COWS ThinkTank: Public employees not the cause of Wisconsin's budget woes

From the Center on Wisconsin Strategy (COWS):

A new policy brief from COWS offers data on Wisconsin's public-sector workers. They are neither the 'haves' Governor Scott Walker makes them out to be, nor are they the cause of Wisconsin's budget shortfall.

The brief, Wisconsin's Public Employees: A Foundation for Quality of Life in the State, presents information answering key questions:

•Are public-sector workers overpaid? No.
•Is the public sector bloated in Wisconsin? No.
•How do public employees' concessions affect take home pay? The less you earn, the more you lose.
•Public-sector workers: The source of Wisconsin's budget deficit? No.

Some 383,300 Wisconsin workers hold full- or part-time jobs in the public sector, and three of four of these workers are employed by local units of government. Public workers provide the education, public safety, and other public infrastructure that is a foundation for quality of life in the state.

Public Workers Prepare for Pay Cuts as Walker Plots

As Gov. Walker tries to increase the number of his tax payer-financed political appointees by 37—all of whom would make more in a year than your average working man and woman makes in two years—public workers are preparing for pay cuts.

Doug Erickson and Steven Verburg offer this account of public workers in the Wisconsin State Journal.

Maybe it will occur to Republicans that those who protect and serve, teach, clean, treat and dedicate their lives to public service are our treasures and not political tools.