Posted on 08/15/2011 11:07:59 AM PDT by UB355
WEAC issues layoff notices to 40% of staff By Erin Richards of the Journal Sentinel Aug. 15, 2011 12:02 p.m. |(114) Comments
Layoff notices have been issued to about 40% of the Wisconsin Education Association Council workforce, a total of 42 employees who work for the state's largest teachers union, Executive Director Dan Burkhalter confirmed Monday.
Burkhalter said that the layoffs and other budget cuts at WEAC are a result of Gov. Scott Walker's "union-busting" legislation.
“Right now we’re engaged in membership continuation campaigns," Burkhalter said in a statement. "We’ve made steady progress in signing up members and we anticipate further progress will be made as the school year resumes. Despite budget cuts and layoffs, our goal remains the same: to be a strong and viable organization that represents the voices of Wisconsin’s public school employees.”
The organization has been working to stay relevant in a time when state legislation has severely clipped the collective bargaining rights of teachers and other public workers. The legislation makes it illegal for local teachers unions to electronically deduct dues from the payroll of teachers, and local unions also have to hold re-certification votes.
The Wisconsin Association of School Boards estimates that about 275 school districts in the state are working outside of collective bargaining agreements and subject to the new legislation. About 150 or so districts are operating under contracts that were extended with their respective unions before the legislation passed.
That’s great news. A small start, but good none the less. Now they’ll have more time to storm the capital.
Sounds like a good start.
Imagine that. They’re having trouble getting union members to voluntarily send in union dues.
THIS was the reason for the ferocity of their battle against Walker.
Had the unions not blown all that money on recalls, those people would not have to be laid off.
Now that they're no longer employees of the union, they might not care about storming the capitol. They might need to stay at whatever job (Walmart) they can get.
Layoffs are announced the day before two Dem recall elections.
I imagine that the layoffs won’t even be followed through with, regardless of who wins. This is a political announcement, and that’s it.
Their unwavering support for big spending pols has finally cost these unions. Excuse me while I cry. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!
This clearly tells what a slush fund the WEA Health Insurance Fund was.
Cutting 40% of the staff is a big deal.
Way to go Walker!!!!
Spent the budget on the recalls and got burned! I love it!
Good point. They’re playing the victim card as a political tactic.
No, this isn’t a small start. This is a great start. If you read the article, it says that they are busy signing members. That means that they must re-do their membership sign-ups in order to collect the dues.
This is going to be fun to watch.
99 weeks to be exact.
The horror!
That is my thought
The layoffs are being blamed on the governor but are actually the result of mismanagement of union funds by the unions
I heard they unions spent about $35 million on the recall
Why don’t they ask the wealthy union members to pay more of their fair share, afterall, isn;t that what he president telling us?
Oh, c'mon! They're union-quality people! I'm sure they can be trained to say "Do you want fries with that?"
Perfect jobs to 'ship overseas' . Two WI Democrat recall elections on Tuesday, just winning one would crush liberals moral.
Nice to hear that union LEACHES are finally getting the Ax.
Welcome to the REAL world.
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