Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel photo
Governor Walker signs away sick leave, May 2011
Remember when Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker signed a law overturning Milwaukee's mandatory sick leave? That was 2011. This is the news now from Milwaukee:
Emergency departments at Milwaukee-area hospitals have been forced at times over the last 10 days to divert ambulances elsewhere because a surge in patients with flu-like illnesses is approaching the 2009 swine flu pandemic, health officials said Wednesday.
People sick with the flu having been turning up in Milwaukee emergency rooms at three times the usual rate. To help stop epidemics like this, the federal government recommends that people with flu symptoms stay home from work. For the low-wage workers who are less likely to get benefits like sick time, it could mean a choice between public health and keeping their families afloat. That's a dilemma Milwaukee voters meant to ease when they passed the ordinance by referendum in 2008. (H/t @SprawledOut)
Bonus: Scott Walker gets the flu, 2012.
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Now if the judicial system can convict him he can spend his time trying to avoid other diseases common to prisoners. I will chip in for soap on a rope which we can sell to him for several times what it costs.
Just buy him a regular bar of soap, it'll make it a lot easier when those big burly prisoners make him play drop the soap in the shower.
Can it with the rape jokes.
With any luck, he could catch the flu and become a "good Republican."
And somewhere along the line, the scum in Big Pharma need to be told that you don't market Tamiflu, the last chance medication against this, as the first thing a person should take (so it can ultimately become useless). God I'd like to bring back Robespierre and the guillotine when it comes to the entire American upper class.
Overheard at a Wisconsin bar:
My bad. Couldn't resist.
Honestly, I never cease to be amazed at the utter inability of the GOP to do anything with true consideration for the future. And this from the party that's so concerned about their children and grandchildren being saddled with huge debt. Which, of course, the folks of their own stripe racked up, whether they want to admit it or not.
People who are not very bright have the mistaken but comforting belief that no one else is any smarter than they are. [big sigh!]
JL,
Our son paid $30.00 to get a flu shot. My question is, with the enormous cost to the people and the economy that the flu can cause, why on earth can't the government use some of that wasted money it spends on things like submarines no one needs or wants, and set aside money for free flu shots to the people of this country? It would save money and lives.
Our son works with lots of people, around food. His employer does not provide for flu shots and if they get sick, they can't afford to miss work! Hence, the spreading of the flu.
Why can't we have a practical government instead of a disfunctional one?
Or a sane government instead of an insane one.
Well, the good news is that, when the ACA is fully operational next year, flu shots will be included as one of the many provisions of that program. Stay tuned. . . .
I would disagree slightly here, JL. I don't think it's that Republicans do things with no thought to the consequences of their actions. I think Republicans simply choose to ignore consequences that aren't positive. All politicians have a tendency towards this (to emphasize the positives and ignore or de-emphasize the negatives), but Republicans take it to a purity or at least they have in recent decades. That's part of the rigidity of ideology. When you make people comply with your particular world view and you denounce anyone who even remotely criticizes a policy plan you present as being tyrannical and a Nazi you end up creating a situation where you only surround yourself with yes men. And when everybody says "yes it's great" and no one says "well actually it's not that great" you end up completely missing the negatives due to that vacuum.
Democrats pointed out that such a policy was idiotic because it would cause health problems and a loss of productivity to companies who ended up using the lack of sick days to force workers to come in (which then of course spreads the sickness if the person is contagious). Republicans were aware that this could happen, but chose to ignore it because such a downside does not fit into their corporate-money-making-scheme mentality. So they said nuts! That's just a bunch of liberal freeloaders trying to mooch off the system cause they think they should get paid to lounge around the house while hard working people who don't take the time off gotta pick up the slack. Lousy moochers! And voila! Now you have an entire office building full of sick people due to someone plugging his ears and refusing to listen to any constructive criticism about his policy ideas.
JL, #2.3
Well, I guess that's something to be grateful for. Unless the GOP on their 35th bill to overturn Obamacare, succeed in their egregious endevour.
I have absolutely had it with these impractical and absurd policies the GOP force upon people. It's just asking for a pandemic if they force sick people to work. Flue is so bad, and so costly, the government should provide free flu shots. Of course that's too reasonable. Better to run up millions in health care for the sick.
While I'm sorry for those that don't have "sick days" the people of Wisconsin voted that sniveling animal back into office when they had a chance to, so shame on them!
I'm also annoyed by the sheeple in the other states that continue to vote for the GOTP even after they have stated that they are going to dismantle the safety nets, are demolishing workers rights, have shown no respect for women or families - the time is NOW to organize against these people because they are NOT representing working American interests!
