Walker Wants State Workers To Pay Surcharge On Their Pay

There is no idea so stupid or repulsive that Scott Walker won't embrace it.  The latest is making state workers get their pay on prepaid debit cards:

A new way for Wisconsin employees to be paid is viewed by some as a tactic by banks to collect more money from consumers. 

State agencies recently announced that employees can elect to receive payment on a prepaid card through a program called Accelapay offered by U.S. Bank. Previously they could receive a paper check or have money directly deposited into a bank account.

A June 30 article in the New York Times reported employers such as McDonald’s, Walgreens and Wal-Mart are increasingly using the cards to cut costs, while in some cases forcing employees to pay fees to use the cards. In Pennsylvania, a McDonald’s employee filed a lawsuit claiming the fees reduced her pay below minimum wage.

Reuters reported in November 2011 that banks would begin pushing such prepaid cards because of Dodd-Frank regulations passed in 2010 that capped the fees they can charge on debit card transactions. The prepaid cards aren’t covered by those rules.

Wisconsin’s card comes with some fees, such as 50 cents for a balance inquiry at a participating ATM and $2 for withdrawals at a non-participating ATM. There are no fees for purchases, receiving cash back from contracted merchants or inactivity.

And this is only the beginning.

I warned the gentle reader about this prepaid payroll card a couple months ago, along with this tidbit:

Many employees say they have no choice but to use the cards: some companies no longer offer common payroll options like ordinary checks or direct deposit.

At companies where there is a choice, it is often more in theory than in practice, according to interviews with employees, state regulators and consumer advocates. Employees say they are often automatically enrolled in the payroll card programs and confronted with a pile of paperwork if they want to opt out.

“We hear virtually every week from employees who never knew there were other options, and employers certainly don’t disabuse workers of that idea,” said Deyanira Del Rio, an associate director of the Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project, which works with community groups in New York.

Marty Beil better get off his ass and start a suit about this before all his workers find their pay cut again so that US Bank can get their cut of the deal.

Walker's Play With Pay: Nothing New Under The Sun

In 2008, as the recession was hitting full swing, Scott Walker, then Milwaukee County Executive, falsely claimed that the county budget was in a crisis and illegally forced workers to take furlough days.  Years later, Milwaukee County tax payers were left on the hook to pay for the excessive and illegal furloughs to the tune of more than $6 million plus interest.

At the same time, that Walker was crying budgetary wolf, he was also handing out lavish raises to his cronies and yes men:

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker wants a 26% pay raise for his chief of staff, former Ald. Tom Nardelli, while bypassing traditional County Board approval in quietly issuing large pay raises over the summer to several other top aides.

Nardelli would get the biggest pay increase of top-tier county officials, a nearly $20,000 raise to $95,000 a year. Seven county administrators also scored increases of up to 12.5%.

Some supervisors are upset about being left out of the decision-making process for many of the raises and say Walker's timing couldn't be worse. Heavily rewarding a few top managers while Walker puts final touches on a 2009 budget that's expected to call for scores of layoffs of union workers sends a message of callous disregard, critics of the raises say.

Among the other big winners among Walker's top aides was Mitchell International Airport Director Barry Bateman. His pay rises $13,595, or 11%, to $136,299 a year. Facilities Management Director Jack Takerian got an $11,771 (12.5%) raise, to nearly $106,000.

At the same time, he was also laying off workers and demanding excessive concessions from workers, he was taking an automatic raise. And that's not counting the $50,000 raise he gave himself by breaking yet another campaign promise.

Given that sordid history and complete disregard for the truth, recent events were no big surprise to me.

Walker announced today that he was again going to stick it to the workers.  Only a few months after he cut their pay by hundreds of dollars a month - all so he could give tax breaks to his campaign donors - Walker decreed that state workers would not get a raise for at least the next two years.

As you absorb that tidbit, please remember that we already knew that he had been rewarding his cronies and yes men by appointing them to political positions, often at a much higher pay rate than their predecessors had been making.

