W-2 contractor shuffle continues / Some worry clients, employees will suffer
Source: STEVE SCHULTZE, Journal Sentinel (WI), Jan. 23, 2006
When the Milwaukee Center For Independence backed away from its $10.4 million state contract to run Wisconsin Works welfare reform programs in part of Milwaukee late last year, it set off a chaotic musical-chairs game of changes that hasn't stopped. The main contractor for W-2 job training will switch again on the city's near north and northwest sides - for the third time in three years - with the last-minute substitution of a Denver-based firm. That means that some of the 30 subcontractors that have done much of the work also will likely change, triggering layoffs and uncertainty for those workers. And although state officials insist that no clients will be shortchanged during yet another transition, advocates fear some poverty-stricken W-2 clients will get neglected.