The fight still rages this Labor Day weekend. But it's not only workers in Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio battling regressive governors and legislatures. Workers in almost every state have seen ugly anti-worker legislation raise its ugly head. You can trace these proposals back to ones crafted by the American Legislative Exchange Council or ALEC. Each year, legislators (mostly Republicans) gather at the ALEC conference to pick up their marching orders. This August the conference was held in New Orleans. This fall, you can expect to see more legislation that attempts to take away any protections for public workers, including teachers. Here's a recent article on the subject in The Nation.
In Wyoming, Superintendent of Public Instruction Cindy Hill is attempting to classify all of the department's jobs "at-will." With this designation, any worker can be fired at any time for any reason. Although Wyoming is a so-called "Right to Work" state, permanent state employees (once past the probation period) are covered by various protections from this sort of random, politically-motivated dismissals. Fortunately for state employees such as myself, Wyoming Attorney General ruled this week that agency heads cannot set their own personnel policies. The AG's opinion was issued Aug. 25 and schooled Hill on the law. To put it simply, she cannot make up the rules as she goes along. The Wyoming Department of Administration and Information (A&I) determines personnel policies at the request of the Governor. If it's time for rules to be changed, the Gov has to take that action and not Ms. Hill. Perhaps she forgot to read the state org chart. The Gov's office announced that it may have something to say on the matter next week. Read about the AG's decision in the Sept. 2 Casper Star-Trib.
Interesting to note that 40 people in Hill's 146-employee department have left since the new Superintendent took office in January. In some places, that would be classified as a purge.
Hill came to office in the Tea Party wave of 2010. She handily defeated Democrat Mike Massie, a former state senator and one-time staffer at the Wyoming Humanities Council. Not only did we lose one of our few Democratic senators, we also lost the opportunity to have a highly intelligent and efficient voice for education in the superintendent's chair.
Hill and her pals in the legislature want to blame teachers for Wyoming's lack of progress in public education. The problems go deeper than that. But you know how those Tea Partiers are -- thinking deeply is not their strength.
Meanwhile, let's celebrate workers on this Labor Day weekend. Here are the lyrics to "Take "em Down" by the Dropkick Murphys:
When the boss comes callin' they'll put us down
When the boss comes callin' don't believe their lies
When the boss comes callin' his take his toll
When the boss comes callin' don't you sell your soul
When the boss comes callin' we gotta organize
Let em know
We gotta take the bastards down
Let them know
We gotta smash them to the ground
Let em know
We gotta take the bastards down
When the boss comes callin' you'll be on your own
When the boss comes callin' will you stand alone?
When the boss comes callin' will you let them in?
When the boss comes callin' will you stand and fight?
When the boss comes callin' we must unite
When the boss comes callin' we can't let them win
Let em know
We gotta take the bastards down
Let them know
We gotta smash 'em to the ground
Let em know
We gotta take the bastards down
We gotta take the bastards down
When the boss comes callin' they'll put us down
When the boss comes callin' gotta stand your ground
When the boss comes callin' don't believe their lies
When the boss comes callin' his take his toll
When the boss comes callin' don't you sell your soul
When the boss comes callin' we gotta organize
Let em know
We gotta take the bastards down
Let them know
We gotta smash 'em to the ground
Let em know
We gotta take the bastards down
Let em know
We gotta take the bastards down
Let them know
We gotta smash 'em to the ground
Let em know
We gotta take the bastards down
