Republicans believe in only two rights: the right to be humble, and the right to be grateful!
On Wednesday night, Republicans in Wisconsin’s state senate rammed through a retooled version of Governor Scott Walker’s controversial “budget repair bill” with the 14 senate Democrats still in hiding in Illinois. The senate bill eliminates collective bargaining rights for most public-sector unions, a provision that has labor leaders and protesters up in arms. But there’s another explosive provision in the bill that’s received little attention: The bill authorizes state officials to fire any state employee who joins a strike, walk-out, sit-in, or coordinated effort to call in sick.
According to an analysis (PDF) of the Senate bill by Wisconsin’s Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB), the legislation gives state officials the power to fire workers during a “state of emergency” declared by the governor under several conditions. If a state employee misses three working days without an approved leave of absence, that’s grounds for being fired. State workers can also be dumped if, according to the LFB’s analysis, they participate in a “strike, work stoppage, sit-down, stay-in, slowdown, or other concerted activities to interrupt the operations or services of state government, including mass resignations or sick calls.”
David Dayen at FDL is reporting that the bill from last night may have…transmogrified over night?
It seems to have more of the original bill in it than was originally stated by the Republicans.
Dayen says no one could produce a copy of the bill last night…leading to speculation that is was being written as it was being voted on. My speculation? Probably after, being stuffed with every damn thing in it that was controversial.
Yikes. Link goes to Quick Hit at Corrente with links to Dayen and memo from the Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau. Looooong of things in the short little bill…that those Repub voted for sight unseen….
Yeah, great trick to fire people for “mass resignations”.