Well, this seems like a no-brainer.
Anyone following the long, sad saga of Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker’s 2010 budget knew that it was a sham.
Walker had included $32 million of wage and benefits concessions that had never been brought to the bargaining table.
And he did so just days after his own labor negotiator had come up with a very different tentative agreement with AFSCME District Council 48, the county’s largest union.
While the county board whittled down some of those concessions in the final budget, the fact remains that it did not resemble the original tentative agreement.
So DC 48 went to court.
And a week ago, the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission sided with the union.
Now, I could see this result coming a mile away. So could Walker, I’m sure. Yet he’s trying the same tactic in his 2011 budget, with non-negotiated multimillions in wage and benefits concessions for employees and retirees.
That’s why Walker is a fraud. (And why bad news keeps coming in dribs and drabs as Walker's campaign enters its final week. First the unreleased GMC report showing that the county is on the brink of bankruptcy, then the county auditor’s scathing reports on the mental health complex and the county’s building inspection history.) Walker’s administration is falling apart, and he’s taking the state’s largest county down with it.
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One more thing to note: at the same time Walker scuttled his tentative agreement last year, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett honored a very similar tentative agreement in his 2010 city budget. And you know what? His budget didn’t blow up. He made hard choices and got the job done without drama.
Something to think about when you go to the polls on Tuesdayespecially if you’re in a union. Walker doesn’t give a damn about workers’ rights.
Here’s the press release from AFSCME District 48:
WALKER BARGAINING TEAM BARGAINED IN BAD FAITH
On October 21, an examiner of the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission found that Milwaukee County "failed to bargain in good faith" with AFSCME District Council 48 when the County was preparing its 2010 budget.
The examiner found that the Walker administration's September 2009 tentative agreement with District Council 48 was at odds with Walker's budget submitted to the Board of Supervisors days after the tentative agreement was reached. Walker's team had not discussed the budget's impact with the Union. The actions of the Walker administration demonstrated the County's bad faith at the bargaining table.
"We applaud Examiner Houlihan's conclusion," said District Council 48 Executive Director Richard Abelson. "A year ago, we negotiated a tentative agreement with the county in good faithan agreement that coupled sacrifices by our members with job security. But good-faith bargaining under Wisconsin law is a two-way street. Walker and his team were driving the wrong way down a one-way street chosen by Walker."
In mid-September 2009, District Council 48 and the County's bargaining team reached a tentative agreement for a new contract. In exchange for guarantees of no layoffs or privatization of County services through 2010, the Union agreed to a two-year wage freeze. Two Milwaukee County Board committees approved the agreement. On September 22, AFSCME-represented Milwaukee County workers ratified the two-year deal.
But two days later, the full County Board voted to defer voting on the contract. The same day, Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker submitted his 2010 budget which called for widespread privatization of AFSCME-represented jobs, massive layoffs and a series of take-aways, ranging from a 3 percent wage reduction to a major increase in the cost-sharing of health insurance premiums to a mandatory 5 percent employee pension contribution. None of Walker's budget had been on the table in bargaining between the County and the Union. The County Board rejected the tentative agreement and then Walker and the County Board adopted a plan for unpaid furlough days for AFSCME-represented employees.
In October 2009, District Council 48 filed three "complaints of prohibited practices" with the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission, claiming that Milwaukee County violated Wisconsin's laws governing collective bargaining between municipalities and unions.
In a 63-page decision issued October 21, 2010, WERC Examiner William C. Houlihan concluded that Walker and the County Board "failed to bargain in good faith," under the Wisconsin statutes. "If the County wanted the changes reflected in its budgets, it should have put those proposals to the Union," Houlihan wrote. "If layoffs, furloughs and the like were potential consequences of a failure to control or reduce wages and benefits, that should also be brought to the bargaining table at a time when it can be meaningfully discussed."
Abelson noted, "Collective bargaining requires that both parties act in good faith. The double-dealing of Walker and his team in its relations with the Union and in preparing the 2010 budget shows that Walker and his team cannot and should not be trusted. The Examiner saw through Walker's games and has ordered the County to fulfill its obligations under the law. We expect the County to now act in accord with the law."
