And it begins--> Republicans plan to overhaul WI century-old civil service system-hit workers!

"centralize hiring"--meaning Walker would have ultimate control over who is fired and promoted and fired. damn!



http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/republicans-plan-to-overhaul-state-s-century-old-civil-service/article_c370801f-fb31-55fa-8651-9838722d69fe.html

Republicans plan to overhaul state's century-old civil service system

MATTHEW DeFOUR mdefour@madison.com, 608-252-6144 2 hrs ago 72

In his first major legislative move after ending his presidential campaign, Gov. Scott Walker is calling for changes to the state's century-old civil service system that would eliminate exams and seniority protections, centralize all hiring within the Department of Administration and clearly define "just cause" to make it easier to fire misbehaving state employees.

The move comes more than four years after Walker swept away collective bargaining for most public sector employees, a proposal he defended by saying the civil service system is "the protection that workers have that's the most important in the state of Wisconsin. … It was there long before collective bargaining, it'll be there long after." LAIR!

About 30,000 state employees are part of the civil service system. It covers state agency staff, but not legislative staff, University of Wisconsin faculty and academic appointments, and top administrators, lawyers and communications professionals in each department.

............[a few Walker comments]

Walker administration officials told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel last year after it was reported that they were contemplating changes that wouldn't alter the core principles of the civil service system: merit hiring and firing for just cause.

The bill to be introduced next week by Rep. Jim Steineke, R-Kaukauna, and Sen. Roger Roth, R-Appleton, seeks to retain those principles, the lawmakers said at a press conference Thursday.

The civil service system was put in place during the Progressive Era by Gov. Robert La Follette to combat the patronage systems of previous decades in which politicians would hire based on political allegiance.

Democrats decried the proposed changes, saying they would foster a return to such a system.

"The repeal of civil service protections is an invitation to more corruption in a Republican administration that continues to be plagued by scandals, cronyism and special interest influence," Senate Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling, D-La Crosse, said in response.............(there is a list of the major changes in the rest of the article)





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