Wisconsin State AFL-CIO Blog

Outsourced Wisconsin Tour Launched

Milwaukee, Sept. 8, 2016 -- Wisconsin State AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Stephanie Bloomingdale joins Citizen Action of Wisconsin's Outsourced Wisconsin Tour.

Following the revelation that over 11,000 Wisconsin jobs have been outsourced in the past five years, advocates for good jobs launched a statewide tour on Thursday of corporations who are outsourcing jobs while taking public job creation dollars.

The first stop on the tour is the Rexnord Corporation in Milwaukee. At a news event, community leaders detailed how Rexnord outsourced jobs at the same time it took millions in public job creation dollars from Governor Walker’s scandal plagued Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC).

Community leaders and advocates for good jobs wore hard hats emblazoned with a decal which plays off WEDC’s “In Wisconsin” logo changed to “Outsourced Wisconsin.”

Speakers included Wisconsin AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Stephanie Bloomingdale, WISDOM President Rev. Willie Brisco, former radio host Earl Ingram, and State. Rep. Daniel Riemer.

WEDC has for years refused to close loopholes that allow corporations to take public jobs money while outsourcing more jobs than they create.

According to data from the U.S. Department of Labor and WEDC, Rexnord has actually outsourced more jobs than it has been paid with public dollars to create. The company has received $2.75 million in WEDC funds, but has so far outsourced 130 more jobs than it is has created. Even if it fulfills all of its future commitments to WEDC, Rexnord will have created fewer jobs than it has outsourced since WEDC was created in 2011. (Find more details on Rexnord’s outsourcing record here).

According to Citizen Action of Wisconsin research, the threat of outsourcing is one of the reasons wages are plummeting for manufacturing jobs that remain in Wisconsin.

Labor Day 2016 Across Wisconsin

From Eau Claire to Kenosha, Neenah to Madison, and everywhere in-between, working families came together across Wisconsin to celebrate solidarity and workers’ rights at Labor Day celebrations. Over brats and beers, and with balloons, face painting, meat raffles and bounce houses in the background, workers paid tribute to the advances the labor movement has brought to working people and pledged to keep up the fight for working families.

At Milwaukee’s Laborfest, U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez joined festival goers to talk about Hillary Clinton, union rights and the 2016 elections.

“If you want to make a good wage, join a union” urged Secretary of Labor Perez. “We measure our success not just by our numbers, but by the many working families we help in this country. When the labor movement success, the middle class succeeds, African-Americans succeed, Latinos succeed, women succeed, we all succeed and are better off when the labor movement is strong.”

Comparing Donald Trump to Scott Walker, Perez underscored the importance of electing Hillary Clinton and Russ Feingold to advance union rights.

 

“Donald Trump embraces the Scott Walker ethic of going after labor unions. Donald Trump and Ron Johnson are two peas in a far-right pod…Hillary Clinton understands that collective bargaining is one of the biggest forces that has brought us a strong middle class. Hillary Clinton has walked picket lines with autoworkers and nurses, she has been fighting of the underdog her entire life…Donald Trump refuses to negotiate with his hotel workers in Las Vegas.”

 

Now more than ever, working families need to come together to create a more balanced economy. Every day, working men and women strive to achieve the American Dream. Every day working people are using our talents and dedication to make America stronger.

Let’s elect candidates who are just as committed to creating broadly shared prosperity that will improve the lives of working families. This Labor, let’s honor working families by building a movement for working families and pledging to support candidates who support us.

 

 

For more Labor Day photos visit the Wisconsin AFL-CIO Flickr Page by clicking here. 

Honor Labor

On Labor Day, we pause to recognize the millions of people across our country who get up and go to work every day. Today we honor all those who labor; who sweat and sacrifice to provide for themselves and their families. Those whose hard work makes our economy thrive. Today, we honor our movement of working people who stand together in unity for social and economic justice for all.

In Wisconsin, our union brothers and sisters are part of a movement that is second to none. From the birth of worker’s compensation laws to advancing paid leave laws that allow workers to take time off to care for a newborn or loved one, Wisconsin unions have a proud history of making the workplace better for all workers. We can thank unions for our weekends, minimum wage laws, safety standards, overtime protections and many more workplace benefits we take for granted today.

Our work is not done. Too many workers labor in dangerous conditions. Too many workers have unpredictable schedules. Too many workers face wage theft, pay discrimination or harassment on the job. Wages are too low for too many. No one who works full-time should have to live in poverty.

On Labor Day, we recommit ourselves to advancing the lives of all working families and building a prosperous future for all. We continue to fight for the freedom to come together and stick together as a team through strong unions and collective bargaining rights.

We wish all of our brothers and sisters and every Wisconsinite a happy and healthy Labor Day!