Evers sure doesn’t take diversity into account when picking people.

MacIver News Service | July 25, 2019

By M.D. Kittle

MADISON, Wis. — “Titanic” didn’t need a spoiler alert. 

And it doesn’t take a genius to see where Gov. Tony Evers’ Joint Task Force on Payroll Fraud and Worker Misclassification — loaded down with Big Labor representatives — appears to be heading. 

The vast majority of  public members on the task force — five of six — are union leaders or have deep ties to organized labor, according to a membership list obtained by MacIver News Service. 

Even some of the state bureaucrats who round out the investigative panel are closely connected to Big Labor. 

Business advocates expressed concern about the outsized role labor looks to play on the task force. 

“If that’s the way the makeup of the task force remains, then I think that’s really unfortunate and a missed opportunity,” said Scott Manley, senior vice president of Government Relations for Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce. 

There is also concern from construction industry officials that contractors are being unfairly targeted. Misclassification of independent contractors occurs among janitorial services, Internet providers, and throughout the exploding gig economy, too. But the task force, at least based on the initial rhetoric, seems fixed on the construction trade.