Okay, one more post about the political shenanigans in Wisconsin and then I’ll go back to drivel about choo-choo trains and kittens, promise.

One of the many changes to the pay of state workers that will come out of the governor’s so-called budget repair bill is that they won’t be able to ask for an increase in pay any larger than the change in the consumer price index. If I understand that correctly, that means state workers can’t ever get a raise larger than the rate of inflation. Sounds like a fiscally responsible idea, right? I mean, why the heck would anyone need a raise any greater than that?

That raise won’t be automatic. It has to be bargained for. It’s actually the only thing the governor left the unions. They can’t bargain for benefits, but they can ask for an increase in pay as long as it isn’t more than the rate of inflation. Okay, technically there’s a remote possibility they could get a bigger raise, but to get it, it would have to be approved by a popular referendum. So it could happen, just as it’s technically possible for me to shit a square-cornered brick.

To get either the big raise or the much-more-likely cost of living raise, an elected representative of the state workers’ union would have to ask for it. Each worker couldn’t individually ask for a raise – they’re one big, happy union, right? And it just so happens that a provision of the emergency budget repair bill requires that representative to be elected by 51% of all the state workers. Not 51% of the voting workers, but 51% of all state workers. Again, it’s technically possible I could shit a brick, but I’ll be damned surprised if it actually happens.

If 51% of all the state workers can’t agree on a representative, the union is “decertified” until the next annual election. Still not sure what that means exactly, but I get the feeling the practical result will be that nobody will be around to negotiate that cost-of-living raise. No cost-of-living raise means the workers take a loss against inflation.

The governor says his bill leaves collective bargaining intact … technically. There’s that brick again.

Okay, back to kitty-cats!