Wednesday, April 26.
| SEA Day 2006 Wednesday, April 26.
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SEA Day was well attended again this year with over 80 participants. The section with the most members attending and the winner of the $50 was the DNR Section (Madison) with 15 members. The La Crosse Section followed closely with 14 members and Wisconsin Rapids with 11. Special recognition goes to Superior Section for sending seven members more than 300 miles to attend. Thank you to those that brought SEA’s message to the Capitol.
Many members attending SEA Day also attended the JCOER committee hearing at which 13 state employee contracts were discussed and passed. The committee asked only 2 questions regarding the contracts. One related to how the particular bargaining unit was to pay back health insurance costs from the 2003-'05 contract years and the other regarded a $150,000 set aside to cover child care for the bargaining unit members. After hearing very little testimony on each contract, the committee broke for a closed session discussion with OSER. The closed session covered effects on unsettled contracts. Once the open session begin, it took only minutes for the committee to approve all the contracts.
For some of our members, this was the first SEA Day on which they were able to speak face to face with their Republican representatives. These representatives expressed interest and asked questions concerning issues not favorable to Governor Doyle. They showed more interest regarding the Governor’s reduction in the number of state employees. The Republicans are looking for anything that will make Doyle look bad.
