Collective bargaining rollback bill in Wisconsin hits snag—UPDATE

UPDATE:

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed the district court and upheld Act 10—otherwise known as Scott Walker's collective bargaining bill—in its entirety. The opinion is available here. A state court action seeking to invalidate the law on various bases remains pending.

ORIGINAL POST (3/30/2012):

A federal district court judge in the Western District of Wisconsin has struck down portions of Scott Walker's bill rolling back collective bargaining rights for public employees. The opinion is here.

A bad day for organized labor.

One sometimes hears-or reads-people complain that there is not any real differences between the two major political parties and so it does not matter which party wins elections.   We have discussed this fallacy on several occassions.  To add another example to our list, it is hard to see how anyone could look at the news coming out of Michigan and say to themselves there it does not matter who wins an election. 

A race to the bottom

Tommy Craggs lets folks know what the dispute between the NFL and its referees was really about. 

Madison Teachers, Inc. v. Scott Walker

The Reader(s)™ have spoken—they want me to opine on the recent Dane County Circuit Court case striking down major provisions of Scott Walker's public-union busting law, Act 10. These people are nuts, but ... well, okay.

The Chicago Way

An arbitrator has sustained the grievances of four Chicago firefighters fired for submitting false reimbursement reports:

Independent arbitrator Edwin H. Benn said there is “no real dispute” that all of the accused “knowingly submitted inaccurate mileage-reimbursement reports and obtained compensation for mileage — ranging in some cases into the thousands of dollars — that they did not actually incur.” 

But Benn pointed to city Inspector General Joe Ferguson’s conclusion that the alleged mileage padding was a “decades-long practice that was condoned and encouraged by supervisors.” Benn quoted Ferguson as saying that many of he inspectors were “assured by their supervisors that the accuracy of their mileage totals would not be challenged.”

Apparently it's okay as long as everybody does it.

One question: have the complicit supervisors been fired? I mean, the ones who encouraged these firefighters to steal taxpayer money?