Between January 2010 and June 2016, payday and auto title loan and check-cashing companies contributed about $344,000 to all Wisconsin legislative and statewide candidates, led by Walker, who accepted about $40,000. Payday lenders gave current lawmakers about $230,600, including nearly $202,000 (or 88 percent) to majority Republicans.
In 2000, 17.8% of all employed Wisconsinites were members of a union — the 10th largest concentration in the country, according to the report. But last year, that percentage fell to 7.9%, putting Wisconsin just below the national unionization activity average of 10.3%.
"The 55.6% decline in the rate of union membership in Wisconsin over the same time period ranked second highest in the country, behind only South Carolina (whose overall membership was lowest nationwide in both 2000 and 2021)," the report states. "Forum research finds that a combination of legislation (like Act 10) aimed at curtailing public unions’ authority and broader national trends impacting private union membership may help to explain Wisconsin’s drop-off."
1/22/2022 update, "Bashing teachers (the story continues)", starts here.
After 8 years as Governor, Walker, the Koch Brothers favorite pet, left the Wisconsin Idea in shreds.
School districts across the state are being pushed to the brink of a crisis due to extreme staffing difficulties brought on by the surging COVID-19 pandemic. District administrators and staff say the recent problems are compounding staffing challenges that began about a decade ago after the passage of Act 10, the Republican law that cut benefits and stripped collective bargaining rights from teachers unions.
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[White Lake School District supreintendent Nathan Hanson] said Act 10, the 2011 law signed by Republican Gov. Scott Walker, and academic standards implemented across the state around the same time became a “perfect storm” that left teachers feeling disenfranchised.
“I know colleagues that left the state,” Hanson said. “I’ve seen a certain level of demoralization that happened, especially with our veteran teachers.”
He began to see a significant decrease in applicants for teaching roles in 2012, he said.
The supply of substitute teachers — as well as full-time teachers — started to dry up after the Legislature passed Act 10 in 2011, placing strict limitations on teachers' unions bargaining abilities and automatically taking more from teacher paychecks to contribute to pensions, Muenter said.
It wasn't immediate, but over the past decade, there have been fewer people graduating with teaching degrees and fewer applicants for teaching jobs — especially for specialized subjects such as advanced calculus or technical education.
More: 4 things to know about Act 10 and its profound effect on Wisconsin a decade later.
Original 11/15/2021 post, "The Foxconn debacle", starts here.
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