In April of this year, Governor Walker issued a notice to Wisconsin Assistant District Attorneys (ADA's), basically trying to force them to take six additional furlough days (and a 20% wage decrease) before July 1st - despite the fact that their union had negotiated taking 10 days as opposed to the 16 required of other state workers. According to JSOnline.com, the ADA's had taken furlough days in 2003 when other state workers did not, and it was agreed upon then that - should furloughs be required down the road - the ADA's wouldn't have to take as many as other state workers. Seems fair to me. Unfortunately, some unions negotiated clauses that basically said their members would not be required to take more furlough days than any other state workers, which meant the State would have to repay some $11 million to thousands of state workers in "refunded" furlough days. Well, the ADA's pushed back and said "No."...and the story faded away into the great abyss of Fitzwalkerstan politics.
So whatever happened with that? I've been wondering - waiting to hear if any of my unpaid furlough days would be repaid to me. I had been unemployed for the better part of 3 years between 2006 and 2009 and worked in the private sector for several years before that. When I finally was hired into a stimulus state job, I didn't care so much for having to pay the state for a deficit I didn't help to create, but what was I to do? Turn down the only job I was offered just as my unemployment was ending? Of course not. So, like everyone else, I took my furlough days. And trust me, making less than $13/hr meant each furlough day I took was a direct hit at home - so I've been keen on following up on any chance I'd have to get some of that back. But there has been no information put out there - nothing on the news, local papers, or anywhere on the internet. It's like it was never an issue. Until last week.
The rumor around work was that 6 days of furlough WOULD be "refunded", and would be reflected on our next paycheck...in the form of sabbatical. Not as good as being paid back, but hey - it was something! However, when my check came, nothing was there! Zero hours of sabbatical. Confused, I asked a few co-workers and, yes, theirs was there...at least, for some it was. I continued to ask around and was finally forwarded an email from a union other than my own; come to find out, only certain unions were given the refunded furlough. To say I was mad is a major understatement, and my response was to email my union expressing my anger. Two days later, I got a reply - which basically said "Blame Walker, not us." I was told that Walker picked and chose which unions would be refunded. I still don't know if this is true...and I intend to investigate further but, regardless of who is to blame, I'M PISSED OFF.
None-the-less, regardless of whose fault it is that the refunds were not equally distributed, my reason for posting this is that I believe this has been kept out of the media because it appears that Walker may have brought this on himself, as no one (I know) had heard a word about this faux pas in the furlough negotiations prior to Walker pushing the issue. It's not in the news because Walker, in essence, cost the state $11,000,000. Nice work, Scooter!
~~~~~
I belong to a union that represents blue collar workers, administrative support workers, librarians, nurses, corrections officers, probation & parole agents, crash rescue fire fighters, and university workers (food service, custodial, grounds maintenance). Many of us are on the low end of the pay scale and are taking a hit with the new deductions from our checks, so it really, really, REALLY burns me that we (again) are being screwed. I fully intend to follow up on this - I want to know if Walker played favorites or if my union failed to negotiate as well as others did. It won't make a difference in the end, but I still want to know...in fact, A LOT of us want to know. I'll be back with updates as soon as I know more.