by Mike Hall, Mar 24, 2011
Rust never sleeps and apparently neither does Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) when it comes to attacking middle-class jobs. This week, he made another sneak attack.
Matt Hrodey at Milwaukee Magazine’s NewsBuzz site reports Walker quietly issued an executive order this month suspending rules that require contractors on state projects to employ workers under the state apprenticeship program.
Walker’s executive order, his 18th, was not distributed as a press release, unlike the prior 17, each of which can still be read on the “Media Center” section of the governor’s website.
Under the apprenticeship program contractors provide on-the-job training in a skilled trade to apprentices and also pay them wages as they attend classes at a technical college or other institution. It is overseen by the state Department of Workforce Development, and carried out at the local level by the state’s 94 local trade committees, boards staffed by local employer and employee representatives.