WI Civil Service 121st Anniversary Celebration
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SAVE THE DATE! More details coming soon. Join us to call for a stronger Wisconsin Civil Service. We will gather outside the Capitol building for a rally around 5 pm on the State Street corner.
Civil Service is a key tool to root out corruption and to protect the public interest. Meet supporters from the labor movement including AFSCME, AFT and other good government groups that have always supported Wisconsin Civil Service.
WI Civil Service was signed into law on June 17, 1905 by Gov. (Fightin' Bob) LaFollette as a key achievement of the Progressive Movement. It was meant to end the spoils system where public jobs were a reward to political backers. The goal was to staff public agencies with highly qualified workers, in order to serve the public excellently, efficiently, and fairly. Civil Service is an anti-corruption mechanism to push back against the corporate capture of public agencies. We need a stronger state-level Wisconsin Civil Service System, a restoration of required Civil Service exams for hiring, an end to hiring outside the Civil Service system for state agencies, and other reforms. Wisconsinites deserve "the best" to serve them in all public agencies, not party hacks or lapdogs to corporations or big political donors. Wisconsin Civil Service has always been undermined by forces that want public agencies to harmonize better with the party in power, at the expense of robust public services fairly delivered to the public. Act 10 in 2011 and Act 150 in 2016 were particular attacks on the WI Civil Service System, but other attacks, and complacency, have left the system weaker than it should be. Wisconsinites deserve clean government, and public programs that will shield them from the profit-maximizing hell of unrestrained capitalism.
In the 1930's, Wisconsin Civil Service was poised for a purge similar to what is happening at the federal level today. Out of this, AFSCME and state employee unions were born. State workers in Madison organized against expected mass firings, with the belief new hiring policies would require loyalty to the political administration in power. Sound familiar? State workers organized the WI State Employees Association (WSEA) to defend WI Civil Service, and they did so. Later their organization became a union (WSEU) and affiliated as AFSCME Local 1. AFSCME was born through the active defense of Wisconsin Civil Service! Learn about our proud history! It is time again to call for a strong civil service system in this state!
During the Gov. Scott Walker era, a bill was proposed to gut key provisions of Wisconsin Civil Service -- 2015's Act 150 that was eventually signed into law in 2016. The act eliminated the requirement for Civil Service exams and made many other changes to undermine the WI Civil Service System. Its provisions cut off the possibility of a career trajectory for state workers and caused them to be vulnerable and unstable. The effect was similar to today's OMB head Russell Vought saying he wants public workers to be "in a trauma." To hold those accountable who decided to do this, the Wisconsin Coalition to Save Civil Service was created, and organizations joined -- including public sector unions, other labor organizations, and good government groups including the NAACP Chapter A/B of Dane County, the Association of Career Employees, the South Central Federation of Labor, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, AFSCME Council 32, AFSCME 1 and others, AFT-WI, Progressive Dane, POWRS, and other groups.
This event is sponsored by the Wisconsin Coalition to Save Civil Service.
Civil Service is a key tool to root out corruption and to protect the public interest. Meet supporters from the labor movement including AFSCME, AFT and other good government groups that have always supported Wisconsin Civil Service.
WI Civil Service was signed into law on June 17, 1905 by Gov. (Fightin' Bob) LaFollette as a key achievement of the Progressive Movement. It was meant to end the spoils system where public jobs were a reward to political backers. The goal was to staff public agencies with highly qualified workers, in order to serve the public excellently, efficiently, and fairly. Civil Service is an anti-corruption mechanism to push back against the corporate capture of public agencies. We need a stronger state-level Wisconsin Civil Service System, a restoration of required Civil Service exams for hiring, an end to hiring outside the Civil Service system for state agencies, and other reforms. Wisconsinites deserve "the best" to serve them in all public agencies, not party hacks or lapdogs to corporations or big political donors. Wisconsin Civil Service has always been undermined by forces that want public agencies to harmonize better with the party in power, at the expense of robust public services fairly delivered to the public. Act 10 in 2011 and Act 150 in 2016 were particular attacks on the WI Civil Service System, but other attacks, and complacency, have left the system weaker than it should be. Wisconsinites deserve clean government, and public programs that will shield them from the profit-maximizing hell of unrestrained capitalism.
In the 1930's, Wisconsin Civil Service was poised for a purge similar to what is happening at the federal level today. Out of this, AFSCME and state employee unions were born. State workers in Madison organized against expected mass firings, with the belief new hiring policies would require loyalty to the political administration in power. Sound familiar? State workers organized the WI State Employees Association (WSEA) to defend WI Civil Service, and they did so. Later their organization became a union (WSEU) and affiliated as AFSCME Local 1. AFSCME was born through the active defense of Wisconsin Civil Service! Learn about our proud history! It is time again to call for a strong civil service system in this state!
During the Gov. Scott Walker era, a bill was proposed to gut key provisions of Wisconsin Civil Service -- 2015's Act 150 that was eventually signed into law in 2016. The act eliminated the requirement for Civil Service exams and made many other changes to undermine the WI Civil Service System. Its provisions cut off the possibility of a career trajectory for state workers and caused them to be vulnerable and unstable. The effect was similar to today's OMB head Russell Vought saying he wants public workers to be "in a trauma." To hold those accountable who decided to do this, the Wisconsin Coalition to Save Civil Service was created, and organizations joined -- including public sector unions, other labor organizations, and good government groups including the NAACP Chapter A/B of Dane County, the Association of Career Employees, the South Central Federation of Labor, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, AFSCME Council 32, AFSCME 1 and others, AFT-WI, Progressive Dane, POWRS, and other groups.
This event is sponsored by the Wisconsin Coalition to Save Civil Service.
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Where is it happening?
Wisconsin State Capitol, 1 W Mifflin St, Madison, WI 53703, United States
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.
Host or PublisherWisconsin State Workers Organizing Committee
