A setback in the GOP war on workers

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The plan by Governor Jan Brewer aka Boss Tweed to destroy the civil service merit selection sytem and return to the halcion days of the spoils system and political patronage moved one step forward on Tuesday. Brewer's personnel reform plan moves forward:

Gov. Jan Brewer's plan for a massive overhaul of the state's personnel system sailed through the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday, paving the way for it to soon be heard by the full Senate.

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Under the bill, the changes to the state's personnel system would make it easier to fire and discipline most non-university state workers. Also, Brewer and future governors would have more hiring and firing authority over more agency directors.

About three-quarters of the state's 36,000 non-university workers are covered, meaning they have protections of the state personnel system, such as grievance rights. The current system generally allows those workers to appeal discipline or termination actions.

This legislation would remove those protections over time. The measure would affect certain categories of workers, including supervisors, information-technology employees and attorneys. It would not affect certain sworn law-enforcement officers, although it would affect civilians who work for law-enforcement agencies.

The committe approved HB 2571 along a party line vote of 8-4.