Family & Community
CHILD CARE CRISIS IN MARATHON COUNTY
A child care crisis exists in Marathon County and throughout Wisconsin. This has a negative effect on business. Families looking for quality care are discovering that they cannot find quality child care.
Child care providers leave their positions for better pay and benefits. Child care covering shift work is almost non-existent. Waitlists for infant care are long and cause problems for parents who wish to return to work.
In addition, many children are suffering in substandard care. This adds to short and long-term workforce issues. All these problems negatively ...
CHANGING THE STATE PENSION SYSTEM COULD BE A BILLION DOLLAR MISTAKE
A Wisconsin Retirement Security Forum was held in Wausau. Claiborne Hill of the Wisconsin Coalition for Retirement Security presented some important facts about retirement.
Wisconsin’s State Retirement System is well-funded and in fine shape. It has $100 billion in reserve.
This money is our money. We state employees earned it and our pension is deferred income. Each month we put some money aside in the State Retirement System so that we can have a comfortable retirement.
Our state retirement fund delivers $4 billion a year in benefits to every corner of the ...
WISCONSIN CAN HELP WORKING FAMILIES WITHOUT SPENDING A DIME
(Mandy Wright is a candidate for the 85h Assembly District of Wisconsin)
When I was a kid growing up just outside of Wausau, my parents knew how to be frugal, so we’d have enough for the future. My mom grew up on a farm and made a ham dinner that turned into sandwiches, then into ham salad, and finally, she’d boil the bone for split pea soup. Now split pea soup is my kids’ favorite dinner.
We should apply the same frugality to our hard-earned tax dollars, so our families and communities will have enough for the future. Despite all the fiscally conservative ...
JAY KRONENWETTER TO RUN FOR MAYOR OF WAUSAU
(Editor's Note: The following is information that Jay sent me about his candidacy and himself. Biographical background details from him that were in bullet points are presented in prose.)
I was born and raised in Wausau and after law school came home to start my legal practice. Having attended school in some fine cities such as Madison, Pittsburgh and San Francisco, I can confidently express my opinion that the people of Wausau, my neighbors, make this a town with unique benefits and opportunities that no other city can claim. True, we have much we can learn from the ...
WITH UNIONS, EVERYONE BENEFITS
WITH UNIONS, EVERYONE BENEFITS
The concept of Unions, workers banding together to improve their wages, hours and working conditions, has been the great equalizer for workers in the United States for over one hundred years.
Only since 1971 have the public sector workers in Minnesota had the right to bargain collectively with their employers. A group interested in forming a Union goes through an election in the workplace. If a simple majority of eligible voters decide that they want a union, then everyone must be represented equally. Workers can choose not to be a ...
PREVAILING WAGE
PREVAILING WAGE
By John Spiegelhoff
Prevailing wage is the minimum hourly wage employers must pay certain workers who work on construction projects where state dollars are used to fund the construction. The prevailing wage includes the employer's cost of benefits.
Prevailing wage is used in any construction project funded in whole or in part by federal or state funds. For example, state-funded projects can be projects to construct highways, roads, wastewater treatment plants, public utilities, colleges, schools or park and recreation improvements. The prevailing wage ...
