Republicans to allow Businesses to hire based on your Politics, Non-Religion, Prior Wage History...etc!!!

Scott Walker's recent ad campaign asking out-of-state young people to move to Wisconsin for jobs is just one side of the story, and a deceptive one.

"Don't Live in Wisconsin" ads? It's time the "left" fought back. We should have some well-funded group running ads to counter the deceptive ones put out by Walker. Yes, an anti-Wisconsin ad, where minimum wages are forced, benefits laughed at, mass transit discouraged, and protected class status wiped completely out so employers can mistreat and take advantage of your situation. Basically, tell the truth about the market here, and see how their policies help or hurt their state's economy.

Insulting "Equal Employment Standardization Act" does the Opposite:" See this previous blog post. Digging deeper in Rep. Chris Kapenga's big government Republican plan to establish a one-size-fits-all labor standard, it looks like employers will have the opportunity to bring back the kind of coercive serfdom they've been craving for decades.

...prohibit local municipalities from establishing and enforcing their own employment discrimination laws.The protected classes that would be eliminated include gender identity, non-religion, homelessness, source of income, lack of a social security number, physical appearance, political beliefs, student status, domestic partners, citizenship, unemployment status and credit history.

"Political beliefs?" Wow, I didn't expect that one, but then again, it makes sense since Republicans only allow businesses in Wisconsin that fit their narrow corporate agenda. Nothing overtly fascistic here.

Here again is a video showing a stumbling bumbling Kapenga struggle to explain his earlier purely ideological bill in Feb. 2014 to Dane County Executive Joe Parisi.

  

Remember, Republicans recently repealed and then rewrote a regulation that now allows 16 and 17-year-olds to work without a parents permission, while they're still in school.

Eliminated restrictions on 16- and 17-year-olds working more than 26 hours during a school week and more than 50 hours a week during vacations ... but they will not be permitted to join a union without a signed parental consent.

Democrats maintain the bill would allow children to make important life decisions that could adversely affect their educations — against their parents’ wishes.

And remember this:

Seven-day workweeks (are now) allowed and provisions for a "living wage" (were) struck from state statutes.  

Note, this will also spread into Wisconsin someday, maybe tied in with work requirements for food stamps, BadgerCare, and unemployment:

"...in Georgia, thousands of unemployed people are working without a salary in “auditions” for paying gigs."

Getting back to the current bill...:

The city could not enforce employment discrimination in Madison. Between 70 and 80 percent of all cases the civil rights department receives are related to employment. By removing the city’s enforcement ability ... the state would need to absorb over 100 cases, which would likely take longer to investigate.

This is the GOP's plan to end American progress, terminating social and economic ideas that always start at the local level:

1. Create uniform regulations across the state for employment hours and benefits.

2. Give employers the right to ask for prospective employees’ salary histories.

3. Prohibit municipalities from setting a higher minimum wage than the state for contracted employees.

4. Set a statewide standard and prohibit local ordinances regarding wage claims.

  

Big Government Republicans to wipe out Local control over Labor Standards, praising One-Size-Fits-All "consistency" and "stability."

Would you believe...so far, Republican voters believe, and they're willing to give up local control of their own communities for the ridiculous excuse that it offers "consistency" and "stability" to employee hours, benefits, wage and discrimination claims. What, you didn't know this was a big problem?

AP: A Republican bill would prevent local governments in Wisconsin from enacting a variety of ordinances pertaining to employment matters, including limits on working hours, overtime, benefits, and discrimination and wage claims ... the measure is needed to create statewide employment standards to provide consistency and stability both for employers and employees. 

Even though "Democrats and labor unions" oppose the one-size-fits-all attack on labor, this is really a slap at every working stiff in the state, and every employer trying to compete statewide and nationally.  

Republicans aren't hiding anything anymore; it's feel-good anti-worker conservativism, with the added benefit of killing off local control:

(Part of) a movement championed by Walker, who has built his reputation by effectively ending collective bargaining and enacting a right to work law. Since 2016, at least 15 states passed 28 such laws covering everything from barring higher local minimum wages to blocking more generous paid leave provisions, based on an August report from the Economic Policy Institute.

