Despite Budget Cuts, Layoff Fears, Milwaukee Teachers Fight for Taxpayer-Funded Viagra 

Published August 06, 2010


[img_r]http://a57.foxnews.com/static/managed/img/Health/2009/July/397/224/VIAGRA.jpg[/img_r]With the district in a financial crisis and hundreds of its members facing layoffs, the Milwaukee teachers union is taking a peculiar stand: fighting to get their taxpayer-funded Viagra back.

The union has asked a judge to order the school board to again include Pfizer Inc.'s erectile dysfunction drug and similar pills in its health insurance plans.
The filing is the latest in a two-year legal campaign in which the union has argued, so far unsuccessfully, that the board's policy of excluding erectile dysfunction drugs discriminates against male employees. The union says Viagra, Cialis, Levitra and others are necessary treatment for "an exclusively gender-related condition."

But lawyers for the school board say the drugs were excluded in 2005 to save money, and there is no discrimination because they are used primarily for recreational sex and not out of medical necessity.

The filing last month comes as the union, the Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association, is also protesting hundreds of layoff notices issued to teachers for the coming school year. Citing a "financial crisis" caused by exploding benefit costs and revenue shortfalls, the district's outgoing superintendent proposed laying off 682 employees in April.

The district gave layoff notices to 482 teachers in June, but recalled 89 of them last month. Additional teachers may be called back, but these are still the first layoffs of Milwaukee teachers in decades.

At least one lawmaker questioned why the union is fighting for Viagra while teachers are losing their jobs. A consultant for the school board has estimated that reinstating the drug benefit would cost $786,000 per year the cost to keep perhaps a dozen first-year teachers employed.

State Rep. Jason Fields argues that the money could be better spent any number of ways including saving jobs.

"You've got to be kidding me," said Fields, a Milwaukee Democrat. "The fact that is the point of contention is kind of frightening. What are our priorities? I'm all for love and peace. But almost 1 million dollars? And you go to court over this issue?"

Union spokeswoman Kris Collett declined comment. But its lawyer Barbara Quindel said the case was worth fighting despite the district's grim finances. Quindel said erectile dysfunction is associated with heart disease, prostate cancer and other conditions, and the drugs are approved by the Food and Drug Administration and recommended by the American Urological Association.

"MTEA believes that men should not be discriminated against in receiving treatment for their medical conditions," she said.

The union has argued the costs are tiny compared to the $1.3 billion annual budget. But the school board says they are "particularly burdensome" when it is under pressure to reduce benefit costs.

That the pills which can cost $20 apiece without insurance were included in the first place is somewhat unusual. Health insurer Aetna Inc., which provides one of the district's two plans, says its standard pharmacy plans exclude Viagra and other "drugs for lifestyle enhancement or performance."

Basic state employee health plans also generally don't cover those drugs, but more expensive premium plans might, said Dick Cauchi, who tracks health benefits at the National Conference of State Legislatures. Lisa Soronen, National School Boards Association senior staff attorney, also said she had never heard of a similar case or an example of a union negotiating coverage for erectile dysfunction drugs.

"If you are getting down to what drugs are covered, you are really getting in the weeds," she said, explaining most negotiations are over premiums and co-payments.

Board and union negotiators reached a deal in 2002 to cover six tablets per month for erectile dysfunction drugs in health plans that insure 10,000 employees, dependents and retirees. They quickly became popular.

By 2004, the number of claimants receiving prescriptions skyrocketed to more than 1,000 per year, costing the district $207,000. During negotiations in 2005, the board proposed eliminating the benefit and an arbitrator adopted the plan.

The union in 2008 filed a sex discrimination complaint with the state. In June, the Labor and Industry Review Commission ruled the union couldn't pursue the case without identifying employees who have been injured by the policy and the complaint was filed after the statute of limitations expired.

The union is asking a Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge to overturn that decision and declare the policy violates the Wisconsin Fair Employment Act. A ruling isn't expected for months.

Viagra is usually on the other side in discrimination cases. In recent years, several lawsuits have claimed that employer health plans discriminate against women when they cover Viagra but not contraceptives or infertility treatment.

