18-15 along party lines. 

Hold your legislators accountable now and tell them how you feel about their actions on these important votes to working families. Remember in November the attacks on voting rights, worker rights, women’s rights and democracy. 

Anti-Voter Bills Up in State Legislature

The Wisconsin State Senate is getting ready to vote on multiple anti-voter bills on Tuesday, March 11. These bills will not only promote ‘pay to play’ politics but will also deny citizen access to the ballot and make it harder for people to register to vote.

Also, up for a vote on Tuesday are changes to the Milwaukee Mental Health Complex (SB 565). This bill would remove local control over a local institution, a notion that runs afoul to fundamental democratic principles and should frighten communities across the state. 

Republicans in the state legislature are trying to ram these bills through as quickly as possible with limited public debate. Contact your legislator today in opposition of these bills.  

Anti-Democracy Bills that will go to vote on Tuesday, March 11th as of March 9, 2014 --

•    SB 324 – Limits early voting hours allowed by municipalities and removes the option of weekend and evening voting leading up to Election Day.

•    SB 267 – Places additional burdens on people who wish to register early and on the municipal clerks who register them by demanding certain documents as proof of residence and that the clerks record 2 or 4 digits of the document account number on voter registration forms. It amounts to an unnecessary hurdle for both voters and clerks.

•     SB 655 – Pay to Play – Lobbyists can donate to politicians during election years starting on April 15th even if session is ongoing.

•     AB 396 – Restricts absentee voting by residents of certain adult-care facilities, including nursing homes and assisted-living facilities by placing unnecessary and burdensome notice requirements prior to the absentee voting process. In addition, all voting at certain adult-care facilities must occur in the presence of 2 election officials, one from each political party. Further, if some residents in an assisted living facility vote absentee at the facility, then all residents must vote by absentee at the facility and are disallowed from voting in the clerk's office or by absentee mail ballot.

*Sen. Grothman has introduced an outrageous bill to end same day voter registration in Wisconsin!   Allowing citizens to register to vote on Election Day makes our democracy strong and accessible.  People who work for a living, move frequently or are voting for the first time can find it burdensome to register to vote prior to Election Day.  In Wisconsin, we have a proud tradition of welcoming all citizens to participate in our democracy.  Sen. Grothman’s attempt to control the electorate and limit the voting population is transparent and disgusting. 

Update on Local Living Wage Preemption:  This bill stalled in the state Senate last week with Sen. Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) stating it is “unlikely that it will move through the Senate.” However, Rep. Chris Kapenga (R-Delafield) has said he and Sen. Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend) will continue to lobby fellow legislators for support adding that, “in the Legislature you never count on something being dead until session is actually complete.”

There is still time to make your voice heard.  Contact your legislator today in support of voting rights and democracy!

A Quick Update

A quick update on anti-worker legislation winding its way through the Wisconsin Legislature.

Earlier this month you sent thousands of messages to your representatives in opposition of destruction of overtime protections for workers, a proposal to end weekends, and a bill that would take away local control from citizens. 

The Destruction of Overtime Protection Bill, Assembly Bill 611, would abolish hard-fought overtime protections and wage rights for workers.  Instead of fairly compensating an employee for overtime hours worked by paying an employee time and a half in wages, employers will be able to instead give an employee comp time and have final say over when comp time is used.  The Assembly Labor Committee held a public hearing on AB611 on February 12. This bill is currently still in the Assembly Labor Committee. Keep the pressure up and tell your legislators you don’t want this bill to advance any further today! 

Like weekends?  The 7-Day Work Week Bill, Assembly Bill 667, has been introduced in the state Senate as Senate Bill 508. The Assembly Labor Committee held a hearing on AB667 on February 12, but did not vote the bill out of committee yet.  This bill would roll back the clock on worker rights and create an environment where workers are intimidated and pressured into working 7-days a week, every week, all year.  It is expected that legislators will vote on this ludicrous bill in the coming days or weeks.  This is a direct attack on workplace safety, families and communities.  People aren’t machines and need rest for physical and emotional well-being.  Send a message to your legislator today and tell them NO to killing weekends and working 7-days a week.

Hands off local control!  On Monday, March 3, the Senate Judiciary and Labor Committee will hold a public hearing on the Living Wage Preemption Bill.  The hearing will take place in Room 411S of the State Capitol at 11:00 a.m.  Assembly Bill 750 has passed with a vote of 56 to 37 along party lines with two Democrats absent.  Its companion bill, Senate Bill 626, is moving fast.  This bill undermines local democracy and strips away democratic rights from local citizens in determining the best path forward for their community. Join us at the hearing and click here to call your legislator in opposition of SB626.

Walker’s irresponsible tax scheme, announced during the State of the State address, deprives the state and local communities of needed public resources in a foolish political ploy to win votes.  The surplus scheme has passed the state Assembly and is expected to be voted on in the Senate next week.  This is an aggressive and reckless misuse of public dollars made possible by drastically cutting education, health care and municipal aid in Walker’s first budget.  Instead of investing in our future, in roads and bridges and schools, in worker rights, health care and jobs, Gov. Walker is spending a surplus that isn’t there yet.  In true Walker fashion, this tax cut favors the wealthy and large property owners.  The Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy analysis finds that middle class households (incomes between $37,000 and $66,000) in Wisconsin would see an average cut of $117 while the top 1% ($380,000 or more) would enjoy an average $951 in savings. Walker’s tax cuts is expected to increase the state's projected shortfall for the next two-year budget by $99 million.

Wisconsin is heading down the wrong path under Gov. Walker’s leadership.  Worker rights and protections continue to be stripped away by GOP legislators doing the bidding of corporate special interests.  Raise your voice and contact your legislators in opposition of anti-worker bills today!