Hundreds of State Employees Rally

Several hundred state employees rallied at the State Capitol Monday (February 17, 2003) to angrily protest a decision by legislative leadership to reject their tentative contract agreements.

"A deal is a deal," the crowd shouted repeatedly.

Among the 31,000 state employees affected by the bargaining crisis are about 750 WEAC Council #1 members who are education professionals employed by the state. They work at the Department of Public Instruction, in prisons throughout the state, and at the school for the visually impaired, school for the deaf, mental health facilities, university libraries and State Historical Society.

On February 13, the Legislature's Joint Committee on Employment Relations, controlled by Republicans, voted to reject the negotiated contracts with state employees. The party-line vote sent the contracts to the Department of Employment Relations for re-negotiating.

The tentative agreements, which were negotiated under the Republican administration of Scott McCallum, provided average pay raises of 1% retroactive to July 1, 2001; 2% retroactive to July 1, 2002; and a final 2.5% raise effective in April 2003.

Democratic Governor Jim Doyle has said that, despite the state's deficit problems, there is money set aside to pay the negotiated salary increases. However, the contracts must be approved by the Legislature, which is controlled in both houses by Republicans.

"The money is there; we all know that," Democratic Sen. Jon Erpenbach told the rally Monday. "This is a long process, but we will get you your money."

Leaders of the largest state employees unions have said they will not return to the bargaining table.

Report highlights pay disparity

The vast majority of unionized state employees covered by contracts stalled in the Legislature earn less than the state legislators who are preventing them from receiving negotiated compensation increases, according to Council #1/WEAC, which represents educators employed by the state of Wisconsin.

A new analysis calculated by the Department of Employment Relations found that 84% of state employees who are covered by the 15 union contracts currently held up by the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Employment Relations earn less than legislators.

“The pay disparity increases when legislators’ daily and travel expenses are included,” said Council #1/WEAC Executive Director Mike Moore. “The per diem and travel expenses for 2002 amounted to $1.1 million.”

Moore said the average per diem is about $8,000 per legislator.

“We don’t begrudge legislators their pay or their new pay raises,” Moore said. “Some legislators have voluntarily returned the raises they were scheduled to receive. State workers might like the same opportunity to help ease the budget deficit by returning their raises, but the Joint Committee on Employment Relations last week rejected union contracts negotiated in good faith. We call on legislators to be fair to the people who provide outstanding programs and services to the residents of Wisconsin and approve these contracts immediately.”

Posted February 17, 2003