But the Milwaukee union says males are treated unfairly here. In one brief, its lawyers argued that vaginal cream, anti-bacterial medicine and estrogen replacement medication for female sexual dysfunction are covered. Other options such as penile pumps and implants included in the plans "are far less desirable than oral medication," the filing said.

District spokesman Philip Harris said school officials won't comment because "we just want to leave it alone." But Miriam Horwitz, an attorney representing the board, argued in court filings the drugs weren't necessary to treat life-threatening disease or have children.


http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/08/06/despite-budget-cuts-layoff-fears-milwaukee-teachers-fight-taxpayer-funded/#ixzz1EK7ah2nJ 

Democratic senator: 'We will be back eventually' 

By Don Walker of the Journal Sentinel

Updated: Feb. 18, 2011 11:07 a.m. |(88) Comments

Madison - State Sen. Jim Holperin (D-Conover) said Friday that his fellow Senate Democrats, still hiding out in undisclosed locations in Illinois, will be back eventually to debate and vote on Gov. Scott Walker's budget-repair bill.

Holperin, who declined to say where some of his fellow Senate Democrats are, said Democrats know and understand they can't obstruct forever.

However, Sen. G. Spencer Coggs (D-Milwaukee) said it was doubtful the roaming lawmakers would return to the Capitol Friday.

"We're still waiting to hear from Walker," Coggs said. Democrats want a chance to negotiate some changes in provisions stripping unions of bargaining rights in Walker's budget repair bill, Coggs said.

Coggs joked that the Senate Democrats were "refugees from Wisconsin." He said the group had split up, but were still in Illinois.

"We are in different locations and we move frequently," Coggs said. In response to criticism from Republicans that the SEnate Democrats were trying to duck a tough vote, Coggs said: "We'lll take the tough votes" when the public gets more of a chance to comment on Walker's plan.

Holperin said the Senate Democrats would caucus Friday morning.

"Most of the Senate Democrats are here. We will talk about our activities and the reaction back in Madison and what we will do here," Holperin said.

Asked if one option included coming back sooner than later, Holperin said: "We will be back eventually. We won't obstruct the vote forever."

Holperin said he has talked to his constituents about the showdown in Madison. "This is not about concessions and pensions. Public employees have told me they are interested in concessions and are willing to help. What they resent is the elimination of bargaining rights they fought for," Holperin said.

Holperin disclosed that not all 14 Senate Democrats have been in one place in Illinois.

"We are within range of the Capitol if we need to be," Holperin said.

The balls on this fucker truly amaze me. Does anybody have numbers on his tax cuts? I've had more than a few people, and none of them Democrats, claim that the $140 million in tax cuts were largely toward the wealthy. And now, what do you know, WI has a budget deficit of $140 million. And Walker's answer is to attack the middle class and unions.

"MassPackersFan" wrote:

Furthermore, this broadside comes less than a month after the state's fiscal bureau -- the Wisconsin equivalent of the Congressional Budget Office -- concluded that Wisconsin isn't even in need of austerity measures, and could conclude the fiscal year with a surplus. In fact, they say that the current budget shortfall is a direct result of tax cut policies Walker enacted in his first days in office.

Collective bargaining - the chance for employees to negotiate for fair wages with management - is key to our state's success. It is a time-tested, reasonable process. And let's be clear, public employees are not the reason state budgets are in trouble. We need to address the budget, but we can't just fix it by cutting the salaries and robbing the retirement funds of our nurses, teachers, and public safety professionals.

State's largest union would give in on benefit to retain bargaining rights  

Madison The head of the largest state workers union said Friday that his group is willing to give in to Gov. Scott Walker's demand for concessions on their benefits if the governor gives up his bid to repeal nearly all bargaining rights for public worker unions.

Marty Beil, head of the Wisconsin State Employees Union, which represents some 23,000 blue-collar state workers, said his group would agree to pay more of their pension contributions and health insurance benefits.

