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Fight for Wisconsin State Workers

Last week, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker fast-tracked a punitive plan to cut the wages of state workers, prevent them from bargaining over things like workplace safety, and break their unions. This was not a negotiating ploy on his part, because he is refusing to negotiate with the workers at all.

To enforce it, he said he was prepared to bring in the National Guard.

Although Republicans control both houses of the state legislature, there is still a chance to stop this from passing, because it is such an extreme measure that the votes aren’t there even in a Republican-controlled Senate:

So could it pass the state legislature? While the Republicans have a commanding 57-38 majority (plus one Independent) in the Wisconsin house, they have a much narrower 19-14 majority in the state Senate. The Senate majority leader says he doesn’t know when the chamber will take it up, effectively acknowledging he doesn’t have the votes yet. Four Republicans were quoted in the Journal-Sentinel saying they weren’t ready to commit to support the legislation and another four Republicans whose districts have lots of state workers wouldn’t return phone calls.

The Wisconsin state AFL-CIO is running television and radio ads against Walker’s move:

And there’s a lot of on the ground action taking place. If you’re in Wisconsin, check out this comprehensive events list to see if you can join in in person. There’s stuff going on in several locations today, tomorrow, and Wednesday, and SEIU has buses going to the capitol from around the state for lobby days.

Tags: public sector workers