While Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s (R) law dismantling collective bargaining rights has harmed teachers, nurses, and other civil servants, it’s helping a different group in Wisconsinites — inmates. Prisoners are now taking up jobs that used to be held by unionized workers in some parts of the state.
As the Madison Capital Times reports, “Besides losing their right to negotiate over the percentage of their paycheck that will go toward health care and retirement, unions also lost the ability to claim work as a ‘union-only’ job, opening the door for private workers and evidently even inmates to step in and take their place.” Inmates are not paid for their work, but may receive time off of their sentences.
The law went into effect last week, and Racine County is already using inmates to do landscaping, painting, and another basic maintenance around the county that was previously done by county workers. The union had successfully sued to stop the country from using prison labor for these jobs last year, but with Walker’s new law, they have no recourse. Watch a report from Fox6 in Green Bay:
4 comments:
Now that is one smart man...
Let's hope more government bodies stop paying twice for labor - once for an overpriced employee and once for an inmate with nothing constructive to do.
This man is a genious. To carry it one step further, you can buy a lot of shovels for the price of one excavator.
Sure let's lay off more working people with families to feed and kids to raise. That's a big win for the economy. Now those hard working criminals can look good at their parole hearings.
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