[Chisholm] said he believes the assistants will recoup their pay either through arbitration or court action later because he, like other district attorneys, thinks the Department of Administration is about to engage in a blatant contract violation.
“They cannot give a legal basis for what they’re doing. I don’t think the Office of State Employee Relations has even consulted with DOJ. All they’ve done is sent declarative statements, and try to coerce the ADAs,” he said.
“I think it’s a dishonorable way of treating dedicated public servants.”
It’s worth noting that Gov. Scott Walker’s administration has indicated that any prosecutors with less than a year on the job will be fired, and all others will have their pay and benefits reduced by at least 20%.
It’s galling to me that in his haste to stick it to Wisconsin’s public employee unions, Gov. Walker is willing to see already understaffed prosecutors’ offices become even more understaffed, which means public safety will undoubtedly suffer.
Gov. Walker apparently has started the backpedal on this one!
Of course he is…..this makes him look terrible.
Zach – There may be other reasons…I had heard (and I’m not a labor expert so maybe this should be verified) that should Walker have gone through with this his administration would have committed a federal Hobbs Act violation. Apparently, it is a federal offense for a hiring unit (Walker Administration)to force a union into a position which negatively affects public health and safety.
Maybe Walker figured out he was walking into a trap to make hime look ever more foolish and lawless.