"We are prepared to implement the financial concessions proposed to help bring our state's budget into balance, but we will not be denied our God-given right to join a real union . . . we will not - I repeat we will not - be denied our rights to collectively bargain," Beil said in a statement.

Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie said he would review Beil's statement and respond as soon as possible.

The news comes as the standoff on the budget repair bill drags, a throng of thousands demonstrate at the Capitol, and national figures weigh in on the events.

In another development Friday, Walker will deliver his budget address on Tuesday as planned but delay for at least a week the unveiling of the 2011-'13 state budget bill.

With only Republicans present and Senate Democrats still missing, the Senate voted Friday afternoon to give Walker another week to introduce the proposal, which is expected to include big cuts in state aid to schools. The Senate has enough lawmakers present to vote on the delay measure but not enough to vote on a repair bill for the current budget that Walker is seeking to have passed.

The measure to allow the budget delay still needs approval by the Assembly, which is taking a break for Democrats and Republicans to hold partisan meetings.

The Wisconsin Assembly convened at 9 a.m. Friday to take up Walker's repair bill as activists continue to fill the Capitol, drinking coffee, banging drums and digging in for another daylong drama.

On the first floor of the Capitol rotunda, Democratic activist Jesse Jackson was cheered by the crowd Friday at noon. Surrounded by people on all sides and peering down at the ground floor from the upper-level railing, Jackson addressed the crowd with a bullhorn and most of his speech could not be heard clearly. But he lead the throng in chants of "we're not going away" and "kill the bill" and in singing the civil-rights era standard "We shall overcome."

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) responded that Jackson's appearance and recent comments by President Barack Obama on the budget standoff showed that Wisconsin has become a national leader for states that are struggling with difficult budget deficits in the face of a prolonged economic downturn.

"It proves that Wisconsin has become the tip of the spear," Fitzgerald said.

But Fitzgerald said national figures wouldn't influence the actions of the Legislature. He said Walker will still give his budget address at a Madison business as planned on Tuesday.

John Hogan, Fitzgerald's chief of staff, said Republican senators have received threats and that he won't release their locations once they leave the Capitol.

Sen. Randy Hopper (R-Fond du Lac), who has a number of state workers such as prison guards in his district, said he had received threats such as "I have a billy club and I will use it." Hopper said he "ought never be frightened in doing my job" but vowed he would not be intimidated.

In the Senate, Republicans came to the floor at 9:30 a.m. and did a call for all senators to come to the floor. But for the second straight day, Democrats did not show up - a move that blocks a vote on Walker's bill to cut public worker benefits and strip public unions of most bargaining rights.

Andrew Welhouse, a spokesman for Fitzgerald, said that State Patrol troopers have been sent to the Monona home of Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller, a Democrat, to see if he is there and bring him back for a vote on the measure. Welhouse said that at the direction of Senate President Mike Ellis (R-Neenah), Senate Sergeant at Arms Ted Blazel requested the action from the troopers after the call for Democrats to return to the Senate was made by GOP leaders.

But Democrats are hiding out in Illinois, outside the jurisdiction of the State Patrol.

In a statement, Miller said he was sorry he couldn't thank the troopers for their work.

"My colleagues and I continue to work to stop state government from taking away rights from workers," he said. "We continue to call on the governor and Republicans to allow us to get serious about addressing fiscal issues and creating jobs and drop the unrelated items that do nothing to help us balance our budget."

In an interview from an undisclosed location in Illinois, Sen. Jim Holperin (D-Conover) said he and his Democratic Senate colleagues aren't in Freeport, Ill., where most spent Thursday night, or in Rockford, where they also met on Thursday.

"We will be back eventually. We won't obstruct the vote forever," Holperin said.

"We are within range of the Capitol if we need to be."

But Sen. Spencer Coggs (D-Milwaukee) said it was doubtful that he and his colleagues would return on Friday.

Inside the Capitol, the noise had built up to Thursday's deafening levels. Outside, the showdown in Madison is now reverberating across the state and nation. Public schools in Wisconsin's two largest cities, Milwaukee and Madison, are shut down Friday because of a "sick out" by teachers, leaving tens of thousands of parents and students scrambling to make other plans.

