Union Workers Replaced With Prison Labor Under Scott Walker’s Collective Bargaining Law
By Alex Seitz-Wald on Jul 6, 2011 at 4:57 pm
While Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) law dismantling collective bargaining rights has harmed teachers, nurses, and other civil servants, it’s helping a different group in Wisconsinites — inmates. Prisoners are now taking up jobs that used to be held by unionized workers in some parts of the state.
As the Madison Capital Times reports, “Besides losing their right to negotiate over the percentage of their paycheck that will go toward health care and retirement, unions also lost the ability to claim work as a ‘union-only’ job, opening the door for private workers and evidently even inmates to step in and take their place.” Inmates are not paid for their work, but may receive time off of their sentences.
The law went into effect last week, and Racine County is already using inmates to do landscaping, painting, and another basic maintenance around the county that was previously done by county workers. The union had successfully sued to stop the country from using prison labor for these jobs last year, but with Walker’s new law, they have no recourse. Watch a report from Fox6 in Green Bay:
The Washington Examiner called Racine’s move “another success story” and “all great news for Wisconsin taxpayers. Hopefully, we’ll see more of it.” So far, it appears no other jurisdiction has followed Racine’s example — for now. It may just be a matter of time to allow existing union contracts to expire. The spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Office of Dane County, which includes Madison, said, “Nobody in our jail will be benefiting…at this time” from the new law, but the left the door open for future changes.
While giving prisoners more work and activity options is generally positive, using free inmate labor to replace public sector workers is a disturbing trend.http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/07/06/261319/scott-walker-prison-labor/
Lots of talk about this, but I wondered if anyone here is union and what you think.... This makes me real sad that is going on....
= new reply since forum marked as read
http://www.amazon.com/Slavery-Another-Name-Re-Enslavement-Americans/dp/0385722702
Both a book and a documentary. When I read what you have written - that's the first thing that comes to mind.
It's another clue to putting together the Big Picture.
Today's jigsaw piece to help claraify the overall
goals of the Divide and Conquer Strategy.
Put that together with Yesterday's News:
Standing in front of the NAACP (but really
addressing his "base"
, Willard took
the opportunity to lay down the new
economic Law:
Decoding the Orwellian signifiers, "no
more free stuff" means, regardless of
race, THOSE WHO OWN will no longer
have any financial obligations toward
THOSE WHO OWE.
(All that nonsense about killing Obamacare
in order to give us -- everything that's
already in it -- the irrationality of all of
that is proof enough that nothing that's
said in this campaign season means what
it's supposed to.)
With Debtors' Prisons making a comeback,
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2132973/Breast-cancer-survivor-handcuffed-thrown-jail-mistaken-280-medical-debtors-prisons-return-U-S.html
...and the cost of healthcare responsible for
more bankruptcies, bad credit histories,
and ruined lives than anything else.....
So that's it, the financial plan for America's
Future.
Corporations (People), Property (Piles
of Cash) will own all the Units of Labor
Exchange (Us). And we'll all be in debt
to the Company Store, forever and ever,
amen.
With nothing in between, an infinite gulf
of empty, black space between Owners
and Owers.
