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Daily Bread for 9.2.24: Labor Day

Good morning.

Monday in Whitewater will be sunny with a high of 74. Sunrise is 6:22, and sunset is 7:25, for 13h 03m 42s of daytime. The moon is new with 0.3 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

On this day in 1945, the Japanese Instrument of Surrender is signed by Japan and the major warring powers aboard the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu signs the Instrument of Surrender on behalf of the Japanese Government on board the USS Missouri (BB-63) on 2 September 1945. Lieutenant General Richard K. Sutherland, U.S. Army, watches from the opposite side of the table. Foreign Ministry representative Toshikazu Kase is assisting Mr. Shigemitsu. Photograph from the Army Signal Corps Collection in the U.S. National Archives. By Army Signal Corps photographer LT. Stephen E. Korpanty; restored by Adam Cuerden – Naval Historical Center Photo # SC 213700, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=93758525

A reminder, although one shouldn’t be needed: free markets are markets in capital, labor, and goods & services. Not one — all. Erik Gunn writes Report shows improvements for Wisconsin workers while shortcomings persist:

Wisconsin workers’ wages are up and the racial and gender gaps they face are smaller, says a new Labor Day report. But the gaps haven’t been eliminated and challenges such as the scarcity and cost of child care continue to keep some in the state who want jobs from joining the workforce.

Those and other trends are mapped in the 2024 edition of The State of Working Wisconsin, released just before the Labor Day weekend by the High Road Strategy Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The Working Wisconsin report examines the economy from the vantage point of how it affects workers. It is issued annually by the center, a nonprofit that researches and promotes solutions to social problems that focus on “shared growth and opportunity, environmental sustainability, and resilient democratic institutions as necessary and achievable complements in human development.”

See also State of Working Wisconsin 2024:

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The US Department of Labor presents The History of Labor Day:

Daily Bread for 5.28.24: Wisconsin’s Act 10 Collective Bargaining Restrictions Back in Court

Good morning.

Tuesday in Whitewater will be partly sunny with a high of 68. Sunrise is 5:20 and sunset 8:24 for 15h 04m 02s of daytime. The moon is a waning gibbous with 73.53 percent of its visible disk illuminated.

The Whitewater School Board goes into closed session shortly after 5 PM and returns to open session at 7 PM. Whitewater’s Finance Committee meets at 5 PM and the Whitewater Common Council at 6:30 PM.

On this day in 1837, the first steamer to visit Milwaukee, the James Madison, arrives.

On this day in 1987, an 18-year-old West German pilot, Mathias Rust, evades Soviet air defenses and lands a private plane in Red Square in Moscow.


Scott Bauer reports Wisconsin judge to hear union lawsuit against collective bargaining restrictions (‘A Wisconsin judge is expected to weigh a union lawsuit against collective bargaining restrictions’):

A law that drew massive protests and made Wisconsin the center of a national fight over union rights is back in court on Tuesday, facing a new challenge from teachers and public workers brought after the state’s Supreme Court flipped to liberal control.

The 2011 law, known as Act 10, imposed a near-total ban on collective bargaining for most public employees. It has withstood numerous legal challenges and was the signature legislative achievement of former Republican Gov. Scott Walker, who used it to mount a presidential run.

The law catapulted Walker onto the national stage, sparked an unsuccessful recall campaign, and laid the groundwork for his failed 2016 presidential bid. It also led to a dramatic decrease in union membership across the state.

If the latest lawsuit succeeds, all public sector workers who lost their collective bargaining power would have it restored. They would be treated the same as the police, firefighter and other public safety unions who remain exempt.

No one should be surprised. From conservatives nationally in federal courts and the center-left statewide in Wisconsin courts, re-litigation has become the order of the day.


X2.9 flare. Sunspot AR3664 returns with major eruption, spits fire:

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