Wisconsin Gov to Union: Pink Slips Are Coming

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Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker issued notices to state unions Friday of possible layoffs beginning early next month after none of the 14 fugitive state Senate Democrats returned from Illinois to give the Republican majority the quorum it needed to vote on a spending bill. 

Once the unions are notified, the layoffs could take effect in 30 days. State departments will have a couple weeks to develop layoff plans.

The unions were notified the layoffs could begin in early April, said Walker's spokesman Cullen Werwie, adding that the notices may be withdrawn if the Senate Democrats return to Wisconsin.

"Without Senate action within 15 days, individual employees may begin to receive potential termination notifications," Werwie said in a written statement. 

The layoff notices, obtained by Fox News, do not specify how many employees would be affected. But Walker has said his administration would have to start preparing layoff notices for as many as 1,500 state employees so the state can start to realize the $30 million savings he had assumed would come from the concessions. 

Senate Republicans voted Thursday to hold the missing Democrats in contempt and force police to bring them back to the Capitol. But the Democrats were still on the run Friday.

The legislation, which would strip most public-sector workers in the state of their collective bargaining rights, has led to nearly three weeks of protests -- some attended by tens of thousands of union supporters -- in and around the state Capitol, which was completely cleared of demonstrators late Thursday for the first time in 17 nights after a judge ordered the building closed during non-business hours.

Walker says the bill is needed to ease a deficit that is projected to hit $137 million by July and $3.6 billion by mid-2013. His proposal comes up with the money for this year in part by forcing state employees to pay for half the cost of their pensions and twice their current health care premiums -- concessions equivalent to an 8 percent pay cut.

With the labor bill stalled, Walker said he has to issue layoff notices starting Friday. 

All state workers, except those at prisons, state hospitals and other facilities open around the clock, would be potential layoff targets, he said.

"I pushed it off as long as I could because I do not want to have layoffs," Walker said.

While Walker said he is actively working with some of the Democrats in hopes of striking a deal, he told The Associated Press in an interview Thursday that he won't compromise on the collective bargaining issue or anything that saves the state money.

"I can't take any of that off the table," he said. "We cannot tear apart this budget. We cannot put this burden on local governments. But if there are other ways they are willing to work with us to find a pathway back, I think that's what people want."

Democratic Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller confirmed there were talks with Walker, but he did not think they were close to reaching a deal.

The statewide teachers union and state workers unions have said they would agree to the benefit concessions -- as long as they retain collective bargaining rights.

But Walker argues that move is necessary to deal with $1 billion in cuts to school districts and local governments that he proposed separately as part of his budget plan for the next two years. He says schools and local governments would have a tough time making the necessary cuts if they have to negotiate with unions.

Fitzgerald signed orders Thursday finding the 14 missing Democrats in contempt and allowing the chamber's sergeant at arms to use police force to detain them if necessary. Fitzgerald says his orders are binding only if the senators return to Wisconsin.

Democrats say they haven't done anything illegal and couldn't be arrested.

"There are so many police supporting us, they might have a hard time finding one to bring us back," said Miller, one of the AWOL Democrats.

A memo provided by private attorney Jim Troupis, who was hired by the Senate Republicans and often works with the GOP, said the state Constitution gives them authority to act to compel attendance under its rules.

Once the senators do return, Fitzgerald said they could face reprimand, censure or even expulsion.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Wisconsin Protesters Ambush Republican Lawmaker Amid Standoff Over Budget Cuts

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Republican Wisconsin state Sen. Glenn Grothman was chased around the state Capitol on Tuesday evening by dozens of pro-union protesters yelling

Wisconsin Gov. Walker Issues Layoff Notices to Unions Amid Budget Standoff

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Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker issued notices to state unions Friday of possible layoffs beginning early next month after none of the 14 fugitive state Senate Democrats returned from Illinois to give the Republican majority the quorum it needed to vote on a spending bill. 

Once the unions are notified, the layoffs could take effect in 30 days. State departments will have a couple weeks to develop layoff plans.

The unions were notified the layoffs could begin in early April, said Walker's spokesman Cullen Werwie, adding that the notices may be withdrawn if the Senate Democrats return to Wisconsin.

"Without Senate action within 15 days, individual employees may begin to receive potential termination notifications," Werwie said in a written statement. 