Humm...like people who work at fast food joints, dinners, super markets...you know places where there are high concentrations of people serious risk of spreading a pathogen.
I guess you could call this the "right to work when your sick" law
Gov. Scott Walker, Sharin' the love...
Add most retail jobs in to that mix. Less than full-time hours (to avoid paying benefits), and if you are sick, you can wind up with big medical bills and no income for the days you missed. This is how people become homeless.
I guess they consider it your fault somehow if you get sick.
Right to work was the first thing that came to my mind.
It is a sin that this government is so impractical that it allows this spread when it should offer free flu shots. In the end it would save lives and money. Flu shots here cost $30.00 and low wage workers such as in McDonalds can't afford the shot!
Makes sense to someone in congress. Not to me! What the hell's wrong with our government!?
Right to work when sick. Great policy, guys. Let's make everyone sick! Better idea than prevention?
welcome to the continuing story of the haves and the have-nots. the haves know exactly what happens when you eliminate things like sick time. it's not some "oversight" or "ignoring the downside" it's pure greed. they know that they have theirs and don't give a tinkers dam if nobody else ever does. they want ALL the toys people and if they have to kill you to get yours it's just too damn bad.
they don't eat at fast-food joints or cheap restaurants so they don't have to worry about somebody sneezing on their burger. they don't shop at the targets or the walmarts either so that guy that just coughed on the rack of kids toys is not a problem either, for them.
if you haven't figured-out yet that they just don't care about anybody and are actively trying to destroy the poor then you had better pull your head out and pay attention. you are becoming poorer every day and so you move into their sights too.
they want everyone who works for a living to work for the lowest wage anywhere on the planet and have no benefits. they will bring back the 100 hour work week and child labor in a heartbeat if we let them. debtor's prisons sound like a perfect solution to them because then they can get convict labor at even cheaper rates than some third-world country laborer and there is no premium to ship the goods in from overseas.
lots of you will dismiss me as some kind of alarmist (or just another nut) but look at the trends. almost no unions left. the gap between the top and bottom is widening so fast that there's no way to bridge it. when was the last time a banker or corporate raider went to jail for stealing billions from the poor, the new poor and what was once the middle class? hell, when was the last time you saw a rich man go to jail for anything? how many of you are better off than your parents? how many of you have thought about getting a second (or third) job just to make ends meet?
we don't have to take this unless we don't take this seriously. we can rid the government of the shills for big money. vote them out, recall them, do whatever is necessary to get rid of them. and vote in someone who will pull the plug on corporate welfare, support unions and see that the crooks get exactly what they deserve.
i am getting old but some of you aren't and will suffer for most of your lives if you let this continue.
As bad as all this is, we should be grateful that this is not a pandemic, like the Spanish Flu that hit near the end of WWI. Between 20 and 50 million died around the world, and it raged for 3 years. We are constantly being warned that this is something that is inevitable at some time, especially with air travel making disease transmission so much faster and easier. And yet we have clowns like Walker who once again think of nothing more than lining the pockets of corporations with more money instead of looking out for the welfare of all citizens, which is what he was elected to do.
"we should be grateful that this is not a pandemic,"
Yet.
DAY,
Doesn't it make sense that the government should provide free flu shots to AVOID a pandemic?
Or am I just making too much sense here.
I think there is still hesitancy to go as far as having the government provide free flu shots. Remember the Swine Flu scare during the Ford administration? There was a huge program by the government to vaccinate the population against the dreaded Swine Flu. When it didn't materialize, everyone called it a huge debacle. Rarely is anyone praised for preventing something awful. It's the guy who takes action after something bad happens that gets called a hero.
Obama already had a miniscule version of that, remember? The Republicans decried the media and the administration for warning about the swine flu and advising people to get shots. Everyone stated that the whole thing was a joke and it never really happened. The hundreds who got sick were apparently just coincidentally caught up in the "panic."
The idea that seeing a problem before it starts and then addressing it so that it never becomes a problem has completely escaped a large portion of the population.
Yeah here are some articles about it:
http://www.politicususa.com/Glenn-Beck-Swine-Flu.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-papantonio/obama-infects-america-wit_b_283288.html
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/spreading-swine-flu-conspiracy
http://www.infowars.com/ten-swine-flu-lies-told-by-the-mainstream-media/
That last one is Alex Jones freaking out over swine flu along with other nonsensical health related myths (like that vaccinations don't help fight against the flu or that you're at a greater health risk by getting vaccinated than by not).
I do not get sick leave.
I have to burn a day's vacation to cover the lost day's pay, and have a doctor's note to avoid an attendance mark on my evaluation.
