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| No wonder these peeps protested. |
They've lost income, they're subject to humiliating new work rules and their communities are losing private sector jobs. In fact, Wisconsin has the worst job creation record in the nation; its economy is shinking while the surrounding Midwestern states are experiencing economic growth. (No coincidence).
Here's Alternet telling us what it's like in Wisconsin without collective bargaining rights:
According to information gathered by the Institute for Wisconsin's Future, a state worker who earns $40,000 a year, under Act 10, has lost an average of $3,668 from her paycheck. “That's $70 a week cut from a family budget, $70 weekly which cannot be spent at local stores,” they point out.
They also estimate the loss to local economies caused by the pay cuts and hikes in the workers' side contributions to health insurance premiums will be over $700 million—and that taking that money out of Wisconsin's economy will lead to the loss of nearly 7,000 private-sector jobs in the first year of the governor's austerity budget.Punitive work rules include the requirement that teachers report all traffic incidents or tickets to their school district and must wear skirts below the knee:
Wisconsin's teachers, are also feeling the loss of their protections at work, with new handbooks replacing their old union contracts, containing strict and arbitrary rules on dress code and restrictions on their outside-of-work activities. In New Berlin, teachers reported [PDF] that not only were workdays for teachers getting longer with no pay increases, but that teachers must adhere to a dress code that includes skirts below the knee, no jeans, no open shirts, and that they can be dismissed for the crime of having students as “friends” on Facebook. They are also required to report any traffic incidents or tickets to their school district.This is how Walker's "reforms" are working.