Organized labor is also gearing up a national effort to back the Wisconsin unions. At a noon rally in front of the Capitol, national AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka is expected to join thousands of demonstrators. His appearance, and behind-the-scenes organizing help from unions with national reach, shows just how great the stakes are in Wisconsin for the national labor movement.

Meanwhile, tea party activists are busily organizing a counter rally that is scheduled for Saturday between noon and 3 p.m. in front of the State Capitol.

Yet for all the activity, Walker's budget-repair bill is bogged down by one fact: Senate Democrats have fled the state. Without the Democrats, the Senate is unable to vote on the bill.

Democratic senators boycotted a Senate vote Thursday on Walker's budget-repair plan, forcing Republicans to put off further action in that house until Friday at the earliest. As of Friday morning, their whereabouts were still unclear.

With Democrats hiding out just over the Illinois border and drawing national media attention, Republicans had too few lawmakers to take a vote Thursday and had to adjourn. With thousands of demonstrators swarming the Capitol Square, GOP lawmakers vowed to come back Friday morning to try to take up the proposal, which would help solve a state budget shortfall by cutting public employee benefits and most public union bargaining rights.

Democrats holed up for a time in the Clock Tower Resort & Conference Center in Rockford, Ill., while Republicans said they wanted law enforcement to bring them to the Capitol if they were still in Wisconsin. Walker called for Democrats to call off their "stunt" and "show up and do the job they're paid to do."

"It's either a matter of making reductions and making modest requests of our government employees or making massive layoffs at a time when we don't need anyone else laid off," Walker said.

Walker said that he had received more than 8,000 e-mails on the issue, with the majority of them backing his stance.

Democrats and union leaders said their concerns were focused on losing decades-old bargaining rights, not the financial concessions. In a telephone interview from an undisclosed location, Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller (D-Monona) said he was upholding the rights of workers by allowing for more debate on the bill.

"This is a watershed moment unlike any that we have experienced in our political lifetimes," Miller said. "The people have shown that the government has gone too far . . . We are prepared to do what is necessary to make sure that this bill gets the consideration it needs."

Several Democratic senators declined to comment on how long they'd stay away from the Capitol. Sen. Bob Jauch (D-Poplar) said late Thursday the decision on when to return had not been made yet.

The political drama played out amid a massive demonstration of union members that clogged the hallways of the Capitol and made the rotunda ring with chanted slogans as loud as the revving of a motorcycle engine.

For the third straight day, thousands demonstrated inside and outside the Capitol. With drums pounding in the background, the crowd blocked the main entrance to the Senate by sitting down in front of it, though police kept a side entrance open.

The scene and mood on the marble floors was part angry protest, part carnival and part sleep-in. There were placards, Valentine balloons, banjos, air horns and an American flag.

At least nine people were arrested in the protests at the Capitol, the state Department of Administration reported Thursday afternoon. Dane County Sheriff Dave Mahoney said those were mostly disorderly conduct charges and no one had been taken to jail.

Mahoney, a Democrat and former union leader, said officers are in the Capitol to protect the free speech rights of both sides. He said there are roughly a dozen law enforcement groups at the Capitol.

"We are exercising extreme measures of tolerance," Mahoney said.
Assembly action possible

Assembly GOP leaders have not ruled out the possibility of voting on the bill early Friday, said John Jagler, a spokesman for Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald (R-Horicon).

Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca (D-Kenosha) said Assembly Democrats were focused on drafting amendments to the bill. He left open the possibility that Assembly Democrats would leave town like the Senate Democrats to prevent the Assembly from acting.

But that scenario appears unlikely. To pass a budget bill in that house, 58 members of the Assembly must be present. There are 57 Republicans in the Assembly, and Rep. Bob Ziegelbauer (I-Manitowoc) said he plans to vote for the bill.

Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) said that Democrats in his house were "not showing up for work" and that he wanted law enforcement to bring them back.