So, guess what? I come to work sick and avoid people.
Fun.
Knobson,#5
Insanity. Just insane. We're asking for a pandemic.
At least I have an office and plenty of hand sanitizer and disinfectant spray. As long folks keep a distance, they should be ok.
:)
Walker knows nothing of Karma...... I guess he has something else to learn about.
lowdown mofo
Maybe there should be a pledge when taking an oath for public office: "I will place my constituents' quality of life over my own sadistic personal beliefs." All that nonsense about "serving the public" is just too vague.
a pledge won't do any good at all. you have to find people with empathy and intelligence to fill elected offices. stop treating it like a popularity contest from junior high. look for candidates that will do what's right and not line their pockets (or run yourself). look at how they finance their campaigns - if it's a few big donors avoid them like the plague.
and will somebody please run a campaign based on truly left-wing ideals. i'm totally sick of candidates constantly moving to the right because they think they have to. they don't have to, this country is capable of electing some people with the old fashioned democratic ideals.
i'd do it but i'm too old to last long enough to make a significant dent in the crap that's passing for democrats these days.
I've always that employees don'e understand sick leave. Now I have to believe some employes and government officials don'e understand it either. Sick Leave should simply be the cost of having an employee. I always used 30% as my "rule of thumb." In other words a $20 per hour employee is going to cost me $60 per hour. $20 for the employee. $5 in profit for me (if everything goes right). the rest goes to pay for the parking lot, the chair, the desk, the computer, light, heat, AC, programs, taxes , match for their 401Ks, for non-billable support staff (like janitors, secretaries, HR, accounting, etc) and vacation time.
So, my question is…if mandatory sick leave was removed by law did the employees get a raise?? or did the saving go into executive salaries and bonuses??
Generally speaking, the "cost" of an employee with NO benefits is 20% above their salary (taxes and other fees). Adding in medical/dental, vacation/sick/parental leave, and retirement plans can increase that to 50% depending on how generous the benefits are.
Employers who have direct control of their retirement plans often renege on their obligations by raiding those funds and denying payment for even the "employee contributions" on which the employee has already paid income tax.
anybody who raids a retirement fund should have ALL their assets seized, including the clothes on their backs, to help make good on what they stole. if you can sell their assets for more than they stole well then good for the employees but still take it all. and when i say all i mean ALL. i'm sorry if this leaves their families destitute but maybe they should have kept a tighter rein on the thief. besides, if the laws work correctly, the thief won't need anything more than an orange jump suit for a lot of years and their families can learn how to live on the dole.
They will be the first one's screaming for the CDC when it reaches epidemic proportions. One only needs to remember the 1919 epidemic which killed more people than WWI
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1918_flu_pandemic
For these plutocrat-lackeys, children and grandchildren are props for their propaganda machine. Their only priority is to enrich their stupid, short-sighted greedy donors. Our children and grandchildren are going to be way too busy combating the devastation of an atmosphere we polluted for them, to worry too much about the national debt. In fact, they'll bitterly look back to all the missed opportunities to stem the catastrophe, with vast funds offered to us at negative net interest.
Passing a camel through the eye of a needle is easy compared to...
If your focus is regularly on the 'bottom line', it is easy to fall into the traps of thinking short term and justifying the means with the ends; killing the goose for the golden eggs can seem attractive.
The very small increase in cost to the business of the ACA would be more than offset by the increase in productivity of a crew that wasn't spending its waking hours looking for work somewhere else.
Food handlers that got flu vaccinations that didn't cost them out of their own pockets would miss fewer days reducing the overall number of employees, and wouldn't be spreading the contagion to coworkers.
Any organization that doesn't support the people it relies on to support it...
It is pretty basic business - maintain your plant property (infrastructure) and provide adequate food, housing, medical care and education and training for your livestock. Not doing these things is a long walk on a short pier.
But you have people who, when told that Mr. Obama wanted to keep the tax rates the same for ALL income below 250k, stayed up nights thinking of ways to limit their income to $249,999.99.
It just is beginning to seem so hopeless in this country. It is really sad that now the inmates are running the asylum and nothing can be done.
And nothing can get done.
Buck up, India. Just because the s**t hasn't hit the fan yet, doesn't mean a lot won't get done when it does.
hey, track keeper. what are all these brown stains from?
the midden hit the windmill a while ago.
People do die from influenza. Presumably, those people have families. Those families should launch a class action lawsuit against Walker.
that would require taking the day off to go file it , so no no no
My one question: Wisconsin, when are you Democrats and Unions going to take back the Governor's office, Senate and House?