Union Takes Advantage Of Tragedy

On the one hand, I’m glad that the union is exerting pressure on this tragedy.  On the other hand, they are pushing for the wrong remedy. 

Calling the Milwaukee Bureau of Child Welfare “a dysfunctional environment” that hobbles workers’ efforts to help children in crisis, state employees union officials today asked lawmakers to meet and discuss issues raised by the beating death of 13-month-old Christopher Thomas.

“We are writing today to ask for an opportunity to share with you our concerns about the dysfunctional environment that has existed at the bureau for a long time,” Marty Bell, the union’s executive director, and Susan McMurray, a lobbyist, wrote in a letter to the Milwaukee delegation to the Wisconsin legislature.

The letter ticked off a list of concerns—a shortage of social workers, high staff turnover, lack of support, insufficient training, inadequate oversight, lack of coordination between the Milwaukee bureau and private child welfare agencies – “all of which make it extremely difficult for social workers to provide the vital child protection services the workers were hired to provide.”

Christopher’s death could have been prevented if the bureaucrats on staff DID THEIR JOB.  We don’t need more social workers or training or whatever.  We need government bureaucrats to take their jobs seriously.