"That's not democracy. That's not what this chamber is about," Fitzgerald said of the boycott.

The state constitution says lawmakers can be compelled to attend floor sessions. Senate Chief Clerk Rob Marchant said he was "researching the extent to which law enforcement can be involved" in doing that.

Sen. Tim Cullen (D-Janesville) first confirmed Thursday morning that Democrats were boycotting the Senate action on the bill in efforts to block a quorum and keep the measure from passing. Because 20 senators of the 33-member house are needed to be present to pass a fiscal bill, the body's 19 Republicans are not enough to pass the budget repair bill without at least one Democrat present.

Cullen said Democrats hope delaying the bill will give more time for union demonstrators to win over any possible wavering Republicans or force Walker to negotiate. Walker has said he hopes to finish the bill in the coming days by Feb. 25 for an offering of state bonds that would be affected by the budget-repair bill.

The Rockford Register Star reported that Democratic senators arrived at the Clock Tower at about 10:30 a.m. and left later in the day. State Sen. Jim Holperin (D-Conover) told the Illinois newspaper that Democrats wanted more time to understand the bill and debate its impacts.

"This is pretty significant legislation that would take away decades of collective bargaining rights," Holperin said.

Scott Fitzgerald said he believed the last time such an action happened was in October 1995. At that time, then-Sen. Joe Wineke (D-Verona) fled the Senate to block passage of the $250 million Miller Park stadium deal that raised the sales tax in the Milwaukee area.

The Senate Democrats' tactic didn't win over Sen. Rob Cowles (R-Green Bay), a moderate whom unions had been trying to convince to vote against the bill. Cowles called the blockage of the Senate vote an attempt to "shut down democracy."
Lack of quorum

The Senate convened at 11:30 a.m., with 17 Republicans but no Democrats present. After a prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance, action was immediately disrupted by demonstrators in the gallery shouting, "Freedom, democracy, unions." One of the two missing Republicans arrived shortly afterward and an aide to the nineteenth, Sen. Dale Schultz (R-Richland Center), said his boss was unable to make it to the Senate through the demonstrators.

Senate President Mike Ellis (R-Neenah) made a call of the house to bring the additional senators needed to vote on the bill to the Senate floor.

Walker and Scott Fitzgerald have said they were confident that the GOP lawmakers had the votes they needed to pass the bill without further changes. Walker said Thursday that the proposal's cuts to worker benefits and union bargaining laws are financially necessary and that he wouldn't accept changes that compromised the savings he's seeking.

The state has a $137 million budget shortfall for the fiscal year ending June 30 and a more than $3 billion shortfall over the next two years. The cuts to benefits would save taxpayers nearly $330 million through mid-2013.

Republicans control the Senate 19-14, meaning they can lose only two votes and still pass the bill if all Democrats oppose it. Some Republicans have shown reluctance about the bill, though so far none have said publicly that they will vote against it.

Sen. Luther Olsen (R-Ripon) said he was uncomfortable about the bill's effects on workers but also concerned about the other alternatives to fix the budget.

"I will probably vote for it" on the Senate floor, Olsen said.

Top GOP leaders in the Legislature have said they expect the bill to pass both houses with the changes adopted by the Joint Finance Committee late Wednesday on a party-line vote. Some GOP senators attempted to make changes to the bill Wednesday that would go further than the Joint Finance Committee changes but had no success.

The biggest change approved by the Joint Finance Committee would require local governments that don't have a civil-service system to create one that would have to address grievances for employee termination, employee discipline and workplace safety.

The committee left major elements of the bill in place. It would require most public workers to pay half their pension costs - typically 5.8% of pay for state workers - and at least 12% of their health care costs. It applies to most state and local employees but does not apply to police, firefighters and state troopers, who would continue to bargain for their benefits.

Except for police, firefighters and troopers, raises would be limited to inflation unless a bigger increase was approved in a referendum. The non-law enforcement unions would lose their rights to bargain over anything but wages, would have to hold annual elections to keep their organizations intact and would lose the ability to have union dues deducted from state paychecks.