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Wisconsin Republicans May Want to Repeal the Weekend

The proposal would allow companies with factory and mercantile workers to schedule employees to work seven days in a row with no 24-hour rest period.

In Wisconsin, everybody (with some exceptions) could soon be workin' on the weekend (without having to file the paperwork currently required by law to allow such work to occur).

Like most proposed legislation in the Badger State, whether that's a good thing or a bad thing depends on which political party you support.

Democrats say a bill being advanced by Rep. Mark Born, R-Beaver Dam, and Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, is an attack on workers at the behest of the state's largest business lobby. The bill's supporters say it simply lightens the regulatory burden on employers, and that's good for everyone.

Some reports have classified the bill as an attempt by Republicans to "repeal the weekend." Born says that's just not true.

If employees don't want to work extra hours on the weekend, they don't have to. But if they do, his bill would make it easier, he said.

The proposal would allow factory and mercantile workers to voluntarily work seven days in a row with no 24-hour rest period.

 

Daniel Luzer is GOVERNING's news editor.
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