Not content with torpedoing thousands of jobs and $1.2 billion for a state high-speed rail project, Wisconsin’s Republican Gov. Scott Walker has introduced a bill that would strip state workers of their collective bargaining rights. Thousands of people have descended on the Wisconsin state capitol in Madison to protest the bill. Wisconsin’s Republican-controlled legislature is poised to vote on the legislations as early as today.
While other states have proposed bills aimed at weakening unions, Wisconsin’s is the most aggressive. If passed, the bill would mark a huge change for the state, which was the first state to pass a comprehensive collective bargaining law in 1959.
The increasingly vocal protests from teachers, students, firefighters, private sector union workers and thousands more has resulted in four days of mass demonstrations. Frustrated with the overwhelming show of support for unionized workers, Gov. Walker has threatened to call in the National Guard.
For the latest on state-level battles like Wisconsin and what you can do to fight back, visit the AFL-CIO’s new States of Denial website. It includes facts about other states; their so-called “right to work” proposals; attacks on public workers and public services; proposals to end prevailing wage laws and Project Labor Agreements; silencing workers with paycheck deception; and interference with collective bargaining.
