The city of Milwaukee will try to get its unionized police officers to pay more of their pension contributions, under a discussion tied to Gov. Scott Walker’s push to end collective bargaining for most public employees in Wisconsin.
The collective bargaining restrictions known as Act 10 were enacted four years ago, but exempted police and fire unions. Now, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said that he’ll try this coming year to get the local police union to agree to have officers pay into their pension fund in return for eliminating three furlough days for police. Barrett said the issue is entangled in Act 10.
“Because my concern at that time was that law pitted police officers against librarians, pitted firefighters against public health nurses, and we are seeing the result of exactly what I said,” Barrett said.
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The Milwaukee police and fire unions have been fighting Barrett on furlough days while backing Walker at election time.
The governor continues to praise the merits of Act 10 while he’s running for president.
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