The gentle reader probably wouldn't be shocked that Scott Walker just doesn't get what Labor Day is all about. After all, Walker is the guy who passed just about every anti-union, anti-worker bill that ALEC has ever devised. Walker started with trying to bust the public sector workers unions with Act 10. He followed this up with the misnamed and misleading Right to Work law, destroying the prevailing wage law and attacked unemployment insurance laws.
So it's no great surprise that Walker has been having a series of tweets trying to exploit the holiday for his own political gain, such as this one:
Yeah, nothing honors the American worker like selling cheap crap made in China to promote a guy who has devastated his state's middle class.
But Walker' s utter disdain for workers was made apparent on Friday with this tweet:
For some reason known only to him, Walker thinks that it is somehow good for workers to have their experience and knowledge discounted as worthless and meaningless.
But there's more. There's always more.
What makes Walker's tweet exceptionally egregious and insulting is the fact that he is lying through his weasel teeth. In Walker's Wisconsin, there are no merit raises:
Merit raises and retention pay increases for state workers — including some UW System employees — have been suspended by Gov. Scott Walker’s administration.
The announcement about the raise suspensions, “effective immediately,” was made in a Feb. 5 memo to state agencies’ human resources directors.
It’s unclear how many employees will be affected. Under Walker’s 2013-15 budget, most state workers received a 1 percent pay increase each fiscal year.
The freeze affects merit pay raises, known as Discretionary Merit Compensation, and increases aimed at retaining workers, known as Discretionary Equity or Retention Adjustment Programs. Other raises are not affected.
“We suggest that agencies cease accepting or processing any additional requests because the suspension is anticipated to continue for the remainder of this fiscal year,” wrote Gregory Gracz, director of the Office of State Employment Relations.
The current fiscal year ends June 30.
“This is another slap in the face of workers by the Walker administration,” said Marty Beil, executive director of AFSCME Council 24 Wisconsin State Employees Union. “It shows more disdain from the Walker administration for the working men and women of the state.”
Beil said there aren’t many people “screaming about it” because morale is so low that workers weren’t expecting any merit raises.
No, Walker has no respect whatsoever for the workers. Then again, we kind of knew that when he compared workers to ISIS terrorists and bragged about how he "took on" the state's workers and beat them.
Except for one thing, Mr. Walker. We're still here and we're still coming and we're still fighting. And you're still running away.
