MADISON, WI (AP)-- A pair of Republican state lawmakers is working to allow factory and mercantile workers to voluntarily work seven consecutive days without a 24-hour rest period.
Wisconsin law requires employers in factory and mercantile establishments to grant workers 24 consecutive hours off in every seven-day cycle. The Republicans pushing for workers' ability to waive that right, Rep. Mark Born of Beaver Dam and Rep. Van Wanggaard of Racine, say allowing workers the choice would make the state more competitive.
Born co-sponsored a similar bill with then-state Sen. Glenn Grothman, now a Wisconsin Republican congressman, in 2014. That measure died before it arrived in the Wisconsin Senate.
Senate Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling, a La Crosse Democrat, says the effort, paired with right-to-work legislation, marks Republicans' attempt to move Wisconsin backward.