Thank You Note from Marty Beil

There was another tremendous showing of union solidarity and concern for public services on Wednesday. Well over 500 AFSCME members and leaders came to Madison and spent time meeting face to face with legislators on critical issues such as outsourcing, disability eligibility, and collective bargaining for protective status to name just a few. Credit goes to the International and Take Back staff for hosting a well organized and effective event. More importantly, tremendous credit goes to all of you who took time from your work and personal lives and came to Madison to deal with issues that affect all of our futures. It was a great day and a job well done.

I personally wish to extend my thanks to everyone who attended and worked to handle all of the logistics of this event.

In Solidarity,

Marty Beil
Executive Director
AFSCME Council 24 AFL-CIO

Poll Questions and Results

Period: 02/05/2010 through 02/26/2010

We recently finished two polls where we asked visitor's to the SEPAC blog to vote. Below are the results of those polls;

Question #1 (72 votes cast)

Do you vote based on issues or the candidate's political affiliation?
Answer Choices:

Based on Issues = 35 (48%)
Political Affiliation = 1 (1%)
Both Criteria = 35 (48%)
I Do Not Care = 1 (1%)

Question #2 (75 votes cast)

If the election were today, would you vote for Tom Barrett or Scott Walker?

Answer Choices:

Tom Barrett = 54 (70%)
Scott Walker = 7 (9%)
Not Decided = 7 (9%)
Do Not Know Either Candidate = 9 (11%)

Contact Steven Williams (swilliams@wseu-24.org) with any questions about these polls.

NO WINDOW for Early Retirement

Recently an opinion was written in a newspaper in southeastern Wisconsin that spoke about a possible early retirement window for state employees.

Here is why this opinion is just that, an opinion;

There has been absolutely no discussion from the Governor or Legislative leaders about an early retirement program or window. A major part of the reason is that the retirement system is a merged system (basically all public employees in Wisconsin). State law provides that use of the trust fund for benefit change must accrue to all participants. The only way that an early window for State employees could happen is that the change would have to be funded by GPR (General Purpose Revenue) which is what the State has a deficit in. It would cost millions of dollars in GPR to fund an early retirement window for State workers.

Hopefully, this brief explanation will squelch any rumors amongst public sector workers.

Your State Pension Under Attack

Executive Director Beil Blast's Opponents of State Pension Plan
Defends Public Sector Workers

Marty Beil - State Pensions Under Attack
Posted by SLY IN THE MORNING at 7:45 AM

Scott Walker and right-wing radio want to blame State pensions for the budget mess despite Wisconsin having one of the best run pension programs in the country. State employees make lower wages in exchange for a secure but modest retirement and its saves taxpayer money in the long run. Listen to AFSCME Council 24 Executive Director Marty Beil (http://slysoffice.blogspot.com/search?q=State+Pensions).

Listen to the radio show - Approximately 38 minutes
http://slysoffice.blogspot.com/search?q=State+Pensions

AFSCME Council 48 Members in Milwaukee County Need Your Help!

AFSCME Council 48 members (Milwaukee County employees) need the help of AFSCME members all across Wisconsin.

County Executive Scott Walker, to date, has failed to provide proper funding levels for and commitment to, protecting and preserving Milwaukee County parks. He claims "lack of revenue" as his reason for making all of the drastic cuts to proper funding of the parks.

In November voters passed a referendum to create a 0.5% sales tax to collect revenue to fund the parks and remove the claim of Executive Walker that there is not proper funding for the parks. However, this referendum has affect only by means of a legislative bill. AB504 was introduced as that bill, but it currently sits stalled in the Joint Committee on Finance.

With just a few clicks of your mouse you can support our brothers and sisters of AFSCME Council 48. So please, start "clicking" away!

Authority: Jana Weaver, Assistant Director
AFSCME Council 24 AFL-CIO

Updated Bus Schedule for Lobby Day

The bus schedule has been updated and is available for viewing at www.wseu-sepac.org/lobbyday_2010.htm.

Please contact your Take Back America Staff or send an e-mail (info@wiafscme.org) with name, phone number, address and local if you would like to attend. Please also indicate if you will be taking the bus. The bus schedule is available on the SEPAC and Council 11 Websites.

See you on Wednesday!