REASONS WHY MERGER TOOK SO LONG IN MILWAUKEE
Scope and Content Note: Finances. The Milwaukee IUC was broke. Also, the issue of a labor press and the amount of per capita tax. Schmitt led the fight to raise the Milwaukee IUC per capita tax so that the Council could go into the merger with the strength of a healthy treasury. As soon as the per capita tax went up, however, the Council President, Robert Jordan, started “taking a lot of lost time.” Then the merger created a full-time job for the Milwaukee IUC president. Schmitt was opposed to this and pulled the Brewery Workers out of the Milwaukee IUC for six months.