The layoff notices, obtained by Fox News, do not specify how many employees would be affected. But Walker has said his administration would have to start preparing layoff notices for as many as 1,500 state employees so the state can start to realize the $30 million savings he had assumed would come from the concessions. 

Senate Republicans voted Thursday to hold the missing Democrats in contempt and force police to bring them back to the Capitol. But the Democrats were still on the run Friday.

The legislation, which would strip most public-sector workers in the state of their collective bargaining rights, has led to nearly three weeks of protests -- some attended by tens of thousands of union supporters -- in and around the state Capitol, which was completely cleared of demonstrators late Thursday for the first time in 17 nights after a judge ordered the building closed during non-business hours.

Walker says the bill is needed to ease a deficit that is projected to hit $137 million by July and $3.6 billion by mid-2013. His proposal comes up with the money for this year in part by forcing state employees to pay for half the cost of their pensions and twice their current health care premiums -- concessions equivalent to an 8 percent pay cut.

With the labor bill stalled, Walker said he has to issue layoff notices starting Friday. 

All state workers, except those at prisons, state hospitals and other facilities open around the clock, would be potential layoff targets, he said.

"I pushed it off as long as I could because I do not want to have layoffs," Walker said.

While Walker said he is actively working with some of the Democrats in hopes of striking a deal, he told The Associated Press in an interview Thursday that he won't compromise on the collective bargaining issue or anything that saves the state money.

"I can't take any of that off the table," he said. "We cannot tear apart this budget. We cannot put this burden on local governments. But if there are other ways they are willing to work with us to find a pathway back, I think that's what people want."

Democratic Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller confirmed there were talks with Walker, but he did not think they were close to reaching a deal.

The statewide teachers union and state workers unions have said they would agree to the benefit concessions -- as long as they retain collective bargaining rights.

But Walker argues that move is necessary to deal with $1 billion in cuts to school districts and local governments that he proposed separately as part of his budget plan for the next two years. He says schools and local governments would have a tough time making the necessary cuts if they have to negotiate with unions.

Fitzgerald signed orders Thursday finding the 14 missing Democrats in contempt and allowing the chamber's sergeant at arms to use police force to detain them if necessary. Fitzgerald says his orders are binding only if the senators return to Wisconsin.

Democrats say they haven't done anything illegal and couldn't be arrested.

"There are so many police supporting us, they might have a hard time finding one to bring us back," said Miller, one of the AWOL Democrats.

A memo provided by private attorney Jim Troupis, who was hired by the Senate Republicans and often works with the GOP, said the state Constitution gives them authority to act to compel attendance under its rules.

Once the senators do return, Fitzgerald said they could face reprimand, censure or even expulsion.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Casualties Mount in the Battle of Wisconsin

It is we who plowed the prairies; built the cities where they trade;

Dug the mines and built the workshops, endless miles of railroad laid;

Now we stand outcast and starving midst the wonders we have made;

But the union makes us strong.

Union Chief Quiet on Heated Rhetoric in Wisconsin

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The head of one of the nation's most powerful labor unions did not condemn the violent rhetoric in placards and signs held by union supporters demonstrating in Wisconsin despite two direct attempts Sunday to get him on the record declaring them inappropriate.

On several occasions over the past two weeks of demonstrations in the Wisconsin capital of Madison news media have zeroed in on signs that liken Republican Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and recently ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. 

Appearing Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press," AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka was twice asked whether he found the tone at the nearly two-week long demonstrations "wrong" or "inappropriate."

Trumka did not answer, instead saying, "We should be sitting down trying to create jobs. ... In Wisconsin, a vast majority of the people think this governor has overreached. His popularity has gone down. They're saying to him, sit down and negotiate; don't do what you've been doing. So he's losing."

Turning to Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, a staunch Walker defender and potential Republican presidential candidate in 2012, Trumka added, "If that's the argument you're going to do this year and next year, it's a loser."

Barbour, who was then challenged by another panelist on the show as fearing democracy, responded that the 2010 election showed that Wisconsin voters wanted a Republican legislature and executive branch that pledged to get the budget in check. He then described a similar effort in Indiana.

"In Indiana, this was done six years ago by the governor. It has been very popular. Nobody put (Gov.) Mitch Daniels' picture with a crosshair over his face like they're doing in Wisconsin. You know, if Sarah Palin did that, it would be the world coming to an end," Barbour said, referring to the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate who has become a lightning rod for Democratic criticism.

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., who also appeared on the show, said he rejected the allusions to Hitler and violence as inappropriate.

"Absolutely. It's inappropriate. It should be condemned, not only by people close to the governor but by those of us who are observers. I think that's something that we've got to squash in this country. We've come to a point in this government discussion where, you know, one side says anything goes to get my point across. And I think it would be certainly something that I would condemn," Cleaver said.

But immediately following those remarks, Cleaver,, who is chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, said Walker's position that Democrats come home from Illinois in order to cast a losing vote is not acceptable and suggested the Wisconsin governor was leading more like Libyan dictator Muammar al-Qaddafi than an elected official.  

"When the lion and the lamb lie down, if you look closely, when the lion gets up, the lamb is missing. ... The governor was just elected. He'll still be governor in a year. And, you know, the agreements that we have were not made by Qaddafi. They were made by people who sat down in a room and worked out an agreement. 

"And I think labor unions are saying, and public-sector employees are saying, 'OK, you know, maybe things have gotten out of balance; we'll -- we'll reduce some things.' The governor is saying, 'I don't care -- you know, I want to crush the union.'"

Walker: It Only Takes One Democrat Doing His Job to Help Wisconsin

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker

It only takes one state senator to stand up and do his job to balance the budget and avoid a $165 million loss in savings to the state, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said Sunday, challenging any of the 14 Democratic senators who fled the state more than a week ago to return to vote on a budget.

Democrats "need to come back and do what they were elected to do. They don't have to vote for it, they don't have to support it," Walker said on NBC's "Meet the Press." 

Walker is trying to close a $3.6 billion budget gap in his state for the coming two years in part by cutting $1 billion to local governments. That means cutting health benefits and pensions to the state's unionized workers. 

But while state worker unions have agreed to increase their contributions to their pensions and health benefits to 5 percent and 12.8 percent, respectively, Walker said the one-time fix won't do much good if big labor can just resort to collective bargaining in the next budget and drive up state expenses again.

"We want to be unique in Wisconsin to give those local government the tools beyond the 5 and 12 percent," he said. 

Saying defecting lawmakers must make hard choices, even if it won't turn out their way, Walker said without a budget, Wisconsin's debt will increase and state workers will lose their jobs.

"I would go to almost any ends to avoid that and my hope is at least one of those 14 senators would feel the same way," he said. 

But AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said Walker keeps changing the markers in his argument.  

"This isn't about the budget crisis. Let's look at how his arguments migrated," Trumka said on the same show. "The members out there said, 'We'll accept their cuts.' He said, 'No, we won't accept accepting our cuts.' The most outrageous thing he did is (say) ... you have to accept the loss of your rights or we're going to lay you off."

Trumka argued that public employees are taking responsibility for their contributions to the debt, but to say collective bargaining is the chief driver of budget deficits is wrong since the five states in the country that ban collective bargaining have a "collective debt right now of $222 billion. So this is not about economics."

State budgets are a chief concern facing governors, who were in Washington, D.C., for the weekend at the National Governors Association winter meeting. Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said Walker is doing what every governor must do to get a hold of his deficit. 

Sitting down and saying, 'Let's make a very narrow agreement about wages for one year,' isn't going to solve the problem," Barbour said. 

"It's about time somebody stood up and told the truth about the state," said Walker, who did no attend the NGA conference. "I make no apology for the fact that this is an historic moment in time." 

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Wisconsin Readies to Clear Capitol of Protesters

Associated Press

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MADISON, Wis. -- Taylor Tengwall spent the last seven nights sleeping inside Wisconsin's Capitol building alongside thousands of fellow pro-union protesters, and he was hoping state officials would relent on their decision to clear the building for the night starting Sunday.

"I have faith I will not have to leave," said Tengwall, an earnest 21-year-old from Duluth, Minn., who was sporting a few days' growth of stubble, a wrinkled T-shirt, sweat pants and socks.

With Republican Gov. Scott Walker's bill to strip public workers of collective bargaining rights stuck in a legislative stalemate, some of the protesters who made the Capitol their home over the past two weeks hinted that they might not go easily when police begin clearing the building at 4 p.m.

"We will not leave," read a hand-printed sign taped up next to one sleeping bag. The Wisconsin AFL-CIO sent out a press release Sunday predicting hundreds of protesters would risk peaceful arrest.

The Department of Administration said the Capitol is in bad need of cleaning after 13 days of 24-hour occupation. Protesters have not trashed the building, but it has taken on the funky locker room aroma of body odor, sweaty feet and deodorant.

Tengwall -- who said he dropped out of school for the semester and came to Madison "to protect my country from a despotic government" -- said his top priority was that things remain peaceful. He said he's seen enormous good will and respect built up between the demonstrators and law enforcement officers keeping watch.

"One act of violence could put out this fire we've started," Tengwall said.

Luke Bassuener, a 31-year-old art teacher in Madison, has slept in the Capitol for nine nights. He said prior plans would keep him out of the Capitol at 4 p.m. Sunday, but he has every intention of sleeping there again.

"They said we won't be able to have sleeping bags anymore," Bassuener said. "So I'll sleep under my jacket."

Saturday's estimated crowd of more than 70,000 demonstrators was the largest since protesters moved into the Capitol on Feb. 15. And pro-union crowds gathered in cities across the country in a show of support for Wisconsin's public workers.

In a Sunday interview on NBC's "Meet the Press," Walker said the lengthy protests haven't eroded his resolve to push forward with his legislative agenda and to end collective bargaining rights for most public workers.

"Year after year, governors and legislators before us have kicked the can down the road. We can't do that. We're broke. It's about time someone stood up and told the truth in our state and said here's our problem, here's the solution and let's do this," he said.

Walker argues that the Republican-backed bill now stalled in the state Senate would help close a projected $3.6 billion deficit in the 2011-13 budget, and that freeing local governments from collective bargaining would give them the necessary flexibility to deal with deep budget cuts.

Democratic lawmakers and union supporters are incensed by the bill, particularly because it would strip nearly all public workers of their right to collectively bargain on benefits and working conditions. Leaders of Wisconsin's largest public workers' unions have capitulated to Walker's demands for their members to cover more of their pension and health care benefits, and contend that his attack on collective bargaining is meant to undermine unions and the Democratic Party base.

The bill stalled in the state Senate when its 14 Democratic members fled the state, depriving it of a quorum by a single vote. Walker said Sunday that he expects some of those Democratic lawmakers to return to the state capital soon.

Democratic state Sen. Jon Erpenbach, reached by phone Sunday in Illinois, said he and his colleagues have no plans to return.

Wisconsin's standoff is being closely watched by pro- and anti-union groups in other states, including Ohio, where several thousand people rallied Saturday in the capital Columbus against a similar bill. Indiana Democrats successfully blocked a Republican bill last week that would have prohibited union membership from being a condition of employment.

Large crowds of teachers, firefighters and public workers also gathered for rallies -- holding American flags, wearing pro-union clothing and holding signs -- in other capital cities including Denver, Topeka, Kan.; Harrisburg, Pa.; and Olympia, Wash. The cross-country rallies were part of a campaign by the liberal online group MoveOn.org, and some attracted counter-protests, though the pro-union rallies were larger.

Jay Van Loenen, a teacher who was among about 1,000 at the Denver rally, said he thinks the Wisconsin standoff has galvanized union workers throughout the country.

"Wisconsin is opening up people's eyes a little bit," Van Loenen said. "So I think that the move is to try to get people more involved in their unions and create a stronger front so that if something happens here, we are prepared."

In Los Angeles, public sector workers and others held signs that read "We are all Wisconsin" during a rally. Some wore foam "cheeseheads," the familiar hats worn by Green Bay Packers fans.

Covered in layers of coats, scarves, hats and gloves, about 1,000 rally goers outside the Minnesota Capitol chanted "Workers' rights are human rights" and waved signs, some reading "United we bargain, divided we beg."

"The right to collectively bargain is an American right," Eliot Seide, a local union leader, told the crowd in St. Paul. "You can't have American democracy if you don't have a strong trade union movement."

------

Associated Press writers Tara Bannow in St. Paul, Minn.; Sheila V. Kumar in Denver; Beth Fouhy in New York City; Michael Virtanen in Albany, N.Y.; and Julie Carr Smyth in Columbus, Ohio, contributed to this report.

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Latest Politics Videos February 27, 2011Sun, 27 Feb 2011 21:30:23 GMT4:02 PM EST

Wisconsin Budget Stalemate Threatens Up to 12,000 Public Jobs

"Union worker Dan Burke, center, of Janesville, Wis., uses a bucket to drum after loosing his voice during protests at the state Capitol in Madison, Wis., Friday, Feb. 25, 2011, over the governor's proposed budget. (AP)" /