Tony Alter / CC
CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – Governor Evers declared that 2024 would be the year of the worker.
His proposal is simple, but wrong. The governor believes more people will enter the workforce if taxpayers cover their daycare costs. But daycare will certainly get more expensive if we pour more state money into it. It will be no different than college. Once colleges figured out that no one pays the actual sticker price of tuition, costs went through the roof. Daycare costs will go up faster too as daycare provides figure out that moms and dads don’t actually pay the bill. Those who are higher earners and don’t qualify for daycare subsidies will be fleeced.
I’ve heard two antidotes since the new year began about the shortage of workers. While getting lunch, I heard the manager of a sandwich shop say that of the three job applicants for openings he has, two didn’t show up for their interviews. The third was a no-show on what was supposed to be their first day of work. At a large manufacturing company, my son – 18 years old – was hired a few weeks ago. He had no experience whatsoever. So long as he works hard, is willing to be trained, and passes his drug test, he’s been hired for a job with family supporting wages and benefits. If you are unemployed, you could have a similar job – if you’re willing to apply yourself. Similarly, drive up to any dairy farm and tell the person in charge that you want to learn how to milk and are willing to work the morning and afternoon shifts to do it, and more likely than not you’ll be hired.
The way to make this the year of the worker is not to make work optional. When there are unfilled jobs available, benefits for those who are not working need to be scaled back… an impossibility while Tony Evers is in office. When there are jobs that are open, someone sitting on the couch and playing video games should not be an option.
The GOP has two other worker-friendly ideas that won’t get support from the governor. One is drug testing for welfare recipients. If you are on the dole, keeping yourself clean and sober – ready to work – should be part of the social compact with taxpayers who are funding your benefits. And to make overtime free of the state income tax. If a worker is willing to put in extra hours to get ahead, I’m in favor of allowing them to keep more of what they earn.
It’s far more likely that the year of the worker will become the year of the non-worker, with proposals for more benefits for people who don’t get themselves out of bed each day and go to a job. Let’s stop lavishng benefits on those who are idle, and let’s stop treating the people who go to work as suckers to be fleeced.
Chris Conley
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