From Reedsburg, to Milwaukee, Brillon to Rice Lake, working people are packing Joint Finance Committee Budget Hearings to speak out against Gov. Walker’s budget. Noting drastic cuts to schools, senior programs and essential public services, citizens criticized Gov. Walker’s budget as shortsighted and full of political givebacks.
Citizens of Wisconsin want a budget that prioritizes good jobs and better wages. Instead, they are getting a budget full of political goodies for Gov. Walker’s campaign funders.
Stephanie Bloomingdale, Secretary-Treasurer of the Wisconsin AFL-CIO, gave compelling testimony on behalf of working men and women in Milwaukee.
On the issue of fair compensation for Wisconsin’s injured workers, Bloomingdale stated:
The question remains, why does Governor Walker want to split the workers compensation division in two? We know that states who have split systems like Illinois and Texas have worse outcomes. So why would we want to be like them?
Bloomingdale warned against a reckless system of borrowing for road building and urged sustainable funding for a secure infrastructure:
The Governor has had 4 years to figure out a more sustainable funding system, rather than borrowing and forcing our children to pay for our fiscally irresponsible decisions. The Governor has rejected every idea to generate new revenue and continues to borrow more. This model is reckless.
On Wisconsin’s educational systems, Bloomingdale called upon the JFC to fully reject any move to privatize public education whether that be through a private authority for the UW System or by expanding vouchers for K-12 education:
We call on you to reject any proposal to convert our system into a private authority. We also call on you to restore funding to the UW System. Otherwise, the proposed, reckless budget cuts - for the 7th consecutive budget cycle - will hurt the UW System and our children’s ability to access affordable higher education in our home state.
On the merging of state departments and agencies Bloomingdale questioned the motives behind these changes and asked the JFC how they will help improve efficiency.
How will all these departmental shuffles improve services? Who is asking for this agency hopscotching? Gov. Walker’s WEDC is riddled with scandals and failed results, why should we trust further changes and departmental shifts when past experiments and have failed?
Wisconsin. Fight back by promoting political literacy. Please share this link. This is a free book on political literacy written by a lifelong union member. Wisconsin voters need to be able to tell the political left from the right. This is an easy read for the general public. http://firewalleconomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/FINAL-PDF.pdf
Posted by: Joe Phillips | 04/08/2015 at 03:39 PM