WMC President and CEO Kurt Bauer listed right-to-work as a top priority to improve Wisconsin’s business climate just a week after Gov. Scott Walker insisted some employers told him they don’t want the instability that could be prompted by a fight over the bill.
Walker has been downplaying the impact right-to-work would have on Wisconsin’s economy and has consistently dismissed it as a “distraction.”‘
But GOP lawmakers have indicated plans to move ahead with the legislation, and a new column by Bauer adds the business group to the push.
“Beyond the personal freedom component to this debate is the economic development argument,” Bauer wrote yesterday. “It is well-known that site selectors who decide where businesses expand or relocate shun closed shop states like Wisconsin in favor of Right to Work states like Iowa, Indiana and Michigan.”
Bauer listed a half dozen other legislative priorities in the upcoming session for Wisconsin “to achieve its full economic potential.” They include a “modest” gas tax hike and increasing the state’s vehicle registration fee.
The others listed include: aligning the state and federal version of the Family Medical Leave Act; reducing costs associated with the state’s worker’s compensation program; eliminating the state’s highest income tax bracket of 7.65 percent; uniform statewide standards on frac sand mining; and investing in workforce training.