To exacerbate this issue, via both Jake and Man MKE, it is noted that Walker is giving himself a $7,500 raise.  Not only is he being overly generous to himself, but he is also lavishing the love on some of his top henchmen like Becky Kleefisch, JB Van Hollen and Mike Huebsch.  You can see it all in this chart which can be found in the Statement of Benefits (Section B, page 5).:

I wonder who told him this was going to be a smart move with the recall about to start in just a few weeks.  Nothing like adding fuel to the fire.  He is either feeling very assured that the Koch Brothers will be able to buy his seat back from the people again or he's just not very bright.  While we already know the latter is true, I suspect that the real answer is both.

And if this pillaging of the working people of this state weren't enough, he also changed the rules about how state workers are going to be allowed raises, if that ever happens again under his regime.

Instead of having a worker's performance evaluated by their supervisor, all raises are going to go through the   Office of the State Employment Relations.  This flies in the face of Walker's talk about raises being done on a merit system.  Raises, as well as scheduling and assigning overtime, will be solely based on cronyism and who toes the party line instead of their actual job performance.

I have no doubt that they will also be monitoring any extracurricular activity to make sure that the workers are being good boys and girls.  Say anything disparaging about Walker or the Republicans on Facebook or Twitter and there goes your raise or your vacation request.

This sort of bullying has become a trademark for Walker and the Republicans.  Never did it cross their minds that if they had actually done their jobs by creating jobs instead of the full blown effort to turn Wisconsin into a corporate state, they wouldn't have had to resort to such base behavior.

But that's OK. Once we oust them from office, they'll have plenty of time to think about where they went wrong.

The Most Amazing Part: He Did It With A Straight Face

Even before he took office, Scott Walker started attacking state employees.   He intentionally and illegally tried to sabotage their contract negotiations, to the point of doing some pay for play with Judas Plale.

Then, shortly after taking office, he has his cronies in the state legislature pass the specially designed union busting bill, even if they had to do that illegally as well.

He's trying to double charge them for benefits that they negotiated for in good faith (and took a lesser pay for).  Even more egregious, he is trying to strip workers of their rights that they've enjoyed for over 50 years and has led the state into being the power house it used to be.

This spurred protests of such magnitude like the state hasn't seen in decades, if ever.  And not just state workers or union members, but people of all walks of life.  Old and young, public and private sector workers, rich and poor, famous and unknown people were all joined together to tell Walker and his GOP allies not to do this, that we did not want this.

They proceeded in trying to anyway, ignoring their own constituents in doing so. Then they had the audacity to act shocked, shocked they say, to be now reaping the whirlwind that they had sown.

But the vulgarity doesn't end there.

Now Walker has come out with some lame scheme of having a "State Worker Appreciation Day,"  complete with an official certificate that he had printed up the tens of thousands. Adding this insult to injury, he has also announced a "State Employee Recognition Program," which he claims to be in order to recognize the state employees that go that extra mile in doing their jobs. And in piling up the irony, Walker made not just one, but two, videos regarding this stunt.

But we know what he is really saying in this stunt of his.  Is it any wonder that no one is taking him seriously?

But before the gentle reader starts hurling invectives at Walker (not that he's not deserving of any insults tossed his way), it should be noted that this is probably not even his idea and he is not the only governor to show bad taste.  In fact, via democurmudgeon, we learn that Governor John Kasich of Ohio is doing an employee recognition stunt as well.

Something tells me that if we follow the money trail, it leads back to the Koch Brothers.

If Walker is serious about this whole thing, though, the first winners obviously should be the Fab 14 and the Assembly Democrats, who sacrificed so much in an effort to slow down, if not stop, this atrocity from happening in the first place.

ADDENDUM: If you wish to help nominate the Fab 14 or the Assembly Democrats, go to this page, download the form and submit it in any of the ways they have listed.

Scott Walker Appreciates State Workers

Here's the original video in which Scott Walker announces his new found appreciation for state workers:



Mmm, with that kind of language, maybe it's been Walker himself who's been trolling here.

H/T Uppity Wisconsin