Walker's Ad Touting Work in Wisconsin...a Lie: Have you seen that Scott Walker ad campaign telling workers in other states how much different and better Wisconsin is? Nope, Wisconsin wants to be like every other low wage state. That's not all, Republicans think workers aren't too smart and are easily confused by the different local standards. And you won't believe the line of ideological word salad bullshit from the bill's lead sponsor State Sen. Chris Kapenga:

Kapenga said the restrictions were needed in the face of cities in other states enacting ordinances covering such things as wages, benefits and other issues that result in a patchwork of requirements creating confusion. Having a variety of different local requirements would make Wisconsin a less competitive and more costly state to do business, he said.

"We're talking about doing what's right for Wisconsin knowing what's happening around the country," Kapenga said.

Doing What's Right? Kapenga isn't the only self-righteous Republican:

Rep. Dale Kooyenga, R-Brookfield: “There are certain values that the state upholds. If the values aren’t consistent at the local level, there is an opportunity for the state to come in and say these are our principles and they are good."

Put another, better way...: 

Stephanie Bloomingdale, secretary-treasurer for the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO: "This bill is about power, the power to overreach and tell citizens in their own communities that they don't know what's best for them."

MUST SEE VIDEO: Check out this debate between Dane County Executive Joe Parisi and Chis Kapenga from Feb. 21, 2014, when Kapenga first came up with this statewide idea after the Milwaukee County Board brought up a living wage ordinance.  One guy is intellectually honest, the other struggles to make any sense. From WKOW:

Blatant Kapenga Conflict of Interest? Get this, Rep. Chris Kapenga is CEO of Integrated Time Systems, and originally wrote a similar law to protect his own company in Brookfield:

"My company is in Milwaukee and the second I saw the news story come out that there may be an ordinance put in place, I started working on this," said Rep. Kapenga, who owns a computer software business.

Here's what this amazing Republican bill does, supported by the usual list of big monied special interests, like Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce ... the conservative group Americans for Prosperity, and groups representing independent businesses, restaurants, the tourism industry, hotels and staffing services:

1. Prohibit local governments from setting higher wages in deals with contractors.

2. Prohibit labor peace agreements, which are deals in which employers agree not to resist a union's organizing attempts

3. Bar the enforcement of licensing regulations that are stricter than state's standard

4. Forbid the enactment or enforcement of employment discrimination standards.

Move over Beer, Cheese, and Tourism. The State's New Symbol? Cellphone Towers.

Republicans love big government, and now conservative communities are about to get a taste of it, and they’re not going to like it. In a one size fits all rage, Scott Walker signed away local control, a revenue producer, and what will be an aesthetics nightmare for cities and villages all over the state.

Conservative and liberal areas alike are affected, bowing to corporate power and donations. A wish list come true for an entire industry.

Hold onto your seats, this non-budget gift to wireless carriers slipped in without debate, is stunning:

Nicer looking than Wind Turbines?

jsonline: Ed Virnig and his neighbors are angry about plans for a 130-foot cellphone tower that Verizon Wireless wants to build on the edge of their yards in Brookfield, saying it would lower their property values and could be dangerous … would increase the risk of lightning strikes, and that chunks of falling ice and debris could injure or kill children.

Local governments can no longer deny wireless tower permits solely for aesthetic reasons, limit the height of towers to under 200 feet, or require that antennas and structures such as water towers be placed on public property. The service providers complained that local governments required them to put antennas on water towers and other public property, and then charged them thousands of dollars a month to lease the space … local government officials who stand to lose a steady stream of revenue if wireless companies are no longer required to use municipal property for antennas and towers. The new regulations require municipalities to rule on a wireless tower permit application within 90 days or the application will be considered approved … local governments may not enact ordinances prohibiting the placement of wireless towers in particular locations, and they may not impose environmental testing and monitoring requirements for radio frequency emissions.

And yet Republicans are writing bills protecting people from “smart meters” and inaudible wind turbine frequencies. They're the party of “principles?”  

The Village of River Hills, one of the wealthiest suburbs in Milwaukee County, may challenge the new rules in court, said Village President Robert Brunner. “We want to prevent towers and antennas from being put on schools, churches and other locations," Brunner said, adding that the village receives more than $200,000 a year in lease fees from wireless providers.

The new regulations were included in the recently passed state budget when municipalities were under siege with other issues brought on by the Legislature, according to Barry Orton, a telecommunications professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.