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The State Employees Council of AFT-Wisconsin issued the following statement today in response to proposed changes to state civil service law, and urged Wisconsinites to contact their legislators to oppose this attempt to weaken civil service:

The recent Republican proposal to reform Wisconsin’s Civil Service rules is an attempt to degrade the work of state employees, and will only serve to introduce more corruption into state government.

The Civil Service System was created to counteract the influence of politicians on state jobs.  Allowing politicians to essentially appoint public employees

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The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports today that Scott Walker and Republicans in the state legislature have hatched a scheme to weaken Wisconsin's civil service protections, which have prevented politicians from using government jobs as patronage for their supporters and from firing employees for political reasons for more than a century.  Under the guise of "modernization," Walker and his supporters are proposing to weaken just cause protections, eliminate the state civil service test, shorten the appeals process for workers being disciplined or fired, and centralize all state hiring under

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AFT-Wisconsin President Kim Kohlhaas, a teacher in the Superior School District, issued the following statement today in response to Scott Walker's announcement that he is ending his presidential campaign:

"Today marks the end of Scott Walker's illusions that the American people want to buy what he's selling.  AFT-Wisconsin members and other working Wisconsinites have been getting the word out about the damage that Walker has done to this state...

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Be sure to check out the op-ed by retired Milwaukee Area Technical College instructor and former Local 212 Executive Vice-President Charlie Dee that lays out why the secretive plan to merge the Wisconsin Technical College System and the UW Colleges would be a disaster: "The first thing a responsible committee would do is research what happened when other states tried this. It would discover that mergers in Minnesota, Georgia, Alaska, Connecticut and New Jersey have failed to produced expected savings, but instead have created myriad problems."

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In response to attacks by Wisconsin Republicans on academic freedom in the University of Wisconsin System, the AFT-Wisconsin Higher Education Council has drafted a statement calling on the UW System Regents and chancellors to uphold protections for academic staff and tenure-track faculty that ensure academic freedom and high quality research and education at every UW System institution.  UW System employees are encouraged to print the statement and display it in their workplaces.  AFT-Wisconsin members are also circulating a petition in support of the statement; to obtain a copy of the

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Labor Day celebrations across Wisconsin

Labor Day is just around the corner!  Local labor councils, the Wisconsin AFL-CIO, and community partners will be coming together across the state to celebrate the struggles, achievements, and victories of workers everywhere.  Our sisters and brothers at the Wisconsin AFL-CIO have compiled a list of local Labor Day celebrations throughout Wisconsin - check it out, and help spread the word!