Sunday, January 19, 2014

State GOP to Roll Back Labor Law Progress by a Century.

(Note: I wish Democrats were this proactively rabid with their own agenda.)

Well, what do you know, state Republicans hope to roll back the last 100 years of labor progress.

Double-Whammy 1: In conjunction with State Sen. Glenn Grothman’s employee overtime bill that allows for a 7 day work week without time off, Rep. Joel Kleefisch would like to take that overtime money and replace with the promise of vacation time.

Double-Whammy 2: This all fits nicely in with the GOP’s two fold plan to block raising the minimum wage by increasing the Earned Income Tax Credit on the federal level, while reducing it at the state level. It's true, Republicans increased taxes, a platform no-no, on the poor by reducing the EITC. See here and here. WSJ:
“Why not give (private) employers and employees in the state of Wisconsin another way to be successful?” said Rep. Joel Kleefisch. Private employers could provide more time off rather than overtime pay if their employees agree to it.
“If they agree to it?” Of course employers will suggest…I mean “pressure” employees to take the comp time. And as we all know, employers pretty much dictate vacation times too:
…while forbidding such agreements to be used as a condition of employment, Democratic Rep. Chris Taylor said an inherent “power imbalance” between workers and employers would make the measure susceptible to abuse. “It’s just going to be made very clear to (workers), if you want this job, this is how we do it,” she said.

The powerful right wing lobbyist at the National Federation of Independent Business supports Kleefisch’s bizarre comp-time legislation, so you know this in no way benefits employees.

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