Doyle administration pushing ahead with labor contracts

It’s good to see Gov. Doyle isn’t listening to Scott Walker and is still doing his job….

Gov. Jim Doyle’s administration has agreed to no-pay raise contracts with six unions covering thousands of state workers and is finishing more agreements at a time when Governor-elect Scott Walker is calling for those negotiations to stop.

The agreements still have to be approved by the Legislature and in most cases by rank-and-file union members, Department of Administration spokeswoman Emily Winecke said Friday. The administration acknowledged the contract agreements Friday after the Journal Sentinel independently confirmed them.

Workers have gone since July 1, 2009 – nearly a year and a half – without a new contract, and the two-year period covered by the agreements is already mostly finished.

“As was laid out in the 2009 budget, the contracts would include furloughs for state workers, which amount to a 3% pay cut, and no pay raises,” Winecke said in an e-mail.

As I’ve said and written more than once, it’s wholly inappropriate and downright arrogant for Scott Walker to think he should have a hand in negotiating labor contracts that apply to a time period when Walker was serving as Milwaukee County Executive – not